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AS ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, COACH?

Baculi seen as NU’s savior in UAAP bid

By Julius Manicad

07/19/2008

Tired of its place down the cellar, National University (NU) now wants to introduce a major facelift in its system by appointing a new coach to its University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball squad.

Junel Baculi, owner of numerous titles in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL), is likely to be named as NU’s athletic director, paving the way for a possible overhaul in the coaching staff of the Bulldogs who are still hunting for their first win after three outings.

According to a source privy to the negotiation, Baculi and NU’s new majority owner, business tycoon Hans Sy, are already in the “final stage” of negotiations to have the former RP Team mentor sit in the 16-man UAAP board of representatives.

The Bulldogs are currently represented by Arlene Royo and her brother Robert Paguia, who is in-charge with basketball matters.

The source also said amateur basketball sponsor Mikee Romero played an instrumental role in the ongoing negotiation since he is one of the godfathers of the Bulldogs’ basketball program. The youthful Romero owns the franchise of Harbour Centre in the PBL where Baculi serves as team consultant.

A press conference will be hosted by Sy next week to formally announce Baculi’s designation.

Royo, however, admitted that there are talks, but refused from revealing other details. She also dismissed the possibility that NU’s incumbent head coach, Manny Dandan, is already on his way out

“Yes there are talks, but I don’t know what it is all about. All I can say is that I have already seen him (Baculi) in the campus visiting the team,” Royo said while watching the heated encounter between De La Salle University and University of Santo Tomas last Thursday. “I don’t think he (Dandan) will be replaced. It’s still too early to tell.”

But the source strongly contested Royo’s claim, claiming Sy, whose family owns SM Prime Holdings Inc., wants a certified winner like Baculi and is apparently fed up with the way the Bulldogs are playing, absorbing three inexcusable losses to the rebuilding University of the Philippines, Adamson University and University of the East, respectively.

In a previous interview, Sy did not discount the possibility of having a major overhaul in the athletic system of NU.

“We’re still new. We’re still observing, then we’ll make our move,” Sy was quoted as saying.

College basketball is not new to Baculi. In 2005, Baculi, a former RP Team mentor, steered the Philippine Christian University to the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, extending the series to three games before yielding the crown to Letran College.