By Ella Weidenhammer ‘27 staff writer
LVC’s athletic director Pat Ratke had announced a new name to the athletic staff — that name was Andrew Diaz de Padilla.
The team he’s now in charge of forming by the spring of 2028 is the college’s new men’s volleyball program. Diaz de Padilla is no stranger to being a part of a developing volleyball team. His senior year of high school, he committed to play Division III volleyball at Hiram College where he was a part of the second-ever recruiting class of the program, later winning an AMCC title and receiving a NCAA Tournament berth in 2021.
With his extra years of eligibility, Diaz de Padilla earned his master’s degree at Wittenberg University, where he played another two seasons as a setter.
“Recruiting is going to be everything for the next year and a half,” Diaz de Padilla said. ““Not only (recruiting) for guys who are going to help me win the MAC but also finding guys who care about the right things.”
Prior to finding his new home at the Valley, he spent two seasons as the assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team at Division I Jacksonville University. During the 2025 season, the Dolphins had their best season in over a decade, winning 20 games for the first time since 2014 and earning a conference tournament victory for the first time in 10 years.
“In Division III men’s volleyball, every team is beating ranked teams right now,” he said. “That is exciting.”
One point that he’s thrilled to talk about was the small, yet rich sights of campus as well as how competitive men’s volleyball is in the area.
“These facilities are insane,” he said. “I think there are so many things on LVC’s campus that mimic a Division I experience.”
Diaz de Padilla mentioned the new Jeanne and Edward H. Arnold Health Professions Pavilion as well as how LVC is able to staff full-time strength coaches, athletic trainers and assistant coaches which one doesn’t see too much with other Division III schools.
Team culture is important to Diaz de Padilla; in fact, he hopes to leave a lasting impact on his future players.
“If you can be the best team on the court but do not have an elite culture, you can win a conference, but you are not going to win a national championship,” he said. “I want my players to be able to mentally prepare for what is to come next at practice. I want them to be intentional and give all-out effort.”
Diaz de Padilla is focused on the recruitment phase. He said that success will not be measured by losses in year one or two.
“I want to be on the court successful by year four, that’s my goal,” he said.
Another goal for Diaz de Padilla is to create a challenging schedule. The idea behind this is to help his players develop their skills and confidence before reaching conference play. The MAC is considered middle tier as far as competition, and he can’t wait to get started.
“If you want to work hard and be pushed but also have a connection and a culture that really cares about you and each other that feels like a family, while having the experience of Division I level facilities, then this is the place for that.”