Nanci Coolen’s dream is to someday travel the breadth of the U.S. in an RV when her husband, Bob, retires from the University of Hawaii.

But that is apparently going to have to wait a while longer now that the Rainbow Wahine softball coach has agreed in principle to a three-year extension that will take him through the 2023 season, the school confirmed.

Coolen will also receive a slight raise on his $112,008 annual salary.

The 61-year-old Coolen, who will begin his 29th season as head coach next year, is the second-longest-tenured head coach among UH’s 21 teams. He trails only sailing’s Andy Johnson, who will begin his 30th year.

Coolen and men’s basketball coach Eran Ganot are the only head coaches whose contracts run through 2023, and talks on a likely extension for Ganot for beyond that are said to be underway.

Athletic director David Matlin said Coolen’s extension reflected the softball team’s 33-16 season and second-place (14-7) finish in the Big West Conference “as well as his long body of very good work. He’s done it the right way.”

Matlin said, “I’m just excited that he is coming back for three more years.”

Coolen has guided the Rainbow Wahine to 11 NCAA appearances, including the 2010 Women’s College World Series, across stays in the Big West and Western Athletic conferences. His teams have won six conference championships and he has been named coach of the year six times. Seventeen players have earned All-America honors in his tenure.

Coolen this year became the fourth coach to reach the 1,000-victory milestone at UH. He is 1,006-614-1 at UH and 1,078-707-1 in a 32-year career overall.

At UH, only former tennis coach Jim Schwitters (1,326), volleyball’s Dave Shoji (1,283) and baseball’s Les Murakami (1,079) have more victories. Schwitters and Shoji at various times in their careers also coached men’s and women’s teams at the school.

Coolen came to UH from Bentley (Mass.) University as an assistant to Rayla Allison in 1990 and subsequently took over the program that has been his passion in 1992.

“I really appreciate the confidence and support that everyone has shown in the growth of our sport at UH since I arrived with Rayla,” Coolen said.

One of his avowed goals is to see through to completion the long-planned upgrades to Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, a facility he has tenderly cared for and hovered over for decades. It is where he can be seen walking the grounds and picking up pebbles and debris when not looking up and imagining a more up-to-date field of dreams.

He has been a patient yet persistent advocate for giving his players and their fans a Division I-worthy venue and is finally seeing the vision begin to really come into focus.

“With the design phase of the (stadium) currently taking place to add locker rooms for the players and (a) coaches office, I’m excited to see this take shape,” Coolen said in a text message. “It will take three additional phases to completely renovate Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium and I’m hoping I’m around for the completion.”

Coolen added, “It would be a nice ‘cherry on the top’ ending to my career…”

Maybe, then, allowing him to finally take that cross-country trip his wife has been looking forward to.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.