Ryan Castle has been hired as the new head coach of the IU water polo program, IU Athletic Director Fred Glass announced Friday.
Castle has previously been a high-profile assistant coach at the collegiate level, along with having assistant and head coaching experience on the international stage. He has nine years of collegiate experience.
The past two seasons, Castle has been the associate head coach at Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors went to the 2015 Big West Tournament Championship and the 2015 NCAA Championship under his watch. He also served as an interim head coach during this past season. During that time, Hawaii had a 13-4 record, with five wins over top 10 teams.
“After a comprehensive national search, we are thrilled to have Ryan Castle as the new leader of Indiana water polo,” Glass said in release. “Ryan has a terrific record of player and team development at both the collegiate and international levels, is a tireless recruiter, a noted tactician and a person who values the tenets of the Spirit of Indiana. We are excited to have Ryan at IU.”
Prior to coaching at Hawaii, Castle worked with Michigan from 2013 to 2014. Before that, he worked as an assistant coach at Hartwick College for three years. In 2007 to 2010, he was an assistant at Arizona State, where the program had great success.
“I would like to thank IU and Director of Athletics Fred Glass for the opportunity to lead the Indiana water polo program,” Castle said in a release. “I view Indiana as one of the top programs in the country and I am excited to get started an continue to push IU toward the top. And the ‘24 Sports, 1 Team’ mantra is one that I could not be happier to embrace and enhance as we move forward.”
Castle has also coached extensively on the international level. He was the coach of the Kazakhstan Women’s Senior National team. The team appeared at the 2011 FINA World Championships and placed 13th, the fourth highest in the country’s history.
Castle has also served as the Video Analyst for the New Zealand senior team at the 2009 FINA World Championships. He also has worked with the United States’ Olympic Development Program, running one of the U.S.’s under-18 zone teams from 2007 to 2009.
Castle is a native of Cape Town, South Africa, and he graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2001.
Andrew Hussey
