When Donan Cruz decided to move to Iowa to be closer to his wife’s family, he had an inkling he wanted to coach volleyball.
Any job, especially in the Midwest, would suffice, and Cruz was lucky enough to jump on as an assistant for the Grand View University women’s team.
As a random thought popped in his head during a meeting with the director of athletics, Troy Plummer, Cruz asked about starting up a men’s program without putting much thought into it.
“They told me to write a proposal,” Cruz recalled Tuesday. “I just said, ‘OK,’ and thought he was joking, but then I put a 20-page document together with the help of USA Volleyball … they took it to the board of directors …. a month later they said they wanted to hire me.”
Suddenly, the 2001 Baldwin High graduate was put in charge of a collegiate men’s volleyball program, and a year later he began his first season as the Vikings’ head coach.
Now at the start of his sixth season with the school, Cruz will have a homecoming of sorts this week when Grand View University plays two matches against Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday and Sunday.
Cruz has built the program into the No. 1-ranked NAIA men’s volleyball team, according to the rankings released Tuesday.
| Head coach: Donan Cruz
Years: Six
High school: Baldwin (2001)
The only head coach in program history, Cruz was named AVCA NAIA men’s volleyball coach of the year in 2014 and ’15 after leading the Vikings to two straight NAIA National Invitational semifinal appearances. He’s also an assistant coach for the Grand View women’s volleyball team after spending one year as head coach of the boys volleyball team at University Lab School on Oahu.
Assistant coach: Kyle Hanagami
Years: Two
High school: Waiakea (2011)
A four-year starting setter for the Vikings before using up his eligibility in spring 2015, Hanagami currently holds the program’s all-time assists record with 2,601. He was named the NAIA sportsman of the year in 2014 and made first-team, all-conference as a junior. He is currently a personal trainer at Lifetime Fitness in Iowa.
Assistant coach: Rhett Kane
Years: Two
High school: Kamehameha (2011)
Kane was part of the first Grand View men’s volleyball team in 2012 and played every position at some point in his four-year career. He graduated in spring 2016 majoring in Kinesiology and Heath Promotions while minoring in Business and Sports Management and is currently working on his masters in Sports Management.
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He has four players from Hawaii on his roster and two of his assistants, Kyle Hanagami and Rhett Kane, are former players from the islands.
Cruz has used a lot of what he learned and watched growing up as an avid UH men’s volleyball fan to build the Vikings program into a national title contender.
“I think part of being good is you’ve got to be able to recruit the right type of athletes,” Cruz said. “The funny thing is if you take a look at the University of Hawaii’s profile and some of those characteristics that you find out about how they recruit are the same things I have tried to implement with us.
“We recruit foreign athletes like they do and (the athletes) seem to really fit well with Grand View. It’s something I picked up from watching guys growing up and playing volleyball (at UH) and I thought to myself we could use that same strategy.”
The Grand View roster includes four players from Brazil, three from Puerto Rico and two from Guam.
Senior Savili Bartley, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker who graduated from Kamehameha, is the only player from Hawaii who made the trip.
He has compiled 19 kills and 10 block assists and played in all 10 sets this season for the Vikings (3-0).
“I think excited is an understatement for expressing how he feels about being here and being home,” Cruz said of his middle blocker. “Not only is he a valuable asset to us physically and athletically, but as a leader on the court, he brings this kind of calm intenseness to our volleyball team and he works hard.”
Grand View has made the NAIA national semifinals each of the past two years and advanced all the way to the title game a year ago before losing to Missouri Baptist.
Cruz has been in touch with Hawaii coach Charlie Wade in recent years and an opening in the schedule finally came about that Cruz could bring his guys over for a week.
“To be honest, things just aligned at the right time,” Cruz said. “They had the ability to host us and we wanted to come over.”
Cruz played collegiately in the NAIA at Graceland University, another school in Iowa that has six players from Hawaii currently listed on the roster.
