Daemen University Athletics

Don Gleason enters his sixth season leading the Daemen men's volleyball program in 2024. A Western New York native with ties throughout the collegiate coaching world, Gleason was named the first head coach in program history on May 5, 2017. 

In just a short amount of time, Gleason has built the Daemen program to be among the very best in the Division I/II world on men's collegiate volleyball. After posting a 6-17 record in the program's inaugural season in 2019, with a roster comprised of entirely first-year college players, Gleason's Wildcats have been on the ris ever since. They posted a 12-7 mark in 2020 in a campaign saw Daemen host high-profile opponents such as UCLA, Pepperdine and Harvard, exposing Western New York to the upper-echelon of Division I/II men's volleyball. The Wildcats won nine of 11 matches through February and early March before the 2020 season was ultimately cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"He's really been incredibly thorough about everything in terms of how he's growing it, how he really worked hard at Daemen to make it happen, obviously how he's going out recruiting," said UCLA head coach John Speraw of Gleason following the Daemen-UCLA match. "He's out working it so I'm guessing they're going to be good quick. He's a good coach and he's working it."

Coach Speraw's assessment proved prophetic as Gleason led the Wildcats to an unblemished 10-0 mark in 2021 - a season still impacted by the pandemic. Despite the challenges of playing through a pandemic, Gleason found a way to put a season together with the Wildcats playing entirely inside New York State. 

Things returned to relative normality for the collegiate sports world in time for the Wildcats' 2022 season. A thrilling 3-2 road win at Princeton on January 23 made a statement that Gleason's program had indeed arrived. The Wildcats would go on to post a 16-6 record. They returned to the Independent Volleyball Association Championship for the first time since 2019, defeating Tusculum and host Queens (N.C.) before falling in the tournament's championship match to Lincoln Memorial. 

The 2023 season would provide its share of defining moments as well, as the Wildcats competed in a conference for the first time. The previous spring brought an announcement that Daemen would join the Northeast Conference. After being picked fourth in the NEC preseason coaches' poll, Gleason guided his team to an 11-3 mark in conference play, finishing second in the standings. The 2023 season also included wins over Princeton and Harvard, as well as the program's first-ever win against a team ranked in the AVCA national poll - a thrilling 3-2 road win at #12 Cal State Northridge on March 18. They finished with a 17-7 overall record, establishing a new program benchmark for wins in a season. 

Before taking on the challenge of starting the Daemen men's program, Gleason came to Daemen as an assistant on the women's volleyball coaching staff, a position he held for four seasons. In that time, Gleason helped the Wildcats to a 73-47 record, three East Coast Conference tournament appearances and two NCAA tournament berths, including a run to the regional finals in 2016.

Gleason has made additional coaching stops at the Division I and Division III levels. He's been an assistant coach on the women's volleyball staffs at Stony Brook University (2015), the University at Buffalo (2014) and Yale University (2012-13).  He got his start as an assistant for the women's program at Medaille College in 2011, and later spent the spring of 2013 as a volunteer assistant at the University of Southern California.  In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Gleason has extensive ties to the club volleyball scene, and he owns and operates Oasis Beach Volleyball Club for boys and girls ages 10-18.

Gleason is a 2011 graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology where he earned a bachelor's degree in industrial and systems engineering. In addition, he holds certification as a strength and conditioning specialist from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.