Danny Yoshikawa enters his first season as an assistant coach at USF after spending last season at UC Santa Barbara.

In one season in Santa Barbara, Yoshikawa helped the Gauchos to a 23-9 record and a berth in the 2008 NIT Postseason Tournament. His stint as an assistant followed a highly successful tenure as a head coach at West Valley.

In his five seasons as the head coach at West Valley, Yoshikawa recorded a 144-47 record for a .753 winning percentage. He guided the Vikings to a pair of Golden Gate Conference titles, five California State Community College Tournaments and to two Elite Eight appearances. In 2006, his West Valley team advanced to the state championship game and he was named California State Coach of the Year and Golden Gate Conference Coach of the Year. In 2007, with just four returning players from the squad that advanced to the state championship game, Yoshikawa's team went 24-9 and won its first round game in the state playoffs.

The San Jose, Calif., native began his college basketball career as a player at West Valley where he played two seasons (1992-94) under current Cal State Fullerton head coach Bob Burton. Yoshikawa, a point guard, earned All-Golden Gate Conference honors while helping the Vikings to a two-year record of 53-11. After his two seasons at West Valley, he moved on to UC Davis where he played two years (1994-96). In his two years at Davis, the Aggies won a pair of Northern California Athletic Conference titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament each year. As a senior, Yoshikawa was named NCAC Player of the Year, All-NCAC and UC Davis Male Athlete of the Year. In his four seasons as a player, his teams went 100-29.

Yoshikawa began his coaching career in 1998 at West Valley where he spent three years as an assistant to Burton. Following his stint as an assistant he was named head coach at Cañada College where he went 20-10 in one season before returning to West Valley where he replaced Burton. Overall, his six-year community college coaching record was 164-57 (.742).

Yoshikawa graduated from UC Davis in 1997 with BA degrees in international relations and Japanese. He earned his MS degree in kinesiology from San Jose State. Following his graduation from UC Davis, he spent one year traveling the world before beginning his coaching career in 1998.