BASKETBALL authorities in Vietnam have hired another Filipino coach to help develop their grassroots development program.

Eric Samson, who last handled Pagadian City in the Liga Pilipinas, is leaving for Vietnam this February after accepting a year-long contract from the Vietnam Basketball Federation.

He takes over the job once held by another Filipino mentor Ricky Magallanes, who is now in New York after accepting an offer to become a part of a 5-star camp for coaches.

Samson has been tasked to draft Vietnam?s first-ever under-18 youth program for Ho Chi Minh City.

?Ako ang hahawak ng kauna-unahang youth program ng Vietnam sa basketball. Parang iyung ginagawa dito sa atin ni Rajko Toroman, iyun din ang gagawin ko doon,? Samson told Standard Today.

After Magallanes left for New York, Vietnamese officials managed to get in touch with Samson through local coaches Beaujing Acot.

Basketball Association of the Philippines secretary-general Graham Lim, Acot and Emilio Aguinaldo College sports director Nomar Isla encouraged Samson to accept the offer.

Samson, who used to be an assistant coach of the UE Warriors when head mentor Davar Zamar was still around, said the Vietnamese wanted a youth program for basketball because of the huge gap in the ages of talented players.

But Vietnamese officials have not yet advised him if he will be around to handle the national team to the Southeast Asian Games in Laos, or in the Southeast Asia Basketball Association championships.

Magallanes was supposed to coach the national Vietnamese team in the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand. But Vietnamese authorities decided against sending a national cage squad due to lack of funds back then.

Filipino coaches are held in high esteem, at least in the region. Samson former colleague in Zamar, for instance, is handling an Indonesian club team. Peter Atencio