Hawaii Grown: College Athletics
Al Chase
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Otagaki excited about WSU job
The Punahou grad will leave Purdue for assistant post at Washington State
ERIN OTAGAKI was home relaxing for the holidays after graduating from Washington in December 2001 with a bachelor of arts degree in English. Graduate school was on the horizon, but the four-year striker for the Huskies wasn't about to let soccer disappear from her life.
"Coaching is a way to stay in touch with the sport and give back," Otagaki said then while talking about her future. She has lived up to her words.
Otagaki will begin her fifth season of college coaching soon. She is moving back to the West Coast as the assistant women's soccer coach at Washington State.
The 1997 Punahou graduate has been an assistant at Purdue the past two years. Prior to that, she was a volunteer assistant for two years at her alma mater while she earned her masters degree in secondary education.
"I loved it at Purdue. I liked the city (West Lafayette, Ind.) and I learned a lot about how to run a program from (Coach) Rob Klatte," said Otagaki.
"He stressed a lot about team defending. I was always on attack in college, always interested in how to create goals, not how to stop them."
Otagaki learned of the opening at WSU from assistant Lindsey Jorgensen, a friend she had played with in summer leagues during her time in Seattle.
WSU head coach Matt Potter received permission from Purdue to talk to Otagaki and everything fell into place quickly last month.
"I did make one recruiting trip to Hawaii while I was at Purdue, but it is hard to get Hawaii players to go to the Midwest. Most like to go to the West Coast," said Otagaki, who drove from Indiana to Pullman, Wash., last week.
"I don't know what my duties will be yet. He (Potter) said we would get together to work out the specifics after we assess our strengths."
Otagaki has her National Soccer Coaches Association of America regional diploma, an NSCAA goalkeeping license and a U.S. soccer C license.
She competed in three NCAA tournaments with the Huskies and was a member of the Pac-10 championship team in 2000. Otagaki also coached both club and ODP teams and directed soccer camps.
At Washington, in addition to being named to the Dean's List several times, she was twice named Pac-10 Conference All-Academic Honorable Mention and in 2001 was tabbed as UW's Soccer Scholar Athlete.
She also volunteered her time at Children's hospital, the Union Gospel Mission and the Center for Human Services. In 2000, Otagaki served on a UW intercollegiate advisory committee, sharing ideas that would better support student-athletes both athletically and academically.