By Megan Venable
Meet Diana Cantú (pronounced: dee-YON-uh kahn-TOO). A self-described daddy’s girl, she followed her father Raul onto the golf course at six-years-old and has made a career out of the sport that he loved. As a child in Mexico, she earned many distinctions as a young golfer, but set her sights on being a Lady Vol. “I came here as player, fell in love with Tennessee and the program,” Cantú says. “I have a lot of pride about being a Lady Vol.”
She quickly went from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond in Knoxville, but connected immediately with the coaching staff, then-athletic director Joan Cronan and program supporter Ann Furrow.
After graduating from UT with a degree in Marketing, Cantú had a change of heart about playing golf professionally. She began coaching at Baylor, where she also earned her MS in Sports Management. Cantú continued that trajectory when she was hired to lead the Terrapins, and in 2020, during her time at the University of Maryland, she hit fast-forward on all aspects of her life while the world shut down. A friend introduced Cantú to her cousin, Chris Griffin, a couple of weeks before the Covid Pandemic. Griffin, a three-time graduate of the University of Tennessee and Knoxville native, and Cantú found themselves suddenly quarantined together. “All college athletics were stopped,” she laughs. “This was our silver lining from Covid.”
It was at this time that UT was looking for a new Lady Vols golf coach for the Knoxville program, and Cantú was tapped in 2021. “To be offered my dream job at 32 years-old is incredible,” she says. “When I got here, we had big goals, and winning an SEC championship was one of them.”
This year, the Lady Vols golfers brought that honor to Knoxville for the first time ever.
But Cantú is still putting her foot on the gas. Griffin and Cantú welcomed son Matteo in 2024 and are working hard to balance career and parenthood. Her father, one of her biggest cheerleaders, lost his battle with colon cancer only a few weeks after his first grandchild was born. Despite this devastating heartbreak, her family has surrounded her with support. “My mother comes two or three times a year, and my in-laws live in Friendsville,” Cantú says. “I could not do this without them.”
Griffin is adamant that their son Matteo sees his mother as a successful coach and parent, and the family works tirelessly toward that goal. “When I’m here, I try to be here, and when I’m with my son I try to be present for him,” Cantú says. “There are great moments with my team and great moments with my son. I always knew this place was special.”
When asked about her path to citizenship in the United States, she laughed and insisted she was working on the paperwork. “I’m a little busy these days,” Cantú claims.