Aug. 20, 2001
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford has announced the hiring of David Nakama as an assistant baseball coach. Nakama, a Cardinal assistant coach for the 1997 and 1998 campaigns, has spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Division II San Francisco State. Nakama will serve as Stanford's first base coach and work primarily with the team's hitters and infielders.
"I'm excited to be coming back to Stanford," said Nakama. "Stanford is one of the best baseball programs in the country year-in and year-out with a great tradition. It's an incredible opportunity for me to come back and be part of this program again."
"We're very fortunate to have David Nakama back as a member of the Stanford Baseball coaching staff," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We're very fortunate to hire an assistant coach who has been a head coach at a Division II program but wanted to get back into Division I. It makes things a lot easier that he has already been a part of our program. He knows Stanford Baseball and the way we do things. His previous experience in our program will be valuable to our club."
During Nakama's previous two-year stint at Stanford, the Cardinal compiled an 87-34-1 record. Stanford advanced to the College World Series before finishing third in the CWS during Nakama's first season in 1997. The team spent the entire 1998 season as the nation's top-ranked team and qualified for the NCAA Tournament before being upset in the West Regional. Stanford won Pac-10 Southern Division titles both years.
Nakama also spent six seasons as the head coach at Mission Junior College (1991-96) and led his squad to the California State Tournament in each of his final two years. He was also named the 1996 Coast Conference Coach of the Year.
Prior to taking the head coaching job at Mission, Nakama served assistant coaching stints at DeAnza JC (1990-91), Yavapai JC (1988-90), Iowa (1986-88) and Northern Colorado (1984-86). Nakama also has served as the head coach (2000-01) and the associate head coach (1994-96) of the Hawaii Island Movers summer collegiate baseball squad.