It’s a common chorus that people from UP do not care about basketball, which is not exactly accurate. The school has had tremendous contributions to Philippine basketball the past few years, despite the lack of success of the Fighting Maroons due to a lack of star players. Consider: 3 of the 10 coaching positions in the Philippine Basketball Association are occupied by UP alumni. That’s 30 percent of the most coveted jobs in the country, considering that every guy who watches PBA basketball wants to be the fucking coach of his favorite PBA team, and he’d gladly tell you why if you check out his posts in your favorite Internet basketball forum.

So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that there’s so much controversy around the Fighting Maroons’ recent coaching change. Last Thursday, UP coach Aboy Castro was absent from the team’s bench, as the school announced that he had gone on indefinite leave. Rumor had it, however, that the coach was forced to resign. Today, the team said that erstwhile team consultant Boyet Fernandez was taking over the reins as acting head coach.

I had been rooting for Castro since he took over the UP program, for a reason beyond the fact that I want the Maroons to succeed. Like me, he is a Philippine Science High School alumnus, and I like to think us nerds look out for one of our own. (Other prominent Pisay alums: writers Jessica Zafra and Butch Dalisay, former AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon, political analyst Ramon Casiple, economist Cielito Habito, PBA operations chief Rickie Santos, and PBA-ologist extraordinaire Fidel Mangonon III.)

People say that the name of the game in college basketball is recruitment, and Castro has been an aggressive and creative recruiter throughout his stint with UP, bringing in talents such as highly-touted Fil-Am Mike Silungan, former San Beda guard Alvin Padilla, and high school stars Mikee Reyes, Mark Juruena, Jett Manuel, and Joshua Saret. A few other prominent recruits are still serving their residency for the team, including 6’8” Nigerian center Alinko Mbah. Considering that the program doesn’t have the resources of other teams in the UAAP, Coach Aboy has done an excellent job in this field.

Sadly though, the success hasn’t translated on the court. Despite high expectations, the UP Fighting Maroons opened the season with a disappointing 18-point loss against the De La Salle Green Archers. The team looked ill-prepared and lost, despite the fact that its core had been playing together for a while, and even capped off the summer with a stint at the Joe Abunasser training camp. It wasn’t that the team lost, but it was in the manner in which it did; when compared to the play of a team handled by a veteran coach, like Adamson and Leo Austria, it was plain to see that Castro certainly could have done a better job.

But his coaching performance aside, there was just no excuse for the ham-fisted manner by which the UP team administration handled Castro’s departure. The team’s UAAP board representative, Leilani Gonzalo, said Castro sent a text message saying that he was taking a leave of absence from the team, but Rick Olivares reported that the coach had been asked to resign by the UP Alumni Association. Castro has kept mum on the issue – probably because he still has a large knife sticking out of his back.

I don’t know why the coaching change had to be done two games into the season, which only served to invite a media circus into this whole clusterfuck. I don’t expect anyone in the team management to be loyal to Castro, but this was just a dumb basketball move.

Fernandez is an excellent coach, and he might even be overqualified; he coached Sta. Lucia to a Philippine Cup championship two years ago, and the team was a perennial contender under his watch before it was torpedoed by economic problems. As I wrote before when I watched a live Sta. Lucia game:

I also came away very, very impressed with Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez's steady demeanor on the sidelines last night. He didn't panic when the Tigers made a run to take a double-digit lead in the third quarter, nor did he get rattled when Aquino and Espino both fouled out late in the game. His team obviously has his ear and he never has to chew out any players to make a point, and the team's faith on him looks well-placed because he really prepared them well for last night's game.

But despite his sterling resume and his obvious coaching talent, the UP administration shortchanges Fernandez by bringing him into this situation. There’s virtually no way the players can pick up his system in such a short amount of time, and he won’t be familiar enough with the Maroons to be able to get the best out of them. Then you have to consider what an issue like this does to the morale of the players. He may be a great coach, but what this team needs is a miracle worker. Actually, I don’t think even Moses can lead this team out of this mess.

I don’t know who gave the green light for this decision, but I won’t be surprised if it was hatched by the same people who wanted to change the name of the UP Fighting Maroons because, they said, some folks called the team “morons” when they lost. Well, I can point out some morons in this picture, but they’re certainly not on the team. Now you all know something I found out a long time ago: “Hindi lahat ng taga-UP, matalino.”