Congratulations dad
That was just one of the messages now-former Far Eastern University head coach Nash Racela received from current and former Tamaraws once the news broke out that he was set to become the head coach of TNT Katropa.
From the outside, a head coach of a varsity team is looked at as a job, a professor to an advanced Physical Education class. But that text proved that Racela was more than just a teacher; he was the team’s second father.
Since 2012, the 45-year-old mentor was with his team for more than 200 days a year. To put it into perspective, that might have been more time spent than with his immediate family.
After 68 UAAP-sanctioned games and plenty of hours spent on the gym, Racela’s journey with the Tamaraws ended Wednesday evening — exactly on his 45th birthday. It might have ended with a loss but the program that he built — his legacy — will be felt by the entire UAAP for years to come.
“I don’t want my stint with FEU to be defined by this last game. I think we did well with the program, and I know a lot of positive things will come after,” he shared after Ateneo ended FEU’s title defense bid, 69-68.
Both games in the semifinals series were instant classics, the margin of victory just a solitary point. Both teams served as perfect foils with two of the brightest minds in the game steering their ship. The result might not have been the Cinderella ending many wanted for Racela but the FEU mentor admitted that he and his team have no regrets.
“Yun nga, tinanong ko sa kanila if they did their best, and the answer was a ‘yes.’
“And sa amin naman sa FEU, that’s all we ask for from our players. As a coach, sometimes you don’t really look at the wins or losses. Sometimes even if you win but nakita mo na 60 percent lang ang binibigay ng players mo, you don’t like that,” the one-time UAAP champion coach shared.
“Today, even if we lost, I know they gave more than a hundred. So I was so proud of how we played today and how we performed the whole season.”
Even if he did not show it, there was a clear feeling that Racela is starting to show signs that he will miss FEU’s Diliman and Morayta campuses, his players, his staff, and every student from the proud institution.
“Ayoko pa nga mag-coach sa next game,” he shared.
“Ma-mimiss ko yung FEU, yung team. Coaching them, and leading them, kasi it’s a daily thing.”
Now that he is moving on to the “big league,” the FEU faithful need not look far to see what Racela’s legacy is. More than the championship banner he brought to FEU, he honed players like Mac Belo, Roger Pogoy, Mike Tolomia, and Russel Escoto into National Team members, he turned a once shy man into a leader in Raymar Jose, and he touched numerous lives, helping prepare his students to embark into the real world.
And this is the dream of every head coach.
