Photo by Jan Dizon, NCAA.

The big story coming out of the PBA last week were the major changes on the San Miguel bench, involving assistant coach Ato Agustin and head coach Siot Tanquingcen. Agustin, who was brought in earlier this conference to be part of the brain trust, assumed coaching duties during the Beermen’s loss to the Coca-Cola Tigers, while Tanquinqcen sat meekly at the sidelines.

After the game, San Miguel basketball operations head Robert Non said that the move was “on-the-job training” for Agustin, who led the San Sebastian Stags to last year’s NCAA championship as a first-time coach. San Sebastian management consequently released a statement saying that Agustin would still remain the Stags’ head coach. Curiously, Eric Gascon, a former teammate of Agustin with the MBA’s Pampanga Dragons, joined the San Sebastian coaching staff, and rumors are that he is the Stags’ coach-in-waiting.

The San Miguel coaching situation is awkward, to say the least, with Tanquingcen playing the good soldier amidst the humiliating circumstances, while Agustin has to cram to get up to speed with how to handle the team – reports have it that he has also been running the team’s practices – at a critical juncture in the conference, when the Beermen are fighting for an all-important second seeding, which would guarantee the team a free ride to the semifinals.

Speculation is predictably rife about what’s going to happen with San Miguel. Everyone is assuming that Agustin will be the next coach of the team, and this has given rise to whispers that the whole Tanquingcen-Agustin charade is a way to circumvent the rules of both the PBA and the NCAA; both leagues currently disallow head coaches from the other to handle a team. The rumors have even spilled over to the camp of San Miguel’s sister team Ginebra, where Tanquingcen is speculated to end up after the conference, either as a deputy to his mentor Jong Uichico, or as the latter’s replacement.

For most level-headed, clear-thinking fans, however, there is one big question: What the fuck is San Miguel management thinking? It’s hard to make any sense of this move, especially its timing at such a critical juncture, and so near the end of the season.

It’s terribly unfair to Tanquingcen, who, for all his shortcomings as a coach, does not deserve this kind of public humiliation. It’s not the first time it’s happened, either; in 2006, he was demoted back to become Uichico’s assistant at Ginebra despite winning two titles with the team, where he was the architect of the Gin Kings’ Fast and Furious attack featuring Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa.

It’s certainly not an ideal situation either for Agustin, who has spent the last several months preparing to coach San Sebastian for its title defense. Instead, he now has to juggle two jobs and deal with all the shit that this situation is bringing up.

And while I’m sure he’s happy to have the job, Agustin’s San Miguel homecoming, at the very least, should have happened under better circumstances. He was always San Miguel’s forgotten superstar, carrying the team on his shoulders when more celebrated teammates like Samboy Lim and Hector Calma were decimated by injuries. While Lim, Calma, and another star teammate, Allan Caidic, stopped playing, they were given cushy roles in San Miguel’s PBA operations, something that didn’t happen for guys like Agustin and Alvin Teng, players who were just as responsible for San Miguel’s PBA success in the ‘90s. Of course, unlike Lim, Caidic, and Calma, they never played for Ron Jacobs, weren’t close to Danding Cojuangco, and never played for the celebrated Northern Consolidated national team.

Even Agustin’s return to the San Miguel bench was something he had to earn, with his glowing coaching resume, after leading San Sebastian not just to an NCAA title, but other tournaments as well. So yeah, he deserves better.

As it is, there’s no reason why all these coaching moves couldn’t have waited until the offseason, when Agustin would be free of his San Sebastian commitments, he’ll have a hand in building up the team’s roster, and he’ll have ample time to install his system. Instead, he has to deal with this clusterfuck for all of us to see.

Then again, should it come as any surprise that San Miguel’s coaching change should come about in such a ham-fisted manner? It’s the same way it does in building up its team, acquiring talent haphazardly without regard for things like chemistry or balance, something that already drives its fans crazy. Then again, as a fan of another team, maybe I should just shut up. After all, it’s better for my team if San Miguel just keeps running around like a headless chicken.