SHAQ Delos Santos has been promoted from lead assistant to head coach of Cignal ahead of the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference tentatively set to start on May 8 under a bubble format at the Inspire Sports Academy.
The HD Spikers made the announcement of Delos Santos's promotion in their social media pages on Friday.
The former Philippine women's head coach is taking over Cignal's coaching post, 10 months after former coach Edgar Barroga's contract was not renewed last year.
Delos Santos parted ways with Petron last year and signed with Cignal as Barroga's lead assistant, but their stint together was cut short due to the scrapping of the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix season due to the spike of COVID-19 cases.
Despite the heartbreaking results during his stint as coach of the women's national team in the 2018 Asian Games and 2019 Southeast Asian Games, Delos Santos was one of the most successful coaches in the PSL.
Delos Santos steered Petron to four PSL titles, two championships each in Grand Prix and All Filipino conference out of five Finals appearances from 2017 to 2019.
He also won the 2014 Grand Prix and 2015 All-Filipino when he served as deputy of former Blaze Spikers coach George Pascua before getting promoted in 2016.
Interestingly, the HD Spikers upset the powerhouse Blaze Spikers, led by Delos Santos, in the 2019 All-Filipino Conference semifinals and finished with a silver medal in the tournament after their cinderella run was ended by F2 Logistics in the finals.
Now it's Delos Santos turn to bring his winning system to the squad bannered by Rachel Anne Daquis, Alohi Robins-Hardy and libero Jheck Dionela as they enter a different battlefield in the PVL.
Cignal will be part of PVL's historic professional debut together with former PSL squads PLDT, Sta. Lucia, Chery Tiggo and F2 Logistics as well as PVL powerhouse Creamline, Petro Gazz, Choco Mucho, Perlas Spikers, Army, BaliPure and Unlimited Athletes Club, which is coached by Barroga.
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