Ben Josephson tasked with guiding Canadian men's indoor volleyball team to 2024 Olympics

Volleyball Canada has named Ben Josephson as coach of Canada's senior indoor men's team.

Josephson will start his new role April 1. He has been the head coach of the Trinity Western University men's program since 2007 in Langley, B.C., guiding the Spartans to five national titles (2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2019).

He takes over from Canadian Olympian Glenn Hoag, who previously announced he would coach the team through the Tokyo Games when he returned to the team in 2018.

Hoag initially stepped down as head coach after guiding Canada to a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Rio Games, but came back after his replacement, Stephane Antiga, left the team for family reasons.

"I'm excited to have Ben at the helm," said Julien Boucher, Volleyball Canada's high performance director for indoor. "He brings with him the winning tradition he instilled at Trinity Western University. He is also very familiar with a lot of our current athletes. We feel he will move our whole program forward and bring us success in the next quadrennial and beyond."

Canada advanced to the knockout stages in Tokyo this past summer before losing to Russia in the quarter-finals.

Josephson will be tasked with leading Canada, currently ranked 12th in the world, to a third straight Olympic appearance at the 2024 Paris Games.

"To me there is no greater honour and responsibility than to represent your country," Josephson said in a statement. "We understand that with great purpose there must be great passion, and we couldn't have a greater purpose than to build upon the legacy that [longtime head coach] Glenn Hoag and his staff has laid down the previous 10-plus years.

"Now the torch has been passed leading up to the Paris 2024 Olympics. We will prepare and perform with joy and passion equal to that purpose."

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