Delos Santos replaces De Jesus as national women's volley team coach

MANILA, Philippines – Petron head coach Shaq Delos Santos had been appointed as head coach of the national women’s volleyball team following the resignation of multi-titled Ramil de Jesus last week.

Delos Santos, who steered Petron to the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix crown last month, confirmed the development, saying that Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) vice president Peter Cayco approached him, informing him that they want him to lead the squad in the Asian Games this August.

The resignation of De Jesus came as a surprise.

According to a report by The Daily Tribune, he had no choice but to give up his position due to various commitments with De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and F2 Logistics in the PSL.

“He doesn’t want to be unfair to the national team,” said Cayco.

“He explained that he already has too much on his plate as he also handles the training of two La Salle teams and F2 Logistics in the PSL. So with a heavy heart, we had no choice but to let him go and wish him luck to his endeavors.”

Delos Santos is the second best option.

Aside from leading Far Eastern University to several Final Four runs, he is the only coach to beat De Jesus twice — first in the UAAP Season 72 Finals when Delos Santos steered University of Santo Tomas to a title run against La Salle and, second, in the PSL All-Filipino Conference finals last year when he steered Petron to the title past F2 Logistics.

He is also the last Filipino mentor to lead a local team to a podium finish in an international tourney when PSL All-Star team bagged the bronze medal in the prestigious Princess Cup in Sisaket, Thailand last year.

“Actually, Mr. Cayco texted me last week, Monday. Then, we had a meeting the next day to discuss how we will run the team. From there, I learned that coach Ramil had already stepped down,” said Delos Santos, adding that he will reach out to de Jesus as soon as everything settles down.

“I will definitely do that. He’s my senior and he became my coach at FEU so I respect him a lot.”

Delos Santos will be formally introduced when aspiring members of the national squad reconvene Tuesday for the third leg of the tryouts at the Arellano University gym in Legarda, Manila.

LVPI insiders said it’s now up to Delos Santos if he wants to call another tryout, but he has to name his 12-woman squad on or before the submission of final roster fort the Asian Games on June 10.