Hockey: Olympic medalist Jay Stacy expresses interest in coaching job

Former Australian Hockey player and three-time Olympic medalist Jay Stacy has emerged as one of the leading speculative replacements for the ousted Harendra Singh as the coach of the Indian Senior Men's Hockey Team, it was reported by Times of India. Stacy has closely worked with Indian Hockey given that he has been the coach of Dabang Mumbai in the Hockey India League for the last two seasons now. "Yes, I am (interested). I am thinking about it while on vacation. I believe the closing date is January 31. I return home to Melbourne on the 19th and then I will give it some more thought and see what happens from there," Stacy told Times of India during a vacation in Indonesia. The ongoing saga of the clash between Hockey administrators and the erstwhile coach is something that has headlined Indian hockey for quite some time now. The latest update on Harendra Singh's future involvement came when a letter was sent out to SAI by Hockey India requesting a revert for Singh back to his parent company as he had reportedly "lost interest" in Indian Hockey. Singh had been given the option of returning as the Junior Men's Team coach but he refused. And while Harendra was the sixth Indian Hockey coach to be replaced in as many years, his potential successor Stacy is not perturbed by this trend. "If you apply for a position like that, you understand that (losing the post) is a possibility. I would also like to think I can do a good job. It takes time to achieve great things and build a culture. It's not a concern, but I am aware of the past situation. I want to do it my own way, if I want to apply for the position,"he added. Stacy has been a part of the Australian medal winning Olympic team for three consecutive editions winning the Silver in 1992 and the Bronze medals in 1996 and 2000.