Panita Thanatharn, an associate head coach at Long Beach State, was named the fourth head coach of the University of Hawaii softball program, acting athletics director Lois Manin announced on Wednesday.
Thanatharn replaces Bob Coolen, who coached the Rainbow Wahine for 34 seasons and retired following the 2025 season.
“I’m just super pumped to get this position and be the head coach at Hawaii and can’t wait to meet everyone,” Thanatharn said in a Zoom interview Wednesday. “I have a lot of respect for Hawaii. It was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up so super, super excited.”
Thanatharn spent 16 seasons in two stints at Long Beach State (2008, ’11-25), where she served as associate head coach since 2016. She began her coaching career with the Beach in 2008 as director of operations/assistant coach before joining UNLV’s coaching staff as assistant coach for two seasons (2009-10). She returned to Long Beach State in 2011 and has served as the primary recruiter and hitting coach as well as handling all administrative duties and the conditioning program for the team.
Under Thanatharn’s guidance, the Beach posted the 10 highest batting averages in program history, including a .320 mark in 2021 which ranked No. 15 nationally.
“We’re going to recruit the best athletes and fit for our program,” Thanatharn said.
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Thanatharn replaces Coolen, who went 33-20 in his final season at UH and led the Rainbow Wahine to two wins in the inaugural Big West Championship in Fullerton, Calif.
Coolen, who finished his career with a 1,133-736-1 record, had publicly voiced his support for longtime associate head coach Deirdre Wisneski to replace him as head coach.
Wisneski, a Rainbow Wahine alumna who led Hawaii to its first Big West title and first two NCAA postseason appearances in the mid-1990s, had been with the program for more than three decades and was the first associate head coach.
Coolen’s retirement was forced upon him as part of signing a two-year extension given to him by then-athletics director David Matlin in 2023.
“A job like this doesn’t come up very often,” Thanatharn said. “Definitely going to build on what Bob has done and continue to elevate it and make it the best experience I can for the student athletes.”
A four-year letterwinner for the Beach (2002, ’05-07), Thanatharn double-majored from LBSU in exercise science and sport psychology and coaching in 2006 and received a master’s in kinesiology with an option in sports management from LBSU in 2008.