IT is now confirmed that Andre Coley, arguably Jamaica’s most successful youth coach, is among the coaching staff at the just established Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre.

For weeks now Observer probe could not confirm Coley’s selection until his name appeared on the management list of personnel during the opening ceremony of the HPC in Barbados on Sunday.

In fact, Coley is the sole assistant coach to director and head coach Toby Radford, who has seven other specialist coaches forming part of his backroom staff.

But it also means that the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) will have to find a new coach for the upcoming regional Under-19 tournament, with former youth coach Robert Samuels the early front-runner for the post.

Coley, 35, a former Jamaica wicketkeeper/batsman , played seven first-class matches before venturing into coaching where he has had greater success.

His penchant for technology to aid in the development of his players and exploit weaknesses in opponents earned him and Jamaica success at the regional Under-15 and Under-19 levels.

His most recent success came last year when he guided Jamaica to a historic double as they won the regional three-day and limited-over Under-19 titles.

A holder of a WICB Level II coaching certificate, Coley was later named head coach of the West Indies Under-19 team to the 2010 Youth World Cup in New Zealand.

The team, which failed to win a match during a pretournament competition in the West Indies, went on to finish third as the players improved under Coley’s guidance.

Following the Youth World Cup, Coley called upon the West Indies Cricket Board to implement a structured programme that will ensure continued improvement of the present crop of Under-19s.

Now he has the privilege to do just that as 15 of the region’s most talented young cricketers have been assembled under his tutelage for the next three months.

At the High Performance Centre, players will be exposed to First-World state-of-the-art training facilities, coaching techniques, equipment, education and sports science.

The first group of players are: Shamarh Brooks, Jason Holder, Shane Dowrich (Barbados), Kyle Corbin, Kevin McClean (Combined Campuses & Colleges), Brandon Bess, Ravindra Chandrika, Veerasammy Permaul (Guyana), Nkrumah Bonner, Andre Creary (Jamaica), Kieran Powell, Devon Thomas (Leeward Islands), Shannon Gabriel (Trinidad and Tobago) Keron Cottoy, Delorn Johnson (Windward Islands).

HPC Management Team: Toby Radford, director and head coach; Andre Coley, assistant coach; William Bourne, spin specialist coach; Shannon Lashley, strength and conditioning coach; Courtney Browne, wicketkeeping coach; Roddy Estwick, pace bowling coach; Simon Grayson, performance coach; Jacqueline King-Mowatt, physiotherapist; Jessica Reid, administrative assistant.