Red Panthers Keep Adam Commens in Charge Through Los Angeles 2028
Belgium aren’t changing a winning formula. The Red Panthers will keep Adam Commens as head coach through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Hockey Belgium confirmed the decision this week, and it’s a straightforward one. Commens took over on an interim basis in March 2026 after Rein van Eijk’s departure, with the job only meant to run through the World Cup in August. Then Belgium went and won a historic bronze in Amstelveen, and the interim tag stopped making sense.
The federation spoke to several serious candidates about taking over after the World Cup. None of those conversations produced a better answer than the man already in the job. “After a thorough evaluation, we came to the conclusion that continuing with Adam was the best decision, both for the players and for the future of the team,” said Serge Pilet, CEO of the Royal Belgian Hockey Association. He pointed to more than just the medal: “a fulfilled group, united, that works particularly well under Adam’s direction.”
So Commens stays, and so does everyone around him. Assistants Jeroen Baart and John Goldberg remain, as does strength and conditioning coach Hannes Agache, with the rest of the medical and support staff unchanged.
Commens also keeps his other job, High Performance Director at Hockey Belgium, a role he has held since 2016. To make the double job workable, the federation will hire a deputy to take on part of the high-performance workload. Recruitment for that role is under way.
Commens knows this level inside out. As a player he won 143 caps for Australia, scored 20 goals, and took Olympic bronze at Sydney 2000. As a coach he took the Kookaburras to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, then rebuilt the Hockeyroos from seventh in the world to a World Cup final in 2014. He joined Hockey Belgium after Rio 2016.
Now he gets a full Olympic cycle with a Belgium side that has just announced itself on the world stage. The bronze in Amstelveen was Belgium’s first World Cup medal, and it came in his first tournament in charge.
The calendar doesn’t wait. The Red Panthers are back in the Pro League in Valencia in December 2026, then head to the Gold Coast in Australia in February 2027, host in Wavre in June 2027, and play the European Championships in London in July and August 2027.
With the coaching question settled two years out from Los Angeles, Belgium can spend that time building on a bronze rather than starting over. For our money, that’s the right call. Changing a coach after a historic medal would have been change for change’s sake.
