National assistant senior men’s coach Jerome Waite has been removed from the position, it was announced yesterday.

In a widely circulated press release, the governing Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) revealed that the former Arnett Gardens coach will be “assigned to another national team”.

“The board of directors of the Jamaica Football Federation at its quarterly board meeting held on June 29 approved a recommendation from the technical and development committee (T&DC) that current national senior men’s team assistant coach Jerome Waite be replaced as assistant coach to the senior team,” the release stated.

Waite, a championship coach with Arnett Gardens and Charlie Smith High School, had briefly held positions in the national set-up, serving at the men’s Under-20 and Under-23 levels.

The coach will have to await his new assignment after deliberations and recommendations by the T&DC, the JFF said.

Waite’s removal from the senior men’s team, the Reggae Boyz, has come as no surprise to football pundits and watchers, as whispers of his disconnect with Head Coach Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore have long made the rounds.

Coming out of the board meeting and further recommendation of the technical committee, former national women’s and men’s Under-23 Coach Merron Gordon has been assigned to the coaching cadre of the Boyz as an assistant to Whitmore.

He will join the incoming Paul Hall, the English-born France ’98 World Cup veteran, and goal-keeper coach Warren Barrett, himself a France veteran.

“The board of directors also approved a recommendation from the T&D committee that Merron Gordon, past assistant coach …[is] to be appointed as a national assistant coach to the senior men’s team. He will join recently appointed Assistant Coach Paul Hall in this position,” the JFF said.

Both Gordon and Hall will hook up with Whitmore and Barrett at a Concacaf Gold Cup pre-tournament camp starting today in Orlando, Florida.

The JFF, in its communique to media, sought to remove any illusion that the shake-up in the coaching ranks, and particularly the removal of Waite from the senior Boyz programme, was influenced in any way by the head coach.

“The JFF wishes to use this forum to categorically state that the decision regarding Coach Waite’s reassignment was a decision of the board of directors, the only legitimate body that can take that decision, and that Head Coach Whitmore was not involved in the decision,” the JFF said.

Meanwhile, the nine-day camp ahead of the Gold Cup, which kicks off on July 10, “will include the full complement of technical, medical support, administrative staff as well as the final selected 23 players”.

It is expected that most players will report to camp today, with others set to join their teammates by tomorrow.

“Based on engagements of some of the invited players for their respective clubs, some will arrive after July 2,” the governing body said.

The JFF was due to announce the final 23-man roster late yesterday in keeping with “Concacaf regulations and approval”.

In a push to broaden support staff as the Boyz look to lift their first Gold Cup title, the team has added another equipment manager, an additional physical trainer, and masseuse, plus a performance video analyst.

Head Coach Whitmore is said to have stated that “one of the main objectives of the camp is to fine-tune the synergy and chemistry of the squad”.

The local delegation departs out of Montego Bay today at 12 noon.

Jamaica will contest Group C at the Gold Cup, kick-starting their campaign against Suriname at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida on July 12. The Boyz also have in the group Costa Rica, and a team yet to be promoted from the Gold Cup preliminary round play-offs set to get under way tomorrow.