Someone new head coach Karlie Burris described as her top draft choice when building her coaching staff, Kerri Nakamoto will serve her first year as associate head coach for the Vikings during the 2025-26 season.
Nakamoto comes to the Vikings after four years as an assistant with Santa Clara University (2021-25). Nakamoto helped lead the Broncos to a 25-win season and a postseason berth in the WBIT where they made the second round in 2023-24. She developed seven All-West Coast Conference players with the Broncos, including five first-team selections. Three Broncos made the All-WCC freshman team during Nakamoto’s tenure, while she also coached and recruited the 2023 WCC Newcomer of the Year in Tess Heal.
"We’re incredibly excited to welcome Kerri Nakamoto to our staff here at Portland State,” Burris said of the hire. “Kerri brings a wealth of experience from every level of the game, and her basketball IQ, leadership, and player development skills will immediately elevate our program. She has a proven track record of building strong relationships and helping student-athletes grow both on and off the court. I can’t wait to see the impact she’ll have on our team and our culture from day one."
Nakamoto figures to bolster the Vikings’ defensive credentials. As the defensive coordinator for the Broncos, Santa Clara ranked in the top four of the WCC in field goal percentage defense, three-point field goal percentage defense and turnovers forced per game each of the past two seasons. She also oversaw player development, scouting and recruiting during her time on staff at Santa Clara.
"I am so excited to get to Portland State and start working with Coach Karlie,” Nakamoto said. “I have known Karlie for a long time and am thankful for the opportunity to work alongside her. She is an amazing basketball mind and recruiter, but an even better person. She is going to build something special at Portland State and I am thrilled to get to be a part of it.”
Prior to her time at Santa Clara, Nakamoto served as head coach of the University of Alaska Fairbanks for three seasons. During the 2019-20 season, she led Jocelyn Gandara to the scoring title within the Greater Northwest Athletic Conference. Gandara averaged 18.5 points per game that season when she also picked up Newcomer of the Year and all-conference second-team honors from the GNAC.
Nakamoto also led the Cal State Monterey Bay women’s basketball program from 2013-18. The Otters were ranked in the top 25 of NCAA Division II for points allowed during her tenure at the school.
Academics and community service have been points of emphasis for Nakamoto throughout her coaching career, no matter where she’s coached. At Santa Clara, five players earned first-team All-WCC Academic Team honors, while another 16 earned honorable mention. At Alaska Fairbanks, her players earned 11 GNAC All-Academic team honors in her three seasons, including the Business Administration School’s Student of the Year. Cal State Monterey Bay became heavily involved in community outreach during Nakamoto’s tenure as head coach. The Otters were a finalist for the NCAA Division II Excellence Award for Community Service/Outreach. The honor was for a program designed by Nakamoto called “Otters Play” where her team helped elementary school students be more physically active.
Nakamoto spent eight seasons in various capacities at Cal Poly, where she saw the Mustangs become perennial Big West Conference contenders. She helped Cal Poly make their first NCAA tournament appearance in program history during the 2012-13 season. They won the Big West Conference tournament that year after back-to-back regular-season titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Nakamoto coached and recruited four consecutive Big West Players of the Year for Cal Poly between 2010-13.
Off the court, Nakamoto was appointed to a four-year term on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee from 2016-20. She has also served as a committee member for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Playing Rules and Officiating Group Committee (2016-19), the WBCA NCAA Division II Coaches’ All-America Committee (2016-21), and the WBCA Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll Committee (2016-18) as the CCAA representative. Additionally, she was a panelist for the 2021 NCAA Inclusion Forum for student-athlete mental health.
Nakamoto earned her master’s degree in education counseling and guidance from Cal Poly in 2009. She graduated from the University of San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. As a player at San Diego, Nakamoto was a two-time WCC honorable mention after setting the single-season and career records for three-pointers at the school. She also graduated sixth all-time in career scoring for the Toreros. She served as an assistant coach for San Diego for two years (2003-05) after graduating from the school.
Nakamoto is a native of San Jose, Calif., having graduated from Archbishop Mitty High School.
