Potential Serious Trouble for Japan’s Men’s NT Coach Nakagaichi.
In October 2016, the Japanese Volleyball Association (JVA) announced that Yuichi Nakagaichi would be the head coach of the Men’s National Team. All expectations were at the time that former National Team star Nakagaichi would guide the team through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
However, these expectations have taken a sudden shift as Nakagaichi was supposed to take over the National Team in April 2017. This is due to a car crash that he had on the Chugoku Expressway near the city of Shobara on November 9th, which seriously injured one person.
Both the V-League and the JVA started compliance violations investigations on Nakagaichi due to the accident. On December 22, the V-League announced their finding and found that Nakagaichi had violated 3 V-League compliance laws and failed to comply with V-League regulations. A penalty was not handed out by the V-League at that time and still has not as of this article being published. Nakagaichi is still working as the Director of the Sakai Blazers V-League team.
On January 17th, the JVA announced their investigation findings. The JVA emphasized in the report “There was no serious negligence, he was not driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.” The JVA continued saying, “However, as the police have not filed their final report on their investigation into the crash. We have no choice but to look at the situation as it is. At this time the JVA is moving forward with its planned schedule.”
With that said, if the police find something in their investigation, Nakagaichi’s position may be in serious jeopardy. Right now, the JVA wants to look its best in the lead up to Tokyo Olympics. If Nakagaichi is let go, the JVA may be scrambling to find a coach to lead the men’s team through 2020.