Fil Simao has resigned as head coach of the Boroondara Eagles just three games into the 2015 Women’s Premier League season.
Simao alerted the players Monday night that he would no longer be able to commit to the season due to changes in his work arrangements.
Current club Technical Director and former women’s coach Manny Koutroulis said the players were disappointed in the decision but understood Simao’s circumstances.
“Fil [Simao] anounced his resignation to his players last night, he’s really respected and the girls like him,” Koutroulis said.
“His position regarding his day job has changed dramatically, he found it really difficult in particular the last fortnight to juggle all that.
“He told the girls and they all accepted that quite well, and I addressed them regarding the plan going forward.”
Koutroulis will step back into his old role on a caretaker basis while the club undertakes a search for a new full-time WPL coach.
“Going forward I’m just taking over on a temporary basis, I oversee the whole club program, however we will be looking for a coach to step in,” he said.
“We haven’t placed a timeline on that at this point, we hope to have a new coach for our next game against South Melbourne, and we have nearly three weeks for that game to come up.
“Whilst the timing isn’t ideal – bringing in a new coach after three rounds – it’s not too bad a time considering we have a three week gap.”
Boroondara Eagles experienced a rapid rise under Simao and Koutroulis, enjoying promotions through the state leagues with the latter, while the former guided the club to third place in their first season in the WPL, finishing third and establishing themselves as title contenders in the top division.
Kotroulis praised Simao’s efforts and thanked him for his dedication to the Eagles.
“It’s obviously disappointing to lose Fil, his results do not come into question, but we have a very good list of players and we expect to do well this year,” he said.
“The club thanks Filipe, he’s done an exceptional job with great results.”
“The club board supports the women’s side strongly, we feel we’ve got a very good group of players to work with, we are very confident of delivering the players a very good appointment to our players shortly, and in the meantime we’ll just pick ourselves up and hopefully continue to go from strength to strength.
“Fil was a believer and still is a believer that this group can go really well.”
Simao will stay on in a reduced capacity as manager of the specialist coach program at Boroondara.