BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Cesar Benatti has served as an Assistant Coach of the CSU Bakersfield indoor volleyball team for several seasons while simultaneously leading the Roadrunner beach volleyball program as its Head Coach. CSUB Director of Athletics Dr. Kenneth "Ziggy" Siegfried announced on Monday that Benatti will hand off his responsibilities with the indoor volleyball squad to put his full focus on the beach program.
"First of all, I'm super thankful I had the honor to serve as the indoor assistant coach for seven seasons," said Benatti. "It was definitely the time that I grew the most in my professional career and in my life as well. The relationships, values, special moments, and lessons that I take from all these years are the best possible. I want to thank all the student-athletes, fellow assistant coaches, our administration, and especially Coach Gi for all these years."
Benatti continued on to talk about the shift: "I'm very excited I can devote 100 percent of my time and effort to grow the beach volleyball team, which I have profound joy doing. I hope to take the program to a higher level every year. I can't wait to start next season!"
Together with Giovana Melo, CSUB's Director of Volleyball and Head Coach of the CSUB indoor team, Benatti has helped the `Runners make three postseason appearances and earn 16 All-Conference honors on the hard court. Out at the beach courts, Benatti is CSUB's winningest coach with 32 career victories heading into the 2022 season while the program has enjoyed five `Runner pairs earning All-Big West Conference nods.
"I honestly don't have enough words to describe how thankful I am for Cesar and what he has done for our volleyball program," Melo said. "He is an extremely loyal and dedicated person. It is going to be extremely hard to replace him."
"I have known Cesar for 10 plus years and he was obviously the first person I contacted when I got the job in Bakersfield," Melo said. "He became a brother to me, and this program wouldn't be where we are today without him. I am extremely sad he won't be on the sidelines with me anymore, but he deserves this opportunity to focus on his beach team. We are growing as a volleyball program and this separation is a big step in the right direction. I am excited to watch Cesar grow as a head beach coach. He is going to do amazing things with his program."
The shift in Benatti's responsibility signals another move CSUB Athletics is making toward investing into its women's programs. The beach volleyball team is also close to being fully-funded in scholarships for the first time in the program's history.
"We are extremely excited about this transition for Cesar and our volleyball programs," said Siegfried. "Our goal is to build our beach program into a Top 25 program in the country and a contender to win championships in the Big West Conference, a nationally-competitive league. Coach Benatti has done a great job in building our beach team and with his undivided attention, I am confident the best is yet to come."
Be on the lookout in the coming weeks for the announcement of the 2022 beach volleyball schedule. Benatti and his `Runners have been busy training in the sand, preparing to make another run at a Big West title.
~GoRunners.com~
