Temporary out in the PBA, Uichico looks forward to rejoining Gilas Pilipinas
JONG Uichico is one among the few multi-titled coaches not coaching in the PBA.
After winning nine championships in 17 years as head mentor, Mr. Uichico is temporary leaving the PBA scene.
He was replaced as head coach of TNT at the end of last season when TNT was knocked out in the semifinals by Meralco in the Governors Cup.
But Mr. Uichico isn’t leaving the coaching scene totally as he’ll be helping out Chot Reyes, who was appointed as coach of Gilas Pilipinas anew.
For now, Mr. Uichico is working on the television panel as an analyst.
“You don’t want to be idle, especially in basketball, so you want to do something,” Mr. Uichico told Businessworld in an interview.
Mr. Uichico said he looks forward to joining the national team anew. He has served the Philippine men’s basketball team in different capacities — as head coach in the 2002 Busan Asian Games and as an assistant coach to Norman Black (1994 Asian Games), Chot Reyes (2007, 2013 FIBA Asia Championship) and Tab Baldwin (2015 FIBA Asia Championship and 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament).
Gilas Pilipinas will resume training early next year, but needs to win the SEABA Championship to be able to qualify to the six — window home and away format competitions leading to the 2019 World Cup.
With the Philippines failing to secure one of the top five berths in the FIBA Asia Cup, the only way for our national team to qualify in the six — window event leading to the 2019 World Cup is to win SEABA and Mr. Uichico is hoping we’re going to send the best team there.