Saint Martins Athletics

Dan Behnke enters his fourth season as the head volleyball coach for Saint Martin's University in 2023.

Under Behnke’s leadership, the Saints broke their single season win record in back-to-back years tallying 13 wins in 2022, and 10 wins in 2021. In his first season, the Saints defeated conference foe, Seattle Pacific University for the first time in their 24-year history in a shortened Covid year.  

Behnke came to Saint Martin’s after coaching for five seasons at NAIA Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. During his time at HT, Behnke went 94-52, including a 75-20 in the last three years. Prior to his arrival, Huston-Tillotson went 16-145 in a five-year span. 

The two-time Red River Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Behnke led his Rams to a conference championship and National Tournament appearance in 2019. In 2018, Huston-Tillotson was the RRAC regular season co-champions, and finished as the tournament runner-up in 2017. 

Behnke coached three All-Americans, 36 All-Conference players during his time, along with three RRAC Front-Row Players of the Year, 2 Setters of the Year, and one Defensive Specialist of the Year. 

Before his time at Huston-Tillotson, Behnke served as a volunteer assistant coach for one season at Division-I Texas State University where they finished as the runner up in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Match.
 

Previously, Dan coached juniors volleyball for 9 years while qualifying 2 teams to the USA Girls Junior National Championships in his final 2 seasons. As a player, Behnke was team president and right-side hitter for the University of Wisconsin-Stout men’s club team. During his time, the team earned top-25 national rankings each season. 

Prior to full-time coaching, Behnke had a 14-year career serving youth and families in the field of social services. In 2008, he received the Champions for Children Award in recognition of changing children’s lives in the greater Austin community. Originally from Neenah, WI, Behnke earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology with a minor in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 2000. He resides in Olympia, Washington with his wife Ashley and 2 sons, Theo and Oliver.