{"id":232748,"date":"2026-04-21T15:51:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=232748"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:54:35","slug":"khalilah-mitchell-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/21\/khalilah-mitchell-head-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Khalilah Mitchell named Rainbow Wahine basketball head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"graphic<\/p>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa<\/span> Athletics Director Matt Elliott announced on April 21 the appointment of Khalilah Mitchell as the ninth head coach of the Rainbow Wahine basketball program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mitchell, an integral figure in UH<\/abbr>\u2019s ascent to Big West prominence over seven seasons as an assistant coach, succeeds Laura Beeman, who announced her retirement on March 30 to cap a 14-year tenure as head coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mitchell agreed to an initial three-year term with UH<\/abbr>, and her promotion marks the start of a new era for Rainbow Wahine basketball in two significant ways. UH<\/abbr> will join the Mountain West as a full member effective July 1, while welcoming new leadership atop the women’s basketball program.<\/p>\n

“After an extensive search that drew interest from across the country, it became clear that the best leader for our program was already right here in Mānoa<\/span>,” Elliott said. “Khalilah Mitchell embodies everything we look for in a head coach: integrity, a relentless work ethic, and a deep-seated passion for the student-athletes. She has played an instrumental role in our championship culture, and demonstrated that she is ready to be our head coach. I am confident she is the right person to lead the Rainbow Wahine into this next chapter.”<\/p>\n

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named the head coach of the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> women’s basketball program,” Mitchell said. “I want to thank Matt Elliott for his trust in me. Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has become my home, and these student-athletes are my family. Coach Beeman set a standard of excellence here that is unmatched, and I am eager to build upon that foundation. Our goal remains the same, to compete for championships and represent this state and this university with pride.”<\/p>\n

Mitchell first joined the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> coaching staff in 2018 and helped guide the Rainbow Wahine to four postseason appearances and three Big West regular-season championships. The ‘Bows went 124-81 during her tenure as an assistant and posted at least 20 wins in each of her last four seasons with the program.<\/p>\n

“Khalilah Mitchell is a proven leader with a strong commitment to player development and a deep understanding of the Rainbow Wahine program,” UH<\/abbr> President Wendy Hensel said. “As an integral part of our recent success, she brings continuity, credibility and a clear vision for the future. We’re confident she will build on the foundation established by Coach Beeman and continue to elevate our student-athletes on and off the court.”<\/p>\n

Mitchell will be formally introduced as head coach at a press conference on April 22.<\/p>\n

Read the entire story on the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> Athletics website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitchell first joined the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> coaching staff in 2018 and helped guide the Rainbow Wahine to four postseason appearances and three Big West regular-season championships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":232750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1362],"tags":[58,82,9,550],"class_list":["post-232748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-basketball","tag-uh-manoa","tag-manoa-athletics","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/manoa-athletics-womens-basketball-khalilah-mitchell.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232748"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232755,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232748\/revisions\/232755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}