Entering into his sixth season (2018-19) as the leader of the University of Hawai'i Hilo men's basketball program is G.E. Coleman.
Coleman took the reigns of a team that won six games in 2012-13 and started the rebuilding process. The Vulcans won seven games in his first season and then went 12-14 overall in 2014-15. UHH also improved to 8-11 in the PacWest Conference that year.
In 2016-17, after a 0-9 start, Coleman's team righted the ship, winning four of their final five games to finish 9-11 in conference play, just missing out on the PacWest tournament. In 2017-18, Coleman dealt with a rash of injuries, playing with just seven-eight players at one point late in the season. The Vulcans had upset wins over Western Washington and Concordia earlier in the year.
Prior to his arrival at UHH, Coleman was the associate head coach for six seasons at Central Washington University--a Division II school with a storied basketball history. He was also an assistant for the Wildcats five years prior to that.
At CWU, Coleman ran one of the nation's top offenses. In five of his six seasons, the Wildcats were among the top ten scoring teams in Division II and appeared in four straight West Region tournaments (2008-11). The 2010-11 squad was ranked first in the west region and finished fifth in the final NABC national ranking.
A 2005 graduate of CWU, Coleman's collegiate coaching career began as an assistant at NCAA Division I Eastern Washington University (2005-07). He helped develop six-year NBA veteran Rodney Stuckey of the Detroit Pistons, the 15th overall pick of the 2007 draft.
On the CWU staff since 2007, Coleman was the lead recruiter of 17 all-conference selections and three newcomers of the year as the Wildcats were 111-54 (.673) during that span. In the classroom, 10 players earned academic all-conference recognition. His responsibilities also included academic advising, student/player and alumni development, operations management and coordinating CWU’s basketball camps.
G.E.'s father, Gil Coleman, was an assistant to legendary CWU coach Dean Nicholson. The elder Coleman also served as the Wildcats' head coach from 1990-95.
A native Washingtonian, played on the basketball team and graduated from Onalaska High School in 2000.
