Daily Tribune‘But here’s reality in coaching: People would say that ‘you’re expected to win when you win because you have a strong team, but if you lose, they would blame you because the coach is not equipped enough.’
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PSL KNOWN for his deadly sniping during his playing career, Allan Caidic is expected to hit the target when he assumes a new role as commissioner of the Pilipinas Super League.
Allan Caidic had been to a lot of wars.
But there is a new battle that he has to conquer: Being a league executive.
Considered as one of the greatest Filipinos ever to hold a basketball, Caidic had been tapped to serve as commissioner of the Pilipinas Super League, a fledgling league that aims to serve as a launching pad for young players who want to chase a professional career.
Caidic said being a commissioner doesn't only entail operations. He also has to serve as the league ambassador and use his platform and clean-cut image to inspire and motivate the future stars of Philippine basketball.
"I am not just a commissioner of the PSL. I also serve as an ambassador of the game," Caidic told Daily Tribune in a recent interview.
"That's why, one of my main thrusts of being a commissioner is to professionalize the players' approach in the game where they would avoid reacting excessively to game officials and retaliating on physical plays that often lead to commotion."
The 60-year-old Caidic definitely has the good reputation — and the credentials — to lead a professional league that already has 20 teams and counting.
He treated basketball fans to a spectacular display of shooting prowess during his college days at University of the East. At one point, he battled University of Santo Tomas star Pido Jarencio to a shooting duel en route to leading the Red Warriors to back-to-back University Athletic Association of the Philippines titles in 1984 and 1985.
With his deadly sniping and impressive composure when the game is on the line, Caidic emerged as UAAP Mythical Team member in 1984 together with other distinguished players like Jarencio, teammate Jerry Codiñera, Glenn Capacio of Far Eastern University, and, surprisingly, Vincent "Chot" Reyes of Ateneo de Manila University.
After a successful collegiate career, Caidic decided to don the colors of the national team, which was then carrying the colors of Northern Consolidated Cement.
Together with other amateur stars like Samboy Lim, Hector Calma, Franz Pumaren, Tonichi Yturri and Yves Dignadice, Caidic provided the outside shooting for the NCC squad that was bannered by naturalized players Dennis Still, Chip Engelland and Jeff Moore under American coach Ron Jacobs.
With the NCC, he got his baptism of fire in the professional ranks as it joined the Philippine Basketball Association as a guest team.
But more than anything, his reputation as one of the feared shooters in the country grew in the international arena when NCC won the gold medal in the Asian Basketball Confederation tournament in Malaysia from December 1985 to January 1986. It was the last time for the Filipinos to reign supreme in that level.
Prior to that, Caidic and the national squad, which was carrying the name San Miguel Beer, emerged victorious in the William Jones Cup in 1985 in which they beat the fancied United States squad in the gold medal match.
But good things eventually came to an end.
The outbreak of the EDSA Revolution in 1986 had forced the program's godfather, the late Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, out of the country, prompting the Basketball Association of the Philippines to take charge.
The federation asked Caidic, Codiñera and Elmer Reyes to stay in the team that will be handled by University of the Philippines mentor Joe Lipa. Caidic, however, only stayed for one year before deciding to join the PBA.
It didn't take long for Caidic to become a star in the PBA. After being taken as the top overall pick of Great Taste in 1987, Caidic joined forces with veterans like former Crispa stars Atoy Co, Philip Cesar and Bernie Fabiosa as well as former Toyota bruiser Abe King and the returning Arnie Tuadles.
With an army of veterans watching his back, Caidic dropped 48 points — the highest offensive output ever by a rookie — in Great Taste's 134-135 loss to Tanduay in Game 2 of the 1987 Open Conference best-of-five title series.
In the 1987 All-Filipino Conference, he finally won his first PBA title and barged into the Mythical Team together with other distinguished players like Tuadles and Ricardo Brown.
Caidic admitted that winning the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player didn't cross his mind but when Benjie Paras did the trick in 1989, he wondered if he could have done it as well.
"It just crossed my mind only when Benjie became Rookie of the Year," Caidic said.
"I felt that I could have won such award, too, had we played better in the third conference of my rookie year, but I wasn't paying much attention to that in 1987 because I was happy I won the Rookie of the Year, being included in the Mythical First Team and then winning a championship in the All-Filipino."
But while Paras was having a banner year en route to raising the historic Rookie of the Year-MVP trophy, Caidic was busy setting scoring records.
In 1989, he set the record for most points in a single game when he dropped 68 points and established a new mark for most three-point shots with 15 in Presto Tivolis' 175-159 win over Alaska.
The following season he finally nailed the MVP crown and played a pivotal role in the national squad's silver-medal finish in the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.
He set another scoring milestone the following year when he erupted for 79 points laced with 17 three-pointers when Presto beat Ginebra, 162-149, in a semifinal game. The feat was greatly celebrated as it broke the 71-point mark set by Bong Alvarez the year before, a record that seemed untouchable at that time.
Caidic, who earned the nickname the "Triggerman" due to his cold-blooded outside shooting, joined San Miguel in 1993 and Ginebra in 1999 before being left unprotected in the expansion draft in 2000 as injuries started to slow him down. He was picked by Red Bull in the expansion draft but decided to retire to assume a coaching role with the Kings.
"When Red Bull drafted me from the dispersal draft, the first thing that came to my mind was, what would be the team's plans for me? Are they going to use me for marketing purposes or what?," Caidic said.
"So I decided to retire from playing."
"But coaching is way different than playing. When I was offered to coach, I wasn't ready yet, because I still wanted to play, " he said.
"But I was already being slowed down by injuries and I was forced to shift to coaching. I have no regrets there. At least, I was able to carry Ginebra to the finals of the All-Filipino Conference in 2001."
He said coaching is one of the most challenging roles in basketball.
"I think coaching is the second hardest job in basketball, next to referee," Caidic said.
"When you coach, the load is with you, win or lose. You have to focus on the next game after a match. It's fulfilling if you win and outplay your rival team."
"But here's reality in coaching: People would say that 'you're expected to win when you win because you have a strong team, but if you lose, they would blame you because the coach is not equipped enough.' But I just did my best and that's my philosophy — that I'm doing whatever I can in coaching to the best of my abilities."
His perspective in basketball grew even more when he became team executive of Coca-Cola in 2004.
Back then, San Miguel Corporation already owned three teams in the PBA — San Miguel Beer, Ginebra and Purefoods — and Coca-Cola, an international brand, was added to the company's beverage products.
It was then that Caidic became team manager of the Tigers, who were able to win two titles in their first two years in the league, raising the hopes of the management of the young franchise.
In 2007, the Atlanta-based company which owns Coca-Cola, bought it back from San Miguel and Caidic went back to join Ginebra's coaching staff as an assistant coach.
He remained in the basketball circuit and his last coaching job was with De La Salle University that reunited him with his former principal in Cojuangco.
This time, Caidic will be fielded in an entirely different ballgame as PSL commissioner together with his former Presto teammate, Gerry Esplana, and league president Cris Bautista and special assistant to the chief executive officer Bong Baribar.
Caidic admitted that being a commissioner excites him the same way when he led the national squad to glory and when he set all those scoring milestones.
Yes, it's a new battle to conquer but the Triggerman will definitely hit the mark.
