Nakama was an assistant coach at Northern Colorado from 1985 to 1986 while working on his master's degree. He later was an assistant at Iowa (1987 to 1988), then moved to the junior college as an assistant at Yavapai (1989 to 1990) and De Anza (1991).[1]
In 1991, Nakama earned his first head coaching position at Mission College in Santa Clara, California, where he remained for five seasons. He led Mission to the state junior college tournament in 1995 and 1996 and earned Coast Conference Coach of the Year honors in 1996.[3] Nakama joined Stanford as an assistant coach under Mark Marquess in 1997.[2]
From 1999 to 2001, Nakama served as head coach at San Francisco State. Nakama returned to the Pac-12 as top assistant at Stanford, before moving to Washington.[1] Nakama then returned to Stanford as assistant coach, a position he would hold from 2002 to 2009, then was an assistant on Lindsay Meggs's staff at Washington from 2010 to 2012.[1] Meggs formally named Nakama the associate head coach on September 2, 2011.[4]
In September 2012, Nakama was named head coach at San Jose State, his first Division I head coaching job.[2][5] Nakama's time at San Jose State ended in June 2016, following a 66–162 record in four seasons; San Jose State declined to renew Nakama's contract.[6][7]
On July 24, 2017, Nakama returned to Washington to be a volunteer assistant coach for his second stint working under Lindsay Meggs.[9] Following the 2019 season, Nakama was promoted to director of baseball operations.[1]
Head coaching record
The following lists Nakama's record as an NCAA head baseball coach.