No coach in history has encapsulated the spirit of what CCAA men's basketball is meant to be than David Yanai. Hardworking, forward-thinking, and committed to his student-athletes, Yanai worked 28 seasons in the CCAA, spending time at Cal State LA and Cal State Dominguez Hills.
He collected over 400 wins in his tenure and is still one of only three CCAA men's basketball coaches to hit that milestone. Yanai, the first Japanese-American head basketball coach at any level of college basketball, spent his first 19 seasons as head coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills, where his Toro teams advanced to the 1981, 1987, and 1989 NCAA Tournaments. In addition, he guided CSUDH to the 1979 NAIA National Championship Elite Eight after winning the NAIA District III Championship in only his second year in Carson. Individually, he claimed the 1979 District Coach of the Year, the 1987 NCAA West Region Coach of the Year, and two consecutive CCAA Coach of the Year Awards (1987 and 1988).
After nearly two decades with the Toros, Yanai took over the program at Cal State LA, where he led the Golden Eagles to the 1998 and 2000 NCAA Division II Tournament. All told, Yanai coached 55 CCAA All-Conference selections, two CCAA Athletes of the Year, one NABC All-American, and one NCAA Division II Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He is the all-time winningest coach in Cal State Dominguez Hills history.
In 2021, Yanai was awarded the John R. Wooden Award’s “Legends of Coaching” honor, which recognizes coaches who exemplify Coach Wooden’s high standard of coaching success and personal integrity. Yanai was the first-ever Division II coach to receive this distinction and just the fifth from the West Coast. He joins an illustrious list that includes the likes of coaching luminaries Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Tara Vanderveer, and Steve Fisher.