Cypress College Athletics is pleased to announce the hiring of Danko Iordanov as the school's new Head Women's Volleyball Coach. Coach Iordanov will also serve as the college's Co-Head Coach for Women's Beach Volleyball alongside Coach Nancy Welliver. Coach Welliver will also remain an Assistant Coach for the indoor program after stepping down following 23 seasons.
"We are excited about the direction Coach Danko will take our women's volleyball program," said Cypress Athletic Director Wes McCurtis. "He brings tremendous playing and coaching experience to our program, which will help our student-athletes succeed here at Cypress and prepare them for the next level of their athletic and academic journeys."
Coach Iordanov has over two decades of coaching experience including three years as head coach of the University of Saint Katherine's (NAIA) men's indoor and beach volleyball teams. He also helped start the men's indoor and beach volleyball programs as Head Coach at Westcliff University prior to joining Coach Welliver and the Chargers' coaching staff in 2021. In 2022 as an Assistant Coach at Cypress, Coach Iordanov helped lead the Cypress indoor program to an appearance in the CCCAA SoCal Regional Playoffs, as well as a CCCAA SoCal Regional Playoff appearance during the 2022 beach volleyball season.
"I look forward to continuing the winning tradition of Cypress athletics," said Coach Iordanov. "I am excited to expand and grow upon the foundation that Nancy built by sharing my experiences and background. I've had the privilege to work with and learn from the best as a player and a coach on the sand & indoor. Academic success is very important to me and I enjoy helping student-athletes achieve whatever goals they set including transferring to 4-year schools," he added.
Prior to beginning his college coaching career in 2018, Iordanov was a professional beach player, consistently ranked in the top 100 players in the U.S. while participating in over 10 professional tournaments per year. He has had successful stints as a club and professional coach as well, earning two National Championships with RPM Sand Volleyball Club and serving as the USA Volleyball Men's Beach Collegiate National Team Head Coach in 2021.
"I think that having patience is a strength of my coaching style," Iordanov said. "I stress on continual improvement and the "1% better each day" mentality. Inspiring the girls and motivating them to work hard to get better is impossible without a great deal of patience. Another important element of my style is communication with the players. Getting to know them as people and being on the same page with goals and expectations makes our journey to improvement that much more enjoyable."
Danko is originally from Varna, Bulgaria but moved to the United States where he received his Bachelor's degree in Economics at Rutgers University as a member of the men's volleyball team. He went on to earn two Masters degrees at Concordia University, Irvine in Coaching, Athletic Administration and Exercise Science.
(Michelle Navarro, Cypress College Athletics)