IPNEWS– Mr. Alhaji Frank Wentee (Jericho) Nagbe, a former coach of Liberia’s men’s national football (soccer) team, has died. He died at the JFK Medical Center at age of 65. He passed away Friday, August 25th night after battling a protracted illness.
Being a devout Muslim, Coach Nagbe, last respects are expected to be paid to his remains, which will be the West Point Central Mosque by 2pm Sunday, August 27. He will be laid to rest at the Muslim burial site in the township of Caldwell, outside Monrovia.
Coach Jericho Nagbe was born on May 11, 1958 in Diyakpo, Bokon Jadae, one of Liberia’s remotest places.
He was a good friend of President George Manneh Weah.
Coach Nagbe led Liberia’s men’s national football team, the Lone Star, between 2006-08 and in 2013. He was an assistant coach from 1998-2002.
This newspaper has yet to establish the cause of death of the coach.
Jericho began a football career with the local side Saint Jerry in 1972. He stayed with that team for three years – up to 1975 – the Invincible Eleven (IE), which is one of Liberia’s two traditional football club: the other being Barolle. He stayed with IE from 1975 to 1984. In 1976, player Jericho won the League title with IE and in 1976 was awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of that season.
At the end of the season that year, he was hired and signed by the Ivoirien Sporting Club De Gagnoa. In Côte d’Ivoire, Jericho won the league championship with Gagnoa in 1977.
He represented Liberia on countless occasions, giving eight years of his services to the national team as a regular player. He was an integral part of the Lone Star team that won the six-nation tournament in 1979.
A former teammate, D. Zoegar Wilson, who currently serves as Minister of Youth and Sports, pays him a tribute on Facebook:
“Liberia has lost a Soccer Legend, Frank Jericho Nagbe, AKA Baba the Wizard. He passed away last night at the JFK Hospital. May his Soul and the Souls of all faithful departed rest in peace.”
Club Career
Following his playing career, Jericho burst into the managerial position, coaching a second dividend-division side La-Modell International in the Township of West Point in 1985. Under his stewardship, the club gained promotion to the first division.
Jericho went on to coach NPA Anchors. He even led his native Sinoe County to the County Meet and won the tournament in 1986. He also collected the third medal in 1987 and reached the semi-finalist in 2004.
He joined the coaching staff of the national team as an Assistant Coach between 1989 and 1992 before joining Junior Professionals, a club established and owned by FIFA Footballer of 1995, George Weah. Jericho spent five seasons with the club.
Junior Pros finished as runners-up in his first season before lifting the league title in 1997.
He managed the club in the African Cup Winners eliminating Guinean side ASFAG but could not honor the next round of the draw due to the April 6, 1996 fracas thst had broken out in Monrovia.
Jericho then led Jr. Pros to the African Champions League after the war subsided in Monrovia and eliminated RCB of Burkina Faso. But he and his boys were eliminated by Obuasi Goldfields.
He signed for Saint Anthony in the 1997-98 season with a mandate from club president, the late Adolph Lawrence to qualify the club to the first division.
Jericho achieved his mandate in his debut season with Saint Anthony as he led the club to second place in both league and knockout championships.
International level
Coach Jericho had two stints with the Lone Star as Deputy Coach. His first stint ran from 1996 to 1998. On the second occasion, Liberia reached the 2002 Nations Cup finals in Mali and nearly qualified for the FIFA World Cup the same year.
A year earlier, Jericho and the Lone Star won the Goodwill Tournament in Côte d’Ivoire.
Personal Achievement
Jericho was awarded five times as Coach of the Year in 1985, 1987, 1996, 2000, and 2004.
Jericho attended the FIFA Youth Training Program conducted by Karl Heinze Moroski of Germany and Mohammed El Wash of Egypt ((CAF) in 1985.
He also participated in the FIFA Futuro II course conducted by Phillip Rouon in 1999.
