In 2005, Tom contacted Coach Featherstone about working with Seaside after retiring from DI level women’s volleyball coaching.  He had just been hired at UCSD as the men’s assistant, and Tom thought what better way to reach out into the local community and observe SoCal players than to coach junior boys.  Seaside was the logical choice because he and Coach Featherstone coached DI women at the same time – 1980 – ’87, and, often competed against each other.  Tom was at New Mexico State, and Coach Featherstone was at United States International University (USIU).  From there, Tom moved to the Big 10 where he coached at the University of Indiana for over a decade.

     Tom wasn’t interested in developing the underclassmen, and, given his coaching experience and expertise, Coach Featherstone immediately put him with the top seniors as the assistant to Seaside veteran coach, Jeff Hall.  It was good timing.  The Seaside 18 Black team in ’06 was top ranked – the best Seaside 18 team since ’97 – and Tom was just what Jeff needed. . . a supportive, knowledgeable assistant to help get this team, led by California State Athlete of Year, Chase Budinger (La Costa Canyon); and, current Team USA star, Garrett Muagututia (Francis Parker/UCLA), to the top.

     After nine years had elapsed since the last National Championship (’97), Coach Featherstone, for obvious reasons, secretly suspected another milestone for the club in 2006.  Another talented 18 team was poised to make a run for the gold.  This team wasn’t as talented across the board as the ’92 or ’97 teams but it had the two ‘super studs’ and a decent supporting cast. . .Both setters, Tyler Spratt and Alex Scattareggia were outstanding, and they had a libero, Kory Matsukado, who was big time.  Current Seaside coach, Garrett Payne, was also on that team and played a lot as a serving/defensive specialist.  Talent aside, it was Tom and Jeff who really did a great job putting it all together and getting them to peak in Minneapolis.  Seaside 18 Black had to defeat an outstanding Hawaii team in the semis in order to reach the finals.  Ironically, Tom’s brother, Dave (UH Women’s Coach) was there to watch and he predicted an Outrigger victory.  Dave’s son was the setter.  What Dave didn’t know was how well Tom had Hawaii scouted.  Seaside won in a tough 3 game match and then went on to defeat a solid group of kids out of the San Fernando Valley (Synergy) coached by Walt Kerr, a UCLA assistant.

     In 2007, Coach Hall was hired by UOP as their top men’s assistant and Tom coached the Seaside 17’s.  In 2008, he took the 18 group which included Garrett Muagututia’s brother Myles (a two-sport athlete/football/volleyball), Stanford-bound Evan Barry, UCLA-bound Thomas Amberg, Hawaii-bound Gus Tuaniga, Harvard-bound Matt Jones, and UOP-bound Taylor Hughes.  The team had high goals but were plagued by injuries the entire year. They were knocked off by eventual champion Balboa Bay in the quarter finals and finished 5th in Sandy, Utah.  In 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, Tom again led the 18 Black team to a 5th place finish.  This team was led by Muagututia (Stanford-bound for football); Tyler Heap (BYU-bound); Ian Hendries (Penn State-bound) and Zach Penolio (Park College).  Finishing 5th was a reach for this team, but Tom did a nice job coaching them up.

Tom moved on to Willamette College in Oregon to coach DIII women in 2010.  He plans to retire in 2015.  All toll, he has more college volleyball coaching experience under his belt than any Seaside coach in history, including Coach Featherstone.

     Coach Featherstone on Tom Shoji :  “Tom brought more cumulative coaching expertise into Seaside than anyone prior to him. . .He was more than a solid tactical and technical coach to the young boys; he was a father figure. . .He taught life lessons as well and approached the junior club game accordingly. . . Winning was nice, but it wasn’t the end all. . .Far more important to Tom was making sure the boys matriculated to the right college and had their eyes on their future life away from volleyball. . . While at UCSD and Seaside, Tom had to learn the men’s game was clearly different than the women’s game but he adapted very quickly. . . He was big on stats, as most DI coaches are, and there were plenty of coaches within the club willing to help him prepare, particularly Osburn, Harrah, and myself. . . Unfortunately, only a few of our Seaside guys – Tien Le, Youssef El Rakabawy, and Dave Shevlin - ended up at UCSD. . .To this day, I’ll never forget the verbal lesson he gave me in 1983 coaching against him. . .I was only in my 3rd season of DI coaching and my USIU team had his New Mexico State team down 2-0 and we’re up big in game three. . . Thinking we had it won, I subbed my setter off, my top middle, and our ace hitter; we lose games 3 and 4, I put the starters back out there, we try to regroup, momentum is gone, and Tom wins in five. . . He turns to me and says : “Next time, just go win the match.”  After that, I never subbed being up 2-0 ! .”