Jeff Hironaka has been instrumental in establishing Seattle Pacific as a regional and national force since taking over the program prior to the 2002-03 season. In seven seasons in the head coaching post, Hironaka compiled a 134-67 record and directed the Falcons into the last five NCAA Tournaments.
His team capped a 19-10 campaign in 2009 by advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. SPU placed third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with an 11-4 record.
The Falcons were 21-8 in 2008 after posting an 18-10 mark in 2007 and tying for the GNAC championship.
In 2006, Hironaka’s Falcons won 26 games and matched the school’s best NCAA tournament result, reaching the national semifinals. His teams captured back-to-back conference championships, in 2006 and 2007.
Hironaka was twice voted the GNAC coach of the year and was the 2006 NABC West Region coach of the year. SPU registered a winning record in each of Hironaka’s seven seasons, including a 20-9 mark in 2005 and 14-13 in 2004.
His 16-11 record in 2003 was the second-best debut season in the program’s modern history.
Hironaka is believed to be the nation’s only active Japanese-American head coach of a four-year program.
Of the last seven head coaches hired by Seattle Pacific, six (including Hironaka) had previously served as assistants at the school. He was promoted to head coach on April 30, 2002, replacing Ken Bone, who is now the head coach at Washington State. Hironaka’s 11-year run as Bone’s chief aide was the longest of any assistant in program history.
Hironaka joined the SPU staff in 1991 and became the associate head coach in 1996. During his 18-year tenure on the coaching staff, the Falcons have gone 370-154, earned seven outright or shared conference championships and have qualified for NCAA Division II tournament berths 13 of the last 16 years.
In 2000, the Falcons reached the Final Four for the first time.
Hironaka has over 20 years of bench experience and an extensive network of contacts in the college game. Before coming to SPU, he served on the staff at Idaho State from 1987-90, and later was an assistant and assistant athletic director at The Master’s College in Newhall, Calif. While at Idaho State he completed his master’s in sports administration.
A native of Weiser, Idaho, Hironaka began coaching in 1980 at his high school as coach of the junior varsity and varsity assistant. In 1986 he became head coach at Idaho’s Ririe High School, and moved to Blackfoot High the following year.
Hironaka was an accomplished player, lettering three seasons at Eastern Oregon, where he obtained his degree in secondary education in 1980. He was a member of the team’s coaching staff in 1979-80. At Weiser High, he was an All-Snake River Conference guard.
An avid runner, he is single and resides in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood.