Tamara Inoue

Biography

• 2023-24 Big West Champions • 2024 NCAA Tournament • 2022-23 Big West Regular Season Champions • 2022 & 2023 WNIT Appearances • 2020-21 Big West co-Coach of the Year • UCI Women's Basketball's All-Time Winningest Head Coach Tamara Inoue is in her 10th year at the helm of the UC Irvine women’s basketball program in 2025-26. After taking over a team that had two winning seasons in 15 years, Inoue brought a renewed energy and mindset that paid off immediately. In her first year with her own recruits, the Anteaters had the second best turnaround in all of NCAA Division I. Since then, they have won a Big West tournament and regular season title, produced five 20-win campaigns and made four national postseason tournament appearances. Last season, Inoue became the all-time winningest head coach in UCI women's basketball history. She eclipsed the school record with her 159th victory on February 27. The Anteaters went on to secure their fourth-straight 20-win campaign (21-10), finished second in the Big West standings (15-5), and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament for the fifth time in her nine seasons. For the third-straight year, UC Irvine was ranked among the top-15 in the nation in scoring defense as they finished 10th at 54.3 points allowed per game. Déja Lee and Hunter Hernandez claimed two of the six spots on the All-Big West First Team, while Summah Hanson was named the Best Sixth Player. In 2023-24, Inoue’s squad won the program’s second Big West Champio