Associate head coach Shaina Afoa returns to the Seawolf coaching staff for her 13th season in 2024-25, and her 10th as the program’s top assistant.
Since joining Ryan McCarthy’s staff, the Anchorage native has helped the Seawolves to a 281-62 overall record, eight straight NCAA Tournaments (2014-22), six straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season titles (2015-20) and four GNAC Tournament titles.
The 2017-18 NCAA Div. II National Assistant Coach of the Year, Afoa also aided UAA’s recent run of four 30-win seasons, including consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 berths in 2018 and 2019.
In Afoa’s first year as the lead assistant coach, UAA captured the 2015-16 NCAA West Region title and earned its first-ever berth in the National Title Game, while in 2016-17 she contributed to a record-breaking Seawolf squad that finished 30-2 and earned the first 20-0 league record in GNAC history. In March 2017 she was named to the prestigious Thirty Under 30 list of up-and-coming coaches by the WBCA.
In addition to administrative and recruiting duties, Afoa has been a key to the development and success of UAA’s post players, working with such recent GNAC Players-of-the-Year Hannah Wandersee and Megan Mullings.
Afoa was a three-sport athlete at GNAC rival Central Washington from 2006-11, lettering four times in both basketball and track & field, plus once in volleyball. A three-year starter at center, she finished No. 2 on the Wildcats’ career list for blocks with 126, plus fourth in rebounds (599), sixth in games started (79) and 10th in field-goal percentage (.461). She was inducted into the CWU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024.
A graduate of Anchorage’s Dimond High School, Afoa earned her bachelor’s degree in Art/Graphic Design from CWU in 2011 and her graduate certificate in Human Services from UAA in 2014.
