Jillian Santos is returning to US NCAA Division I school University of Illinois Chicago—but this time, she will be helping lead the Flames from the sidelines.
The former De La Salle University Lady Spiker is set to return to UIC as an assistant coach for the upcoming season after her former head coach Justin Ingram reached out to her about joining the coaching staff.
For Santos, the opportunity came as a surprise, but one she immediately embraced as she begins a new chapter in her volleyball career.
“It was a welcome surprise for sure! With some changes to the coaching staff at UIC, my former head coach reached out to ask if I would be available to help the program for the upcoming season,” Santos said.
“I’ve always known I wanted to stay within the world of sports, but what that would look like was still pretty open-ended, so when the opportunity came, it felt like an amazing chance to step into a new role, learn the game from a different perspective, and find another way to work with and mentor athletes.”
(C) UIC Flames
Santos spent three seasons with the Flames from 2022 to 2024, graduating summa cum laude in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in biological sciences.
After returning to the Philippines, Santos joined La Salle, where she played for the Lady Spikers in UAAP Season 87 in 2025 while pursuing a master’s degree in clinical psychology.
Now back in Chicago, Santos gets to draw from her experiences as a collegiate athlete as she takes her first major step into coaching.
The opportunity also aligns with the work she has been doing through Next Level PH, the social media platform she founded to empower Filipino athletes.
Santos hopes her time with UIC will broaden her understanding of athlete development and coaching—knowledge she can eventually bring back to the Philippines.
“I think the biggest thing I want to gain from this experience is a greater perspective. I’ve experienced collegiate sports as an athlete, and now I get to see it from the other side — how coaches develop athletes, build culture, communicate, and create an environment where people can perform and grow,” Santos said.
“For Next Level, I want to learn as much as I can, and when I come home, hopefully I can take those lessons and find ways to make them useful and accessible to Filipino athletes.”
From representing UIC and DLSU and now returning to the Flames as a coach, Santos is taking another step toward her goal of helping develop the next generation of Filipino athletes.
And when she eventually comes home, she hopes to bring those lessons with her.
