eSports

The Castillo-Ferrin Coaching File

David Castillo-Ferrin was appointed Bellevue University’s third esports coach in September of 2022, taking over for Samanga Amarasinghe where he will look to build upon some early success and expand BU’s esports offerings.

During his first season at BU, Castillo-Ferring helped the Bruins to a 34-23 overall record across four titles; Overwatch (1-2), Overwatch (28-9), League of Legends (5-2), and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (1-10). The season was especially for the Overwatch unit as the Bruins qualified for the Harrisburg University Esports Invitational and earned a fifth place finish before the transitioning to Overwatch 2. In OW2, Bellevue reached the National Semifinals in the NACE Starleague, Round of 32 during the Overwatch Collegiate Homecoming event, and a fourth place finish in the eight-team group stage of the marquee event, the Overwatch Collegiate Championship. Additionally, Nick McCormick became the first esports athlete honoree at the Bellevue Athletics taking home BU's Academic Athlete of the Year award.

Castillo-Ferrin brings over eight years of coaching experience to Bellevue, having previously coached soccer, wrestling, basketball, and esports at the youth level. The majority of his coaching experience has come with the YMCA of Greater Omaha, club teams, and within the Omaha Public Schools district.

A gamer for most of his life, Castillo-Ferrin began working in the esports sector in 2013.

Castillo-Ferrin’s work experience in esports also includes production, commentary, and tournament organization. In 2020 he started his own small business, MegaVolx Esports. MegaVolx Esports produces bi-weekly tournaments in multiple games with prize pools from sponsors. This has allowed him to make many connections with developers, so much so that our logo is in the game Brawlhalla as an exclusive avatar for our players.

He worked in education for over eight years. During that time, he both created and led the McMillan Magnet Middle School Esports Team.

His background – and favorite games to play – is in Brawlhalla, League of Legends, and Multiversus but Castillo-Ferrin considers any game he is able to play with his team among his favorites.

Castillo-Ferrin looks forward to his role at Bellevue as the head esports coach, saying, “I am very excited to work for Bellevue Esports because they were one of the first programs in the state, not only to offer esports as a varsity sport but also one of the first to offer scholarships! Bellevue Esports also has a very positive track record and I want to continue to add to that. I want to continue to build the team in the right direction, bring more games, more players, and overall more wins and success.”

An Omaha native, Castillo-Ferrin graduated from Omaha Burke High School before going on to earn his degree from the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Castillo-Ferrin currently resides in Omaha with his wife, Kassie Castillo-Ferrin, and their six pets which include three dogs and three cats. He remains active by taking part in archery, working out, and skateboarding. He is also an avid reader and enjoys watching sports.

His coaching philosophy is steeped in development and building connections with his players. He expands on this by saying, “I look forward to continuing to build a connection with my players, continuing to help them improve in every aspect of esports and life, and overall to assist them in securing their degree so they can continue to chase their dreams in life. Coaching to me is everything, without the right adults and coaches in my life I would not be successful. As a first generation American I had a lot of obstacles in my way, obstacles that many coaches helped me overcome. Some of the best life changing memories and advice have come from coaches, I will be forever grateful. If I can motivate and inspire the players around me and push them to be the best that they can be as a player and individual then it is all worth it.”