Longtime Wildcat and Tucsonan, Chad Castillo, was hired by Arizona Swimming & Diving head coach Augie Busch as an assistant coach on June 28, 2023.
Castillo joined the Wildcats full time after serving as a volunteer assistant coach with the program last season. He brings over a decade of coaching experience to the role, all of which he has accumulated right here in Tucson.
"I am tremendously excited to bring coach Castillo onto our staff," Busch said at the time of his hiring. "He has worked hard and earned this opportunity. Chad has huge potential as a Division I coach through his teaching skills and relationship-centered approach. I have no doubt that he will become an excellent recruiter as well. I coached Chad as a high schooler and he has always been a genuine, kind, and positive person. I think he's going to be a difference maker for our program; I can't wait to work with him."
Castillo's swim coaching career is highlighted by five seasons as the head women's swim coach at Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson. While at Salpointe he guided the Lancers to the 2014 Arizona Division II Women's State Championship and earned Arizona 5A/Division II southern region Coach of the Year honors all five seasons.
"I am excited and honored to join the University of Arizona's swimming and diving coaching staff," Castillo said at the time of his hiring. "As a lifelong Tucsonan and Wildcat, I understand the important place that the University of Arizona's swimming and diving program holds in the community. I am grateful for the opportunity that coach Busch has given me to be a part of this amazing program and its future. Bear Down!"
Immediately rior to his time with the Wildcats, Castillo spent eight years coaching at La Paloma Country Club and Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics Club. While with La Paloma CC he helped grow team membership from 20 in 2019 all the way to 120 in the summer of 2022 before joining the Cats.
Castillo graduated from Arizona in 2008 with a degree in Biology and earned his master's in Teaching and Teacher Education in 2010. He and his wife, Katie, have three children: Caden, Camryn, and Cooper.
