CJ Vaifanua-Pace

CJ Vaifanua-Pace is the assistant women’s basketball coach at Utah State University and brings a great deal of coaching experience to the Nike Basketball Camp at Westminster University.

Coach Vaifanua-Pace joined the Aggies prior to the 2023-24 season, bringing 11 years of collegiate coaching experience, including seven years as a head coach, to the position. Most recently, she served as the head coach at Division II CSU Monterey Bay for four seasons from 2018-22. Prior to her time at CSU Monterey Bay, Vaifanua-Pace was the head coach for three seasons at East Georgia State College from 2015-18. There, she became the first coach in program history to lead the team to back-to-back GCAA Final Fours in 2017 and 2018. She was named the GCAA Coach of the Year in 2017. With the Bobcats, she helped develop three all-conference players including 2016-17 GCAA Player of the Year and NJCAA Second-Team All-American Shunseere Kent. Before becoming a head coach, Vaifanua-Pace served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Armstrong State in Savannah, Georgia, from 2013-15. She helped lead the Pirates to their first-ever NCAA Division II Sweet 16 appearance in 2014 and to back-to-back PBC Tournament appearances. Vaifanua-Pace got her coaching start as an assistant at Chipola College in 2011-12, before going on to hold the same position at Georgia Perimeter College in 2012-13. Prior to her coaching career, Vaifanua-Pace enjoyed a high level of success as a player at both the collegiate and professional levels. After beginning her career at Chipola College, she played her final two college seasons at South Carolina. As a senior under Hall of Fame coach Dawn Staley, Vaifanua-Pace averaged 7.6 points and 5.9 rebounds while starting 24 games for the Gamecocks. She then went on to play professionally for two seasons in Portugal and Peru. A native of Snellville, Georgia, Vaifanua-Pace earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of South Carolina in 2010 and a master's degree in management and athletic administration from Southern New Hampshire University in 2017.