Baldwin High School alumnus and former Ball State men's volleyball head coach Donan Cruz was named the newest member of the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team's coaching staff on Wednesday.
Cruz was hired following the departure of former associate head coach Milan Zarkovic, who left for UCLA in September.
Cruz, who was born in Guam, has been familiar with the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball program for quite some time, catching the 'Bows on television from afar in the mid-1990s as the program was skyrocketing in popularity under star player Yuval Katz.
"I was born in Guam and even there, you turn on Channel 5, and some of my best moments was watching Yuval Katz serve a ball. That was one of the things that really inspired me," Cruz said.
After moving with his family to Maui, Cruz went on to graduate from Baldwin High School and worked his way up the coaching ranks. He was most recently the head coach for Ball State University in Indiana, coaching the Cardinals from 2022 to 2025. In his first season, the Cardinals defeated Hawai‘i twice in the regular season before falling to the 'Bows in the NCAA national semifinals. UH eventually went on to repeat as national champions.
In June, Cruz stepped down from Ball State, choosing to focus on his responsibilities as an assistant with the USA U21 national team. The opportunity to coach in his home state was an unexpected one, albeit one he was able to capitalize on promptly.
"The coaching profession kind of changes every day, and the NCAA landscape changes every day. The opportunity to kind of take a step back and get some fresh air and work with the U 21 national team was kind of exactly what I needed. I don't think I could have told you this was going to be anything that I even could have imagined even 30 days ago. So, to be standing here is pretty surreal," Cruz said while speaking to local media on Wednesday.
Prior to Ball State, Cruz was the head coach at NAIA school Grand View from 2012 to 2021, winning national titles in 2018 and 2021. His career record as a head coach is 292-91. He has also coached the USA men's national U21 team, most recently working with current Rainbow Warriors Tread Rosenthal, Kainoa Wade and Trevell Jordan.
Hawai‘i head coach Charlie Wade and Cruz have coached against each other in recent years, with Ball State making the trip to the Stan Sheriff Center in 2023 and 2025 and the Rainbow Warriors flying up to Muncie, Ind. in 2022 and 2024. Cruz went 2-5 against the Rainbow Warriors during his time with the Cardinals, but each matchup allowed him to build more professional rapport with Wade.
"How many guys on the planet that can bring (what Cruz does) to the table with that level of of coaching experience? He checked all the boxes," Wade said on Wednesday morning, "and we're stoked to have him here."
Cruz was able to take in a recent practice with the Rainbow Warriors and is set to immerse himself immediately.
"Being a head coach, I think one of the most important things you walk away with is just understanding how critical a cohesive staff is," he said. "The opportunity to come here and work with Charlie, learn some things and and then kind of share my experiences, it's obviously a different conference I'm coming from, so understanding the strengths and weaknesses of volleyball across the country, and be able to help raise the level of volleyball here is great.
"Charlie's been an amazing person for me, and ever since I was at Grand View, and that was like a time when small schools don't really get opportunities to play Division I schools, and he was gracious enough to kind of work with me on that."
The Rainbow Warriors are currently in fall training and will officially begin their 2026 season in January.
"This is a special group," Cruz said. "It's only one day, one hour, that I was able to watch practice, but seeing the caliber of the team, those are the kind of things as a coach that you leave the gym and want to go in the office, watch film and just kind of dive into the things that are the nuts and bolts on the court."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
