Longtime Texas Club Volleyball Coach Dies from Leukemia

Coach Ping Cao led several nationally-ranked volleyball teams in Dallas-Fort Worth area since 2010

Dallas Skyline Junior coach Ping Cao died Oct. 24. / Dallas Skyline Juniors

A longtime Texas club volleyball coach has died.

Dallas Skyline Juniors Volleyball announced Oct. 24 that Cao had passed away from his battle with leukemia.

A member of the Chinese Olympic team in 1984, Ping has coached in the United States since 2000.

He ran some of the best club volleyball teams not only in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, but the entire nation. He most recently coached one of the Skyline 17 Royal teams.

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The background

Cao coached the Sports Performance Volleyball Club in Aurora, Illinois, winning a 16 open national championship and several AAU titles. He moved to Texas in 2010 and started work for Texas Advantage Volleyball.

In the Lone Star State, he coached TAV, Drive Nation and Dallas Skyline Juniors up until this past club season.

He won a title his first year with TAV and he was the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s National 17s coach of the year in 2016 for coaching TAV 17 Black. Ping’s TAV 17 Black was the No. 1 nationally-ranked team when he left. 

He joined the Jermaine O’Neal Drive Nation in 2021 and Skyline in early 2024. 

O’Neal, the former NBA standout, hired Cao for his wrk with his daughter, Asjia, who played for TAV Black and went on to play at Texas.

Texas Longhorns middle blocker Asjia O'Neal (7) attacks against Wisconsin Badgers outside hitter Molly Haggerty (23) at CHI Health Center Arena and Convention Center. O'Neal played for Ping Cao with TAV: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images / Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

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The accolades

He won four National USA 17s volleyball titles, a runner-up finish and a third-place finish.

His former players dotted Division I rosters for years.

Baylor, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kansas, Texas, West Virginia, USC, South Carolina and Tulsa to name just a few. 

Aside from coaching, he also wrote two books on the sport.