Three new coaches will get their baptism of fire when their respective teams start their campaign in the 19th Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup on 17 May at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Chito Victolero of Mapua University, Jamike Jarin of Lyceum of the Philippines University, and Tony Tan of San Sebastian College are all seeking to get their programs off and running as they see action in this annual collegiate cagefest.
Victolero is actually returning to his alma mater after previously calling the shots from 2009 to 2012 before coaching KIA in 2014 and Magnolia in 2016 in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Times, though have changed, from Victolero’s resume now adding a PBA champion coach to his name when he steered the Hotshots to the Governors’ Cup crown back in 2018, to the Cardinals reeling from a season where they got dethroned.
Without main man Clint Escamis, Mapua will now rely on holdovers MC Cuenco, Cyrus Nitura, Ivan Lazarte and Yam Concepcion.
Jarin, on the other hand, is also making a comeback to the collegiate scene with Lyceum.
His task, however, is shaping up to be an enormous one as the Pirates hope to rekindle the level of success he’s had in the past, most notably when he led San Beda University to the National Collegiate Athletic Association title in 2016.
And Lyceum means business in achieving that, with Mclaude Guadana returning to the team as he joins homegrown guards Matt Rubico and Greg Cunanan in this year’s campaign.
Tan, meanwhile, will be San Sebastian’s fourth coach in as many years, with the once proud program hoping that this finally will be the right reboot for the team.
The Filipino-Canadian coach is coming in with a lot of promise, one that is badly needed by the Golden Stags which have been in the league’s cellar for the past three years.
San Sebastian is banking on new blood led by rookie Carlo Ynot and holdovers Polo Gabat and Christian Ricio for this rebuild as it hopes to erase the bitter memories of last year’s winless run in the preseason.