SHAQ Delos Santos has been retained as head coach of the Philippine women’s volleyball team, at least for this year.
Delos Santos retained the national coaching job for the third straight year despite a disappointing finish at the 30th Southeast Asian Games, where the women's side failed to land a medal in a four-team field.
Larong Volleyball Sa Pilipinas Inc. officials made the decision during its general meeting to retain the coaching staff of its indoor and beach volleyball national teams.
“Ang naging desisyon kanina sa meeting, status quo lahat retained,” said LVPI program head Peter Cayco, who had a meeting with federation president Joey Romasanta, secretary-general Ariel Paredes and the coaches on Friday.
Besides Delos Santos, his assistant coaches Kung Fu Reyes and Brian Esquibel have been retained and will also lend a hand in the Philippine youth pool.
With the decision, Delos Santos became the longest-tenured women’s national team since LVPI became recognized in 2015 as the governing body for volleyball in the country.
Roger Gorayeb and Francis Vicente took charge for one year back in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Ramil De Jesus had a short stint as national coach last 2018 but begged, which led to the hiring of Delos Santos.
The former Petron coach started to call the shots for the Philippines in the 2018 Asian Games, where the country finished at eighth place.
Delos Santos and his squad won two bronze medal in the first two editions ASEAN Grand Prix last year but failed to get a single win in a four-team SEA Games field.
LVPI seeks to send the Philippine women’s volleyball team to Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC)-sanctioned tournaments this year.