Daniel Villarreal was named an assistant coach on the Navy women's basketball staff on June 10. A talented coach with an emphasis on player development and film study, he comes to Annapolis following a successful run in the NBA and WNBA, most recently with the Washington Wizards.
Villarreal's coaching career has seen him bookend time in the professional ranks around stints in the collegiate game at UCLA and Florida State. The first stop in his innovative and influential career was as a basketball operations and video intern with the Washington Mystics in 2016. Villarreal continued to impress those within the Mystics organization and moved up to an analytics and video consultant role before becoming the head analytics and video coordinator in 2018.
He branched out into the women's collegiate ranks during his offseasons with the Mystics, first taking a position on UCLA's video staff for the 2017-18 campaign before switching coasts and joining Florida State's operation as the head video coordinator. During his two combined seasons with the Bruins and Seminoles, Villarreal's squads went a combined 51-17 and had successful runs in the NCAA Tournaments both years.
Still with the Mystics during their summer-based season, he began crossing the arena and assisting with the video operations of the Washington Wizards starting in 2019-20. With his foot in the door into the NBA, Villarreal quickly moved up the corporate ladder and was elevated to a full-time position with the Wizards in the roles of Assistant Video Coordinator/Player Development in 2022-23 and later assistant coach for the organization's summer league team. Prior to the 2023-24 season, Villarreal was named the Head Video Coordinator for the Wizards. In that role he coordinated all video room responsibilities for five video/player development assistants, managed the scouting process and workflows for players and coaching and assisted with on-court player development workouts and practices.
A proven winner, Villarreal helped the Mystics first advance to the 2018 WNBA Finals before coming back the next year and securing the 2019 WNBA Championship after posting a league-best 26-8 regular season mark. He coached Elena Delle Donne, the league's MVP that year, and later became the primary development coach for Myisha Hines-Allen, who finished runner-up for the 2020 WNBA Most Improved Player Award.
"I could not be more pleased to add someone of Daniel's caliber to our program and the Naval Academy," remarked Taylor. "As I stated with Sam Brunelle's hiring, it was paramount for us to find positive professionals with high-level basketball experiences either playing or coaching who have a passion for teaching and developing players as well as committed to creating staff and program synergy. We were also looking for candidates with different skill sets that we could integrate with our staff. I feel we hit a home run with Daniel.
"Daniel is a respected professional within the highest levels of basketball. He has worked with some of my close friends in the business during his nine years at the NBA and WNBA level. When you are receiving calls from the likes of John Thompson III, Mike Thibault, David Adkins and Sue Semrau raving about his work ethic, professionalism, character and teaching ability, you take notice. These are people I trust and once I met Daniel, it was obvious why they felt that way. His authenticity, humility and care for others was so evident.
"In his role in the WNBA and NBA, he spent a tremendous amount of time with on and off the court player development. I was impressed with his work with Anthony Gill and Myisha Hines-Allen and their trust in him. His commitment to being in the gym and putting in sweat equity with his players through high level workouts as well as mentoring them off the court was a constant focus of our conversations. You could see he is a teacher first in his workouts with our coaches. Plus, he has been a part of very successful programs and has helped build championship teams. But most importantly, throughout the process, Daniel had a "no job is beneath me mentality" which I feel is an important trait for the continued success and elevation of our program.
"Daniel has a unique skill set that we have not had in my time at Navy. He will improve our scouting and use of technology as well as bringing new and fresh basketball ideas to our program. You could see the attention to detail and knowledge in his scouts he presented to our staff. His commitment to creating staff cohesiveness and commitment to learning and growing every day was refreshing."
"I am thrilled to be joining Coach Taylor's staff," Villarreal said. "His commitment to the Naval Academy, the staff, and the athletes is rooted in a deep love for people and a genuine care for their development. He values relationships and is both a family man and a servant leader. It is a joy and honor to have the opportunity to support Coach Taylor's vision and to help build upon the great work that he and his team have already done. I couldn't be prouder to serve our athletes who have chosen to serve our nation while preparing to become its future leaders. Go Navy!"
A 2012 graduate, Villarreal holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Southern California, as well as a master of arts in sports industry management from Georgetown University, that he attained in 2017.
