ZUS Coffee or CSB? Jerry Yee faces coaching dilemma

MANILA, Philippines — Multi-titled volleyball mentor Jerry Yee will need to give up his coaching job at ZUS Coffee in the professional Premier Volleyball League if he wants to continue handling four-peat feat-seeking College of St. Benilde in the NCAA.

This came after the league wrote Yee and CSB a letter saying the NCAA bars coaches from the pros from coaching in the grand old league.

It also applies with athletes in other sports.

“Kapag head coach ka ng any NCAA team, hindi pwedeng head coach din ng any professional league to prevent marginalizing the NCAA teams and competitions, since pro leagues usually compel their teams to be prioritized,” said NCAA Management Committee chair Herc Callanta of Season 100 host Lyceum of the Philippines University.

Callanta said the NCAA volleyball committee and CSB have already discussed the matter recently but have yet to come up with decisions or resolutions to the issue.

“We have received the letter of inquiry from the NCAA and we will respond accordingly,” said CSB Mancom representative Dax Castellano.

Callanta, however, said Yee could still remain with the Lady Blazers in another capacity, but not as a coach.

When asked about CSB's first outing this season — a 25-18, 25-12, 24-26, 25-17 win over Arellano University in last Thursday’s volleyball inaugurals — Callanta said there is no need for it.

“In my appreciation of the rules on coaches, while there is a prohibition to coach in any pro league while you are a head coach of an NCAA team, there is no prescribed penalty,” said Callanta. “And the remedies are also administrative — for re-designation of the head coach’s role into either an assistant coach or a consultant, and he is off the hook.”

Callanta, however, clarified that it will still be up to the league volleyball committee to make resolutions.

“Given that, it is now dependent on the appreciation of the Mancom as to the gravity of the offense, whether the penalty that will be imposed is commensurate or not to the offense,” he said. “I don’t want to pre-empt the decision of the volleyball committee, that’s just my appreciation.”