Coaching paths intertwined for HBA alums Takatsuka, Harada




For three seasons from 2009 to 2011, Reid Takatsuka served as Jeff Harada's top assistant on the Hawaii Pacific University women's basketball coaching staff.

So when Harada left the program to take a job as an assistant at Division-I Navy, he could think of no one better to succeed him than Takatsuka.

And succeed he has in the nearly 10 full years since Takatsuka took over.

In fact, Takatsuka's HPU teams have posted five 20-plus win seasons and no fewer than 17 in any single season. He is the winningest active collegiate basketball coach in the state of Hawaii and ranks second in all-time victories, behind only former UH Rainbow Wahine coach Vince Goo.

This weekend could prove to be another milestone in the career of Takatsuka, who has guided the Sharks to three straight PacWest Conference championships. His career win-loss record sits at 199-64. But the 200-win benchmark is about the last thing on Takatsuka's mind going into the two-game set against Chaminade Saturday and Sunday.

"It's funny because you're exactly right, I've never put any thought into the amount of games and it's only recently been brought to my attention because people within the department," Takatsuka said in a video call Tuesday afternoon.

The accolades are never individual achievements for Takatsuka, who was gracious in his deferring credit for his sustained success.

"For myself, as I think about two-hundred (wins), the things that I reflect upon most are the players that have come through the program — and not just when since I've been a head coach, but also when Jeff was here — and to see how the program has evolved from where it started to where it is now, it's a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears from all these kids from all over the world," Takatsuka said. "And to me that's the part that's probably most special is that, all the relationships and all the kids that came through and everything that they've done to elevate our program, I think has obviously just helped me get to that 200 number and obviously, I'm proud of two hundred — if I get there — but I think for me, from my standpoint, I think the relationships and the kids that made it all happen is probably most memorable for me."

Harada, who joined in on the same video call, was quick-witted in his response when asked about his former assistant and fellow-Hawaii Baptist Academy graduate being on the precipice of 200 career wins.

"I wouldn't know how that feels," laughed Harada, who is 142-148 in 11 years as a head coach at three different schools, including a 58-48 in four seasons at HPU from 2007 to 2011.

After three seasons as an assistant at Navy, Harada returned to Division II for three seasons as head coach at Central Washington, before being hired in his current capacity as Cal State Fullerton coach back in 2017. But he always made sure to keep close tabs on HPU and Takatsuka.

"It's been nice for me to see from afar. I still feel connected to the program through him obviously, but I'm super excited for him," Harada said. "As a head coach we all have our coaching trees, I guess, former assistants who become head coaches and Reid was my first obviously, and then I've been fortunate to have a few more, but none with the success so far that Reid has had and just watching from afar and admiring as a fan and as a friend, it's just been really fun for me."

But Harada won't have to watch from afar this weekend. Not that far, anyway.

While Takatsuka's HPU team will be playing host to Chaminade at the Shark Tank (former Saint Francis School gym), Harada's Cal State Fullerton squad will be in the midst of their own two-game slate against the University of Hawaii, about a mile down the road at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Titans (1-7 overall, 0-4 Big West) and Rainbow Wahine (1-3, 0-2) play at 7 o'clock both Friday and Saturday nights, while the Sharks (3-0 overall, 2-0 PacWest) will tip-off at Noon Saturday and Sunday against the Silverswords, who will be making their season debut.

Fans will not be allowed in attendance at either site, but the Fullerton-UH games will be televised live statewide by Spectrum Sports and broadcasted on radio by ESPN Honolulu. Also, HPU announced on Wednesday that it would provide a free live video stream (hpusharks.com) of all home sporting events for men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball games.

That will be the only way for Takatsuka and Harada to "attend" each one another's games this weekend. Such is the norm these days.

"It's different times, for sure. Everything is interesting. Practicing with masks, the whole deal, so it's rough but you just learn to navigate and it's all good," said Takatsuka, whose team is coming off of a pair of wins at UH-Hilo last weekend.

"It felt normal (but) without any fans, I think that's the only difference. The game itself was normally, but obviously not having fans was a little different, but overall I think it's just day-by-day navigating and I want to make sure that we're doing it right and our kids are safe. It's just one week at a time, one day at a time," added Takatsuka, a 1983 HBA alumnus.

Saturday's game, which HPU won by a score of 69-46, marked the first PacWest game conducted in any sport since the 311 days that have passed since the 2019-'20 season was halted due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's likely felt even longer than that for the Sharks, who saw a promising season in which they posted a school-record 29-1 record halted on the even of hosting the NCAA Division II West Regional at the Shark Tank. They were ranked third in the nation at the time that their season was cancelled.

"I think obviously off the get-go it was extremely disappointing," Takatsuka recalled of the decision that came down from the NCAA on March 12, 2020.

"I think from my standpoint it was painful to see the players have to go through it after all that they worked for and everything that they accomplished, I think that for me as a coach was probably the most difficult thing," he said. "I think with the pandemic just hitting us at that time, we all kind of understood everything that was going on and obviously safety was the primary thing that we were concerned about and I think the players understood and even though it was painful, it was just one of those times where you just gotta put everything aside and just go with safety first."

Some 10 months later and the initial shock felt by the Sharks — and largely the entire sports world — has become a part of the every day routine.

"I think as far preparation for this year, it was a weird start as well. We started with all these safety protocols and we started later. We actually started workouts outdoors — we started with four-man groups, smaller groups with masks  — and so again with safety in mind," Takatsuka explained. "I think that was probably the biggest challenge as we kind of moved forward from last year."

HPU opened the year with a single non-conference game against UH back on Dec. 13 — a game it won in the Stan Sheriff Center by a score of 82-74.

