Chongson wants long-term plan

LAWRENCE Chongson bats for a long-term plan in the UE men’s basketball program.

University of the East (UE) active consultant Lawrence Chongson raised a surefire way to snap the Red Warriors’ misery in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.

“They should try that, instead of changing the coach, they should change the management,” said Chongson, who is helping UE team owner Bong Tan in calling the shots in the ongoing Season 82 of the UAAP.

“Everybody may be acting in good faith, it’s just that if you put the steering wheel to the wrong kind of a driver, chances are, they drive you off the cliff.”

The Red Warriors are a picture of frustration this season.

They lost nine games in 12 outings, including a painful 50-84 setback to Ateneo de Manila University last Sunday, to bomb out of Final Four contention.

This would be the 10th time that the Red Warriors will not advance to the post season despite producing some of the marquee names in basketball like Allan Caidic, Robert Jaworski, Jerry Codiñera, Ronald Tubid and James Yap.

Chongson, who replaced Dindo Pumaren in 2009, was the last coach to steer the Warriors to the Final Four using a solid team that has Marcy Arellano, Elmer Espiritu, Mark Borboran and Bonbon Custodio.

“I thought I could duplicate my feat with UE because the last time I was here, we made a trip to the Final Four,” he said, admitting that the school has no long-term plan in its basketball program.

“With UE, there’s really no long-term plan. They change coaches as often as they change their clothes.”

This season, UE was supposed to contend.

But the management fired coach Joe Silva and the tandem of Tan and Chongson took over.