Paul Castillo to take over coaching
College of the Redwoods announced that former Cal Poly Humboldt assistant Paul Castillo will take over as head coach of the women’s volleyball team next season. Castillo will take over for Petra Lorenzi, who made the decision to step away and helped facilitate the transition into a new coach.
Castillo takes over a program that has been plagued by struggles over the past few years. The team has not had a winning season since 2016 and could not get more than 5 wins in any season since. The team got off to a solid 4-6 start last season, but ultimately struggled once again and lost the final 13 games. In taking the program in a new direction, Castillo hopes to build a culture of volleyball at all levels within the community.
“What I’m looking forward to is starting more community engagement,” said Castillo. “Doing classes at times when high schools can get involved.”
That grassroots approach is key for the Humboldt area, which thrives in most athletics but has struggled to produce competitive teams in volleyball. Arcata is perennially the strongest high school program in Humboldt County, but even the Tigers are often unable to seriously compete in the postseason against the better volleyball teams in Northern California. Elevating the level of skill and competition at the high school and youth levels is a positive for both the athletics program and the community.
“We have former players up here that have played at the D2 and D1 level (NCAA Division I and II),” said Castillo. “You get them to come out and play against your students, they overall will increase the level as students get better because they’re playing against better competition.”
Castillo explained this approach was key for him when he was an assistant alongside Kelly Wood at Santa Rosa Junior College. While there, the team made the CCCAA postseason six times and was the runner-up in the state final three times. And while volleyball had a much stronger place in that area, the focus was still on cultivating local talent.
He later went on to become head coach at Pacific Union College, an NAIA program in Angwin, before rejoining Wood as an assistant at Cal Poly Humboldt. But the years at Santa Rosa form the basis of his approach as he prepares to take over at Redwoods.
“We were never the biggest. We were never the hardest hitting,” said Castillo of that experience. “But what we did is we worked harder and we were defensive.”
He was also complimentary of coach Lorenzi, who has been instrumental in making the transition a smooth process. Lorenzi took over as head coach with plenty of pedigree of her own as a former team captain for the University of South Carolina. Castillo mentioned that the process has been on her terms as she seeks to pursue new opportunities.
“She’s been working with me with the current returners. She just gave me a tour around campus,” Castillo said. “I wanted to make sure that this was a positive thing and that’s what she expressed.”
Tactically, Castillo explained that his coaching approach will emphasize less specialization and more versatility. He also explained that philosophically the team will have to have a gritty, relentless mentality.
“In a rally, a ball might come to you and you might need to know what to do and how to do it,” said Castillo. “I try to teach collectively as a whole volleyball player instead of just a position.”
But one constant theme in Castillo’s talking points was patience. Given the struggles over the past few years and the emphasis on local community building around volleyball, change will have to come incrementally. “The key is patience,” said Castillo. “This won’t happen overnight.”