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University of Michigan women’s basketball head coach Kim Barnes Arico announced Monday afternoon (May 10) the addition of Val Nainima as an assistant coach for the Wolverines. Nainima, who played at South Carolina and competes internationally for Fiji, spent the last seven seasons at Fordham, starting as video coordinator in 2014-15 before serving as an assistant coach for the past four seasons (2017-21).
“Val is one of the best developers of talent at the point guard position,” Barnes Arico said. “I think a lot of that can be attributed to learning from someone like Dawn Staley, as well as her extensive international experience. She is an extremely hard-working and loyal individual who has a great ability to build relationships with players, recruits and within the community. I am excited to have her energy and enthusiasm in our program.”
“I am thrilled to be joining Coach Arico and the Michigan women’s basketball family,” Nainima said. “Coach Arico is a proven winner and has taken this elite program to new heights. She has a clear vision for where she wants the program to go, and I am excited to learn and contribute to its continued success. I am grateful and humbled to be a part of the Michigan family and cannot wait to get to work!”
Nainima spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach at Fordham, helping the Rams to three postseason appearances, including the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Rams strung together three 20-win seasons during that time, with only the shortened 2020-21 season falling short. She served as acting head coach for a game during the 2020-21 season, helping Fordham to a 72-58 win over Hofstra. During her tenure, she worked with back-to-back Atlantic 10 Players of the Year in Bre Cavanaugh (2019-20) and Anna DeWolfe (2020-21).
Nainima hails from Rakiraki, Fiji, where she worked as a development officer and high performance manager for Basketball Fiji. She coordinated and launched the first Hoops for Health Workshop program for Fiji and the South Pacific, while also planning and managing the Tuckers Fiji Secondary Schools Championships. She trained and mentored the Fiji National U19 teams to the 2014 FIBA USP U19 Oceania Championships, an event she helped organize in its inaugural year.
Nainima has competed with her country’s senior team since she was 17 years old, serving as its captain for the last 11 years. She most recently competed with Fiji at the 2019 FIBA Pacific Games, averaging 16.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game in helping Fiji to a runner-up finish.
During her collegiate playing days, Nainima began her career at LIU Brooklyn and finished at South Carolina. Nainima was first player in Northeast Conference history to earn player of the year and rookie of the year honors in the same season after finishing as the nation’s top-scoring freshman (17.3 ppg). During her sophomore season, Nainima averaged 20.4 points per game and was the fastest player in LIU history to reach 1,000 career points.
After transferring to South Carolina and playing for Staley, Nainima averaged 17.3 points per game as a junior en route to All-Southeastern Conference second-team honors. She then suffered a knee injury late in the summer before her senior season, but Nainima fought to come back for the final three months of her final year. She ended her career as one of the program’s most prolific three-point shooters, graduating eighth in career triples (115), 10th in career attempts (340) and fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.338). Nainima graduated from South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in business management and marketing.
Nainima went on to play professionally in Germany for New Basket Oberhausen and spent three seasons with the team. She also coached a U17 team in the organization.
