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Coach Dante Alinsunurin. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – Multi-title men’s volleyball coach Dante Alinsunurin will take the shot for the Choco Mucho Flying Titans in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League season, which begins in February with the Open Conference.
Multiple sources on Thursday told Inquirer Sports that Choco Mucho will announce the signing of Alinsunurin as the new head coach in the coming days.
Another source revealed that Alinsunurin will come to the team with men’s national team player Jessie Lopez as part of his coaching staff.
The Flying Titans become the first women’s club team to be managed by a veteran men’s coach.
Another challenge for Alinsunurin is juggling his duties as PVL coach, National University tactician with UAAP Men’s Volleyball Season 85 also opening in February and mentoring the Philippine team in the 32nd Southeast Asian Olympics in May in Cambodia.
The Inquirer contacted Alinsunurin but he had not responded at the time of posting.
Alinsunurin has proven himself in the men’s division as he led the National University Bulldogs to multiple championships in the UAAP, Spikers’ Turf, and V-League.
The coach of the Philippine men’s volleyball team also led his squad, led by Marck Espejo and Bryan Bagunas, to a historic silver medal finish at the 2019 Asian Games in Manila.
Now it’s their turn to try something new in the PVL as they will be inheriting Choco Mucho who haven’t reached the Finals since joining the league three years ago.
The last time Alinsunurin coached the women’s team was back in UAAP Season 72 with the NU Lady Bulldogs, who finished 1-13 in 2010. She was also the team’s assistant in Season 72 and was Sherwin Meneses’ deputy in the defunct Generika-Ayala in the Philippine Superliga 2020 before being fired by pandemic.
The Flying Titans made back-to-back semifinal appearances in the PVL 2021 bubble and the Open Conference last season but missed out after elimination from the Invitational and Reinforced Conferences.
Oliver Almadro, Alinsunurin’s former rival in the UAAP men’s division, handled Choco Mucho for the past three years until he decided to step down in the middle of the Reinforced Conference to focus on the Ateneo women’s volleyball team program.
Coach Edjet Mabbayad served as interim but the team finished 3-5 in seventh place.
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