Right before the Philippine Superliga press conference for the All-Filipino Cup, three former FEU Tamaraws-turned-coaches huddled in a group away from the crowd.
10-time UAAP champion coach with the De La Salle Lady Spikers Ramil De Jesus shared a light-hearted discussion with recently-relieved head coach of the Lady Tamaraws Shaq Delos Santos and the man who replaced him George Pascua.
From the looks of their conversation, one could hardly tell that Delos Santos and Pascua had just gone through a weird sequence of “coincidences” that would have broken any other friendship.
In the coaching world, however, friendships almost always last longer than tenures.
Yesterday, FEU officially announced that Pascua took over for Delos Santos as head coach of the Lady Tamaraws. This came as a surprise, especially to FEU supporters who watched Delos Santos valiantly lead the Lady Tams to three straight UAAP Final Four appearances.
Just last year, it was Delos Santos who, after serving as assistant, replaced Pascua as chief mentor of the Petron Blaze Spikers in the PSL.
While this seems like a fishy situation to some, both understand that coincidences like this are a nature of the business.
“It was a management decision. Para sa akin, mas nananaig na magpasalamat na lang sa kanila para sa support at opportunity na binigay nila sa akin for four years.
“I think nakapag-perform naman ako ng maayos. Hindi lang siguro na-reach ‘yung goal namin. ‘Yun lang masasabi ko,” Delos Santos told Tiebreaker Times.
“Nagkakataon lang siguro na ganoon ‘yung nangyayari.
“Siguro may mga bagay na dapat palitan at dapat gawin. Part ng management na ‘yun,” echoed Pascua who has won championships for FEU as player and coach of the Men’s team. In fact, Pascua coached Delos Santos in FEU.
Both insist that they remain good friends.
“Wala namang ano sa amin. Management decision din ‘yung sa Petron. Siyempre, professional ka lang din dapat. Maiintindihan mo naman ‘yan kasi part ng trabaho namin ‘yan,” thought Delos Santos.
“Yung relationship kay coach Shaq, walang nagbago. Professional lang ‘yun, walang personal na epekto sa amin,” added Pascua, Cignal’s head coach.
Delos Santos, for his part, urged the Lady Tamaraws he left behind to support Pascua and continue with their duties as student-athletes.
“Kung anong dapat nilang gawin, ituloy lang, especially ‘yung pag-aaral nila. ‘Yung paglalaro nila second priority na lang ‘yun.
“Kailangan lang nila mag-focus at ‘wag gumawa ng iba. Hindi naman kami masyadong nakapag-usap ng buong team dahil na ‘rin sa schedule at nakabakasyon ‘yung team. Most of the time ang kasama ko lang ‘yung naglalaro sa Petron,” closed the now-former FEU head coach.
