POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State Soccer announced the addition of Makena Honda as an assistant coach, bringing a goalkeeping background, player development experience, and a detailed approach to team operations to Pocatello.
Honda joins the Bengals after serving as the Director of Operations and Player Development/Management with UC Riverside women's soccer during the 2025 season. In that role, Honda helped oversee women's soccer strategy and daily operations, including recruiting, logistics, game analysis, student-athlete support, mental readiness, and team culture.
Honda also brings goalkeeper-specific experience to the Idaho State staff. She has worked as a personal goalkeeper coach, building custom training programs designed to enhance positional skills, confidence, and overall performance. She also served as a youth sports coach at Village Sports in San Francisco from 2022 to 2023.
Idaho State head coach Dustin Downey emphasized Honda's energy, goalkeeping background, and fit within the Bengal program.
"Makena is a passionate and talented coach who will bring great energy into our team environment," Downey said. "With a goalkeeping specific background, she'll be working even more closely with our goalkeepers to help them reach their full potential. She will be a huge asset to our staff as well and allow us to attack tasks and duties at full speed with someone who's diligent and efficient in her work and responsibilities. We are so excited to have her be a part of what we are building, and know she is going to help take this program to new heights."
Before beginning her coaching career, Honda spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons on the University of San Francisco women's soccer team as a goalkeeper.
A native of Manhattan Beach, California, Honda played her prep career at Mira Costa High School, where she was a four-year varsity letter winner. During her time at Mira Costa, Honda helped lead the program to a 2020 CIF Southern Section Championship and a 2021 Bay League Championship during her senior season.
Honda was also named to the All-Area First Team Bay League by The Daily Breeze.
At the club level, Honda competed for Beach FC DPL for six years under coaches Kenyon Lohn and Joey Sudyka. Her previous UC Riverside bio also noted seven years of club soccer with Beach FC.
Outside of soccer, Honda has worked as the Head of Business Development for Bayside Medical Center in Hawthorne, where she oversaw marketing outreach among other duties. She also holds instructional certifications in CPR, First Aid, and phlebotomy.
Honda joins the staff following the departure of the Bengals previous Assistant Coach, Adam Nerio, who left for the same position at Missouri State.
Idaho State Soccer adds a young, energetic coach in Honda, with a strong goalkeeping foundation, player development experience, and a detailed background in the daily operations of a Division I soccer program.
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