Quick Facts
Biography
Victor Santa Cruz is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, a position he has held since 2006.
Playing career
Santa Cruz played college football as a linebacker at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He redshirted in 1990 and afterwards became a four-year letterman from 1991 to 1994 for the Hawaii Warriors.
Coaching career
Santa Cruz is the current head football coach for the Azusa Pacific Cougars. After serving as an assistant coach at Azusa Pacific for five years, Santa Cruz became head coach after the 2005 season, replacing Pete Shinnick, who left to take on the task of reviving the football program at UNC Pembroke.
As of the end of the 2016 season, Santa Cruz's coaching record at Azusa Pacific was 68-52 (.567) . This ranks him second in program history in total wins, and third in winning percentage. Santa Cruz led his team to the NAIA play-offs in 2010 and 2011.In 2012 Santa Cruz led the Azusa Pacific Football program through the transition from NAIA to NCAA Division 2. In 2013, he led the Cougars to a 10-2 season, winning the first conference championship in school history and winning the school's second national championship with a 67–0 win over Greenville College in the 2013 Victory Bowl. In 2014 Santa Cruz led the program to their first ever back to back 10 win season, posting a 10–1 record and winning their second straight conference title. Santa Cruz was named coach of the year in 2013, 2014, and 2016 by the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and in 2013 by the NCCAA. In 2016, Santa Cruz again led the Cougars to a conference title, and also earned the program's first ever berth in the NCAA Division II football playoffs.