Coaching vocation
For Escueta, calling the shots for the Red Lions was a sweet homecoming.
Before being appointed as head coach, Escueta served as the chief playmaker of the Red Cubs when they were still under the tutelage of legendary Ato Badolato.
Escueta said it was Badolato who planted the seeds of hard work, excellence and winning tradition into his heart early on.
“The winning attitude and experience were taught to me early by my high school coach (Badolato). I learned from him what San Beda basketball is all about, its excellence and winning tradition early in my basketball career and taught us, his players, how to be winners,” said Escueta, who dedicated his first NCAA title as head coach to his late former mentor.
“I always try to talk to him when I’m by myself. I would like to offer this championship as a thank you to him.”
From the NCAA, Escueta jumped ship to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), where he joined Ateneo de Manila University — the same school where his cousin Olsen Racela got his start in the collegiate ranks.
But while most collegiate players are dreaming of making it big in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), the current TNT Tropang Giga assistant coach found a different calling.
“When I was still playing in the UAAP, I was really inspired by my coaches. They’re a big influence on me as a player and had a big impact on me,” said Escueta, who was part of the great Ateneo team of coach Norman Black when it won a UAAP title in 2008.
“I wanted to be on that side.”
Escueta returned to Ateneo in 2016 to be an assistant coach to former Gilas Pilipinas tactician Tab Baldwin, helping him win three straight UAAP titles from 2017 to 2019.
He is also part of the Tropang Giga’s coaching staff since 2019 and working with another former Gilas tactician in Chot Reyes.
But little did he know his time learning from some of the brightest minds in Philippine basketball would prepare him for something bigger.