Dante Alinsunurin has been named as the new head coach of Choco Mucho for the 2023 Premier Volleyball League Season.
"The Choco Mucho Flying Titans' organization is pleased to announce the appointment of Dante Alinsunurin Jr. as the team's new Head Coach," read the team's statement.
The Philippine men’s volleyball team coach also led his squad, bannered by Marck Espejo and Bryan Bagunas, to a historic silver medal finish in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
Now it’s his turn to try something new in the PVL as he will inherit a Choco Mucho side that hasn’t reached the Finals since joining the league three years ago.
"With Coach Dante's experience, commitment and program, we truly believe he will lead our Titans to reach their highest potential as he has done for the other teams he has coached," it continued.
"Maraming Salamat Coach Dante for taking on the challenge!"
With National University, Alinsunurin has won four UAAP championships and numerous Spikers' Turf crowns.
The last time Alinsunurin coached a women’s team was back in the UAAP Season 72 with the NU Lady Bulldogs, who had a 1-13 finish in 2010. He also served as assistant of the team in Season 72 and worked as Sherwin Meneses’ deputy in the defunct Generika-Ayala in the 2020 Philippine Superliga before it was wiped out by the pandemic.
The Flying Titans made back-to-back semifinal appearances in the 2021 PVL bubble and last season’s Open Conference but missed the post-elimination of the Invitationals and Reinforced Conference.
Oliver Almadro, a former rival of Alinsunurin in the UAAP men’s division, handled Choco Mucho in the past three years until he decided to resign in the middle of the Reinforced Conference to focus on Ateneo women’s volleyball team’s program.
Coach Edjet Mabbayad served as interim but the team finished 3-5 in seventh place.
