Landel gets promoted to Head Coach
8/30/2023 10:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
UC Santa Cruz Department of Athletics & Recreation has hired Jacob Landel to be its next Head Coach for Men's Volleyball. Landel has served the Banana Slugs as Interim Head Coach for the past two seasons and touts an illustrious history as a Banana Slug.
Courtnie Prather, the Interim Director of Athletics & Recreation, made the announcement and spoke highly of Landel's qualifications.
"We're excited to announce that Jake Landel has been hired to lead the program going forward. He was a standout player during his years on the team and also served as an Assistant Coach during the 2019 season, which saw the Men's Volleyball program make its deepest postseason run ever, finishing second in the national tournament."
A 2015 All-American at UC Santa Cruz, Landel had been an Assistant Coach the three prior seasons before being named Interim Head Coach in 2021.
"I'm grateful to continue coaching and leading this program," Landel said. "We're excited and eager to get to work and build on the successes of last year."
After graduating with a degree in Marine Biology, coach Landel coached at the club and high school levels and earned his high school science teaching credential from Cal State University Monterey Bay. Landel coached at Aptos High School from 2016-2018 where he won the league title two out of the three years he was there, and was runner-up the other year. Aptos made a run to the 2016 Central Coast Section finals, and was NorCal Region semifinalist in 2018.
In the past two seasons with Landel as coach, the Banana Slugs have a 35-29 record. This past season, he led the men's volleyball squad to the NCAA Tournament and a final American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national ranking of 15th in the nation. The team also earned an AVCA team academic award.
Landel has also been active on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) beach circuit, participating in eleven tournaments over the past two years.
"For the past two seasons, Landel has been the Interim Head Coach and has done an excellent job of maintaining continuity and building upon the program's strong foundation," Prather said. "We believe that he's uniquely suited to develop our student-athletes holistically and continue the program's nationally recognized success from last year."
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Courtnie Prather, the Interim Director of Athletics & Recreation, made the announcement and spoke highly of Landel's qualifications.
"We're excited to announce that Jake Landel has been hired to lead the program going forward. He was a standout player during his years on the team and also served as an Assistant Coach during the 2019 season, which saw the Men's Volleyball program make its deepest postseason run ever, finishing second in the national tournament."
A 2015 All-American at UC Santa Cruz, Landel had been an Assistant Coach the three prior seasons before being named Interim Head Coach in 2021.
"I'm grateful to continue coaching and leading this program," Landel said. "We're excited and eager to get to work and build on the successes of last year."
After graduating with a degree in Marine Biology, coach Landel coached at the club and high school levels and earned his high school science teaching credential from Cal State University Monterey Bay. Landel coached at Aptos High School from 2016-2018 where he won the league title two out of the three years he was there, and was runner-up the other year. Aptos made a run to the 2016 Central Coast Section finals, and was NorCal Region semifinalist in 2018.
In the past two seasons with Landel as coach, the Banana Slugs have a 35-29 record. This past season, he led the men's volleyball squad to the NCAA Tournament and a final American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national ranking of 15th in the nation. The team also earned an AVCA team academic award.
Landel has also been active on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) beach circuit, participating in eleven tournaments over the past two years.
"For the past two seasons, Landel has been the Interim Head Coach and has done an excellent job of maintaining continuity and building upon the program's strong foundation," Prather said. "We believe that he's uniquely suited to develop our student-athletes holistically and continue the program's nationally recognized success from last year."
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