After retirement, Okada started his coaching career at
Furukawa Electric (later
JEF United Ichihara) in 1990. In 1995, he became a coach for the
Japan national team. During the
1998 World Cup qualification Final round in October 1997, Japan's manager
Shu Kamo was sacked and Okada was named his successor. In November, Okada led Japan to qualify for the
1998 World Cup for the first time in Japan's history. At the 1998 World Cup, Japan lost all 3 matches and he resigned after the World Cup. In 1999, Okada signed with
J2 League club
Consadole Sapporo. In
2000, he led the club to win the J2 League and promoted the club to the
J1 League. He resigned at the end of the 2001 season. In 2003, he signed with
Yokohama F. Marinos. The club won the league title and he was also awarded Best Manager for 2 years in a row in
2003 and
2004. From 2005, the club performance was sluggish and he resigned in August 2006. In November 2007,
Japan national team manager
Ivica Osim suffered a
cerebral infarction. In December, Okada was named a new manager for Japan. In 2008, he selected numerous new young players, including
Atsuto Uchida,
Shinji Kagawa,
Yuto Nagatomo,
Keisuke Honda,
Shinji Okazaki and many others. In 2009, Japan qualified for the
2010 World Cup. Okada gained worldwide attention for leading Japan to ninth-place finish in the 2010 World Cup. He was commended for turning his Japanese team of young, inexperienced players into a slick passing, talented squad of youngsters. He resigned after the
2010 World Cup. In November, he was awarded AFC Coach of the Year. Okada signed a contract with
Chinese Super League side
Hangzhou Greentown on 14 December 2011. He extended his contract for two years in the end of 2012 season. However, he resigned from Hangzhou on 5 November 2013. In November 2014, he bought a majority stake in
FC Imabari and became a chairman of the club. In March 2016, he became a vice-president of
Japan Football Association and served until March 2018. ==Career statistics==