Coaching carousel

Well, it means that Monteverde will ensure a steady pipeline of young elite talent for NU in the future.

With Season 82 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament wrapping up, fans are now looking forward to the next season and a lot of them are expecting an interesting coaching carousel.

As of press time, one big name had already been announced to take the reign in a marquee seniors program.

I’m talking about coach Goldwyn Monteverde, who led National University (NU) Bullpups to a title in Season 81 and now in the hunt for a golden double.

Actually, Monteverde was rumored be headed for University of the East (UE) following his departure in the Tanduay squad in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. That’s why it didn’t come as a surprise to see him join the Bulldogs.

Well, it means that Monteverde will ensure a steady pipeline of young elite talent for NU in the future.

Right now, the Bullpups are undeniably the deepest high school program in the country, led by the Batang Gilas triumvirate of Carl Tamayo, Gerry Abadiano and Terrence Fortea.

As far as I know, Tamayo and Abadiano are set to move up to college next season while Fortea has one more season in the junior level.

Aside from them, the Bullpups have a helluva lot more tantalizing talents that can help their college team return to supremacy.

I’m talking about guys like Kevin Quiambao, who has one to two more seasons in the juniors division and second-generation players like Echo Laure and Kenji Duremdes.

Remember that in the past few years, NU focused on recruiting 12 to 13 year old players into their Passerelle and Aspirants’ teams with the goal of grooming them for the UAAP juniors.

Now, that process extends itself to the seniors, where it will be extremely difficult for other universities to “poach” the talented stars that NU’s high school program will nurture. Of course, Justine Baltazar and Mark Dyke come to mind.

Imagine that by the time Dave Ildefonso is in his final seniors season in 2022, he would be playing with ripe and well-adjusted veterans like Tamayo, Abadiano, Fortea, and Quiambao as well as eager beavers in Laure and Duremdes. And that’s not even counting Monteverde’s “other” talent pipeline through the Chiang Kai Shek basketball program.

Happy days may very well be back for NU.

As for other teams, our grapevine speculators point to Adamson University maybe taking in former San Beda University and University of Perpetual Help System Dalta head coach Frankie Lim to call the shots in place of Franz Pumaren.

We should also already know that former San Beda and Far Eastern University (FEU) mentor Nash Racela is being eyed by De La Salle University to be its new head tactician even as UE will surely have its own new coach with the passing of Bong Tan.

For a lot of pundits, it makes sense that Lawrence Chongson inherits Bong Tan’s post in UE, and given coach Chongson’s history with that program, that may very well take shape soon.

What’s also interesting is whether we would see the same movements in University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas (UST).

Many people have maligned coach Bo Perasol for the past few months, and who knows if he is still willing to be under that kind of scrutiny for Season 83, right? UST coach Aldin Ayo, meanwhile, has the leverage to have a nice contract renewal, but he should also command an exciting bidding war among all other schools who want a truly marquee coach to steer their team.

As for FEU, I would be shocked if coach Olsen Racela isn’t around next season, while there may actually a bit of uncertainty over at Ateneo de Manila University as a coach of Tab Baldwin’s stature surely has standing offers from all corners of the basketball world.

Things are bound to get more interesting as the days and weeks pass, but with every other team trying to halt the dominance of Ateneo in the UAAP, a dizzying coaching carousel is likely in the offing.