Advertisement

Dandan out as UP coach; Madrid steps in

(UPDATED) After what is shaping up to be another dismal season for the Fighting Maroons, the axe fell on University of the Philippines head coach Ricky Dandan as he was reportedly given his walking papers Saturday morning.

The Maroons, who are languishing in the cellar with no wins to show in eight games, dropped a 64-72 decision to defending champion Ateneo last Thursday in a game where they led by as many as 11 points in the second period before falling apart in the second half.

According to a reliable source, after the game Dandan blasted his players for not following the game plan and reportedly told his players to just pick a new coach among his assistants since they were no longer following his instructions.

The same source said team management met with Dandan Saturday morning, where he was informed that he would be replaced.

The fiery coach, who was on his their year with the Maroons, confirmed to Yahoo! Philippines via an SMS late Saturday night that he would be taking a break from coaching.

ALSO READ: TRO allows UPIS cager to suit up as Junior Maroons nip Tiger Cubs

Replacing Dandan for the remainder of the season is another former Fighting Maroon and one of the current team managers, Rey Madrid. A member of the 1986 champion team of UP, Madrid served as head coach of UP from 1989 to 1993.

Madrid ran the Maroons' practice Sunday afternoon at the UP Gym Annex. Also seen at the gym assisting him were former UP players Ramil Cruz and Poch Juinio, who will serve as his assistants. Gone with Dandan are his assistant coaches Joey Mendoza, Bob Noriega, Manny Dandan and Mark Dandan.

When pressed to comment on the sudden coaching change, Madrid declined, saying he'd rather focus first on the Maroons' next game on Wednesday against the UE Warriors.

UP team captain Moriah Gingerich also declined to comment, except to say that it was "management's decision". Rookie Andre Paras concurred with Gingerich, saying they were not authorized to make any comments at this time.

When contacted for comment late Saturday night, UP College of Human Kinetics Dean Ronnie Dizer neither confirmed nor denied that a coaching change was in the offing and merely said via SMS that "the UP basketball program is evaluating its first-round performance to improve its win-loss record."

Under the university's rules, only Dizer can recommend a coaching change to the UP Diliman Chancellor.

A former Maroon himself, Dandan served as Ateneo's program director for basketball for 10 years before taking on the UP job. He was taking over a program that had only 10 wins to show from 2006 to 2010, and was expected to bring stability to UP's long-suffering basketball team.

After winning two of their first five games in 2011, things appeared to be turning around. But the team lost all their remaining nine games to finish at 2-12. The next year was even worse, with the Maroons going 1-13.

Entering this season, talk was rife that some alumni supporters were growing impatient and were demanding results. But the team went 0-7 in the first round before blowing that 11-point lead against the Blue Eagles.