University of California, Santa Cruz

A former UC Santa Cruz legend, Head Coach Jake Landel joined the staff as a volunteer assistant in 2018.
Landel was elevated to Interim Head Coach in 2022, and by 2023 returned the Banana Slugs to the NCAA Tournament and the AVCA national rankings.

"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," said Courtnie Prather, the Interim Director of Athletics & Recreation. "We believe that he's uniquely suited to develop our student-athletes holistically and continue the program's nationally recognized success from last year."

In the two seasons with Landel as interim coach, the Banana Slugs have a 35-29 record. The 2023 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 graduated in 2015 with a degree in Marine Biology after being named a First Team AVCA All-American. He finished his Banana Slug Career with 775 kills, then the second-highest total in UCSC history, plus 92 aces to set the career record. Landel has also been active on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) beach circuit, participating in eleven tournaments over the past two years.

After graduation, 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.