Women's Volleyball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- castand@wfu.edu
Diego Castaneda goes into his fourth season at Wake Forest in 2016 after spending two years as an assistant under Ken Murczek at North Texas. Prior to his time at North Texas, Castaneda was at Baylor for six seasons.
Castaneda works primarily with the middle blockers at Wake Forest, along with scouting opponents using the Data Volley scouting software, overseeing team travel, acting as the compliance liaison and aiding in recruiting.
He has also been an assistant coach for Team North Texas of the USA Premier Volleyball League, a regional indoor pro league sanctioned by USA Volleyball. Along with his participation on the PVL, Castaneda served as an assistant for the USA A2 Blue squad that won the Women's Open Division title at the 2011 USA Volleyball Open National Championships in Dallas. He has completed the level I of the Coaches Accreditation Program of USA Volleyball.
At North Texas, Castaneda helped the team achieve a 43-29 record over the past two seasons, culminating with the Mean Green advancing to the Sun Belt conference tournament championship game for the first time in the program's history. He also aided with the development of middle blocker Courtney Windham, who earned all-conference first-team honors and finished the year in the top 15 in the NCAA Division I rankings for total blocks.
Castaneda rose through the ranks of the Baylor program throughout six seasons with the Bears. During his stints as a team head manager, graduate assistant coach and director of volleyball operations, he was responsible for Baylor's team statistics, video exchange coordination, facilities preparation and many other facets of the program's day-to-day operations. As the program's graduate assistant coach, he helped the Bears advance to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2009.
A veteran in the Texas club volleyball scene, Castaneda was a head coach for the Waco Ultimate Volleyball Academy. He has experience officiating and coaching at the club level statewide in Texas, running several camps in the Waco, Houston, and Killeen-Fort Hood areas, and has also coached at camps in Oklahoma and Louisiana. He served as the head coach for the men's club volleyball team at Baylor, leading the Bears to a fifth place finish at the national tournament.
"I'm really excited and very thankful to Coach Murczek for this extraordinary opportunity," said Castaneda. "Wake Forest is a highly recognized academic institution and the ACC is one of the premier volleyball conferences in the nation. I can't wait to be a part of the Demon Deacon athletic family and help the volleyball program go to the next level."
Castaneda earned his bachelor's degree in international business from Baylor in 2008, and graduated with a master's degree in sport management in December of 2010. A native of Bogota, Colombia, he now resides in Winston-Salem.