In the most recent Division II Sports Information Directors' Women's Basketball Poll was released Tuesday, the Sharks are ranked third. They have won their last 28 games dating back to last season.

But Takatsuka isn't talking about wins and losses much with his team these days.

"The message that we're speaking to our players is that it's a blessing that we get to play basketball," he said.

It's a similar message being delivered by Harada, a 1989 HBA alumnus, to his Fullerton squad.

"Obviously this is such a weird season this year. Just so many unknowns, so many challenges and I'm just excited, I'm happy and I'm grateful that we get to play, first of all for the people who allow us and make it able for us to play, but it's a lot to ask of these kids. We get tested so often, I mean, three times a week, we don't know if we'll be able to practice tomorrow, or play the next week; it's all week by week," said Harada, whose team had seen four of its first 10 originally-scheduled games re-scheduled or canceled due to COVID protocols.

After having lost its first seven games of the season, Cal State Fullerton picked up its first win Saturday over Concordia-Irvine, 69-51. The non-conference game against the D2-Eagles — a member of the PacWest — came together after the the Titans' had their Big West series against UC Davis canceled earlier in the week.

"It just depends on our testing and the opponent's testing and a lot of times it's the opponent's opponent — if they get a positive test — then it's contact-tracing, so it's always a surprise," Harada added.

"It's always just waiting and seeing, but yeah, it was nice to get that first win, get some confidence going for our young team. We're not young per se in age, but we're young in experience," he explained.

In Harada's third season leading the program, Cal State Fullerton put together the program's first winning season since 1990-'91 with a 17-14 record last year. The Titans snapped league-leading UC Davis's 28-game home conference winning streak and recorded a win over CSUN for the first time since 2011. However, they saw their season end with a 72-59 loss to Hawaii in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament on March 11, 2020 — one day before COVID shuttered most sporting events.

Still, the future appeared promising for Harada's team, which was slated to return all five starters, including Big West Player of the Year, Raina Perez, and fellow all-conference guard Taylor Turney.

Things haven't quite gone as planned, however.

Perez, who originally began her career at Northern Arizona, graduated in the spring and transferred to North Carolina State. Turney, who was selected to the Preseason All-Big West back in early November, opted out of the season later that month.

"And then we've had some injuries like every other team, so we're finally getting back healthy. We finally have everybody back on the floor so we're excited to see where we go from here. Hopefully getting that win against Concordia gave us confidence and kind of jump-started something and gives us something to build on," Harada said.

The Titans were put on pause for two weeks in late December due to a positive test and had just a day of practice before a 29-point loss to UC Santa Barbara on New Year's Day to open Big West play.

"And did not look good, obviously," Harada remarked. "It's hard to play after being on pause for two weeks without touching a basketball. I mean, there's only so much you can do, so you're pretty much starting from scratch. Those Santa Barbara games were like scrimmages for us — just getting our wind back, our flow back, our rhythm back."

Cal State Fullerton lost by 19 in both its second game against UC Santa Barbara and in its first game at Long Beach State the following week. However, despite shooting 59 percent from the field and 60 percent on 3-pointers the second night against the 49ers, the Titans still fell short by a bucket, 66-64.

"We played well enough to win, (but) turned the ball over 26 times, missed ten free throws and you lose by two, so I think that's the frustrating part and that's lack of experience, understanding how to win games, how to finish games," Harada lamented. "Now that we've had a couple weeks of practice in a row, I'm excited to see after beating Concordia, now maybe that gives us some confidence, so how do we respond against a good Hawaii team and a team that ended our season last year? I'm excited about the direction of our team; I want to see how we respond this weekend."

Harada is also excited for his friend and his former team this weekend.

"He's done such a great job with that program and his record speaks for itself. It's amazing and I don't think people realize what a great job he's done with that program," Harada said. "Just look at his winning percentage (.756) and that's working without a full equivalency of scholarships, so partial scholarships, and he's able to get the talent he needs and to get the other kids to buy-in and to form a team with limited funding. You wonder what he could do with 15 full scholarships that we get at the Division-I level?"

For as many wins as Takatsuka has in his career, he is ever-grateful to Harada for paving a path for him into the coaching business.

"I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without Jeff. I appreciate everything that he's done to help me and all of this and I couldn't have done it without him," he said. "He took a chance on me. I was his assistant for three seasons and I was just trying to learn as much as I could and when he was ready to leave for Navy, he recommended me and the rest is history and again, it's him kind of just going above and beyond to have that faith in me and what I could do and again, just gave me that shot and it worked out."

Takatsuka is six years Harada's elder and recalled the latter's prowess on the hardwood during his prep days.

"I actually had a chance to watch him play when he was still in high school and he was a baller, man," Takatsuka said of Harada, the ILH D2 Player of the Year in 1989.

"So it's neat to see how everything kind of evolved to the point that we're at now. … I consider him a great friend and mentor. We talk every week and we just kind of bounce ideas off of each other and I ask for his advice all the time and it's one of those — I don't know, I mean, even though I'm the older one, he's almost like the big brother because he's the big-timer in D1, you know — but he's done so well for himself and super accomplished and I'm super proud of what he's done at Fullerton, amazing job, and I can't say enough about him, just an awesome guy," said Takatsuka, who coached both boys and girls basketball at HBA and served as girls varsity coach for seven seasons from 2003-'09 before joining Harada's HPU staff.

Harada describes Takatsuka like a best friend.

"I think it's a give-and-take. I think we both give each other advice and listen when we need to listen with the things that we're going through," he detailed. "We have similar beliefs, similar philosophies, so I think that helps so he already before I call knows what I'm going to talk about, I think, and I know after seeing his box score, seeing his game what he's going to complain to me about and yeah, it's one of those things where we've worked together for a while, now we've gone our separate ways and the hope is, you know, my hope is someday we can work together again at some point."



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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