PRESIDENT of Netball Jamaica Tricia Robinson says the process is to begin soon for people wishing to apply for the position of Sunshine Girls head coach.

The Sunshine Girls recently won a bronze medal at the Netball World Cup (NWC) in Cape Town, South Africa, but after the tournament Robinson told the Jamaica Observer that Head Coach Connie Francis had indicated she will not renew her contract.

On Monday the netball Jamaica boss expressed confidence that the right individual will be selected to fill the void.

“We are in the process of sorting that [head coach] situation out and soon we will speak on it,” said Robinson.

“We are looking at our staff of coaches and so will make the necessary announcements when the time is right. We have qualified coaches here and so when we put it out we will look at those who apply, but I know that we have suitable candidates here in Jamaica,” Robinson said.

Francis was installed as head coach of the Sunshine Girls team in October 2019, following Jamaica’s dismal fifth-place finish at the World Cup in Liverpool, England, in the summer of that year. She led the Sunshine Girls to a bronze medal at the 2023 NWC in Cape Town.

The 54-year-old veteran coach is undoubtedly the Sunshine Girls’ most successful to date, having also led the Jamaicans to a historic silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

Francis, a former national netball player, has had multiple stints as senior team coach, and also guided the Sunshine Girls to the bronze medal at the 2007 World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand.

“The plan is to get the best-possible coach for the national team — whether it is a local coach or an overseas coach — because the bottom line is [that] it will be [the] best possible coach for the national team,” Robinson said.

“Our last medal at the Netball World Cup was 16 years ago, that was won by Connie Francis, so it was fitting that she brought us the bronze medal this year,” Robinson pointed out.

Shawn Murdock, who was Francis’s assistant during the recent World Cup, has indicated he will apply for the head coach job.

“Once it is advertised, then I will put in an application and so I will put my hand up for sure as an interested applicant,” he said in an interview with the Observer earlier this month.

“If you are coaching and you want to coach the best team then you also want to be the head coach one day as well, so it is an opportunity that I would not back away from, but I need to think about it,” Murdock had added.