A total of 19 kids in the NAIA and 43 players overall are listed on mainland collegiate volleyball rosters. Only a select few get the opportunity to come back and play and experience the atmosphere of the Stan Sheriff Center.
“(Hawaii) is a program that I highly respect,” Cruz said. “It’s a program that has taught me a lot about volleyball, kept me intrigued about volleyball growing up — and to be able to say that we can play these guys is definitely a significant value to me personally.”
HAWAII PLAYERS ON THE MAINLAND
Here is a list of the 43 men’s volleyball players who graduated from Hawaii high schools playing collegiate volleyball on the mainland.
NAME SCHOOL HT POS CL. H.S.
DIVISION I
Sam Bradley Pepperdine 6-5 MB Fr. Punahou
Sky Engleman Grand Canyon 5-9 L Jr. Moanalua
Emmett Enriques Cal Baptist 6-1 L So. KS-Hawaii
Evan Enriques Stanford 6-2 L Jr. KS-Hawaii
Michael Fisher UCLA 6-5 OH Sr. Hawaii Baptist
Puna Kaniho Grand Canyon 6-2 S Jr. Kamehameha
Parker Lui Cal Baptist 5-8 L Fr. Moanalua
Micah Ma’a UCLA 6-3 S/OP So. Punahou
Cullen Mosher Grand Canyon 6-2 OH Jr. Kamehameha
Wil Stanley BYU 6-4 S Fr. Punahou
Gabriel Vega Stanford 6-7 OH Sr. ‘Iolani
Chris Wise NJIT 5-9 L So. Kamehameha
Kelsey Yogi CSUN 5-7 L Fr. Punahou
DIVISION II
Isaiah Kaaa Concordia (Calif.) 6-2 S So. Punahou
Justice Lord Barton College 6-7 MB So. Hilo
DIVISION III
Daniel Aina Southern Virginia 5-11 DS So. Kamehameha
Casey Bolda Lakeland 6-2 OH Sr. Kaiser
Tai Coleman Lakeland 6-4 MB So. Kapolei
Keenan Freitas Lees-McRae 5-11 L/DS Sr. Christian Liberty
Diego Garcia Emerson 5-11 OH/RS/DS Fr. Punahou
Trevor Perry Lakeland 6-1 MB Jr. Maryknoll
Stig Regan Emerson 6-3 MB Jr. Le Jardin
Joshua Rotz Lancaster Bible 6-1 OH So. Hanalani
Casey Takahashi Lakeland 5-4 L Jr. Maryknoll
NAIA
Savili Bartley Grand View 6-1 MB Sr. Waianae
Danny Beaton Dordt 6-2 OH/RS Fr. Kalaheo
Karson Cruz Briar Cliff 6-0 MB/RS So. Moanalua
Adrian Faitalia Grand View 6-3 OH Jr. Saint Louis
Shaun Kanoho Cincinnati Christian 5-6 DS Jr. Trinity Christian
Andrew Kaopuiki Graceland 5-11 OH So. Hanalani
Jaryn Kuhaulua-Feiteira Lourdes 6-2 MB/OH Jr. Maui
Noah Marasco-Ayau Briar Cliff 5-9 DS/L So. Moanalua
Kingston Nishimura Grand View 6-0 OH So. Mililani
Kaelan Padilla Graceland 5-2 L Fr. Pahoa
Patrick Pascual Cal Merced 5-8 L Jr. Damien
Naone Passi Morningside 6-0 OH Fr. Kamehameha
CJ Rilveria Lourdes 5-7 DS Sr. King Kekaulike
Toma Savea Graceland 6-0 MB Fr. Leilehua
Jared Shirai Hope Univ. 5-10 S/L Sr. Kaimuki
Kanoa Snively Graceland 6-1 S Fr. Kealakehe
Ejay Tagabi Graceland 5-5 L Fr. Waipahu
Israel Trusdel Grand View 6-4 MB Sr. Kamehameha
Silia Tucker Graceland 6-0 S Sr. Kalaheo
