MANILA, 9 January 2004 — Forget about the strong opposition from the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines (BCAP), Shell is ready to name an American coach.
Shell is set to formally announce this week the appointment of American John Moran as its chief bench taskmaster starting in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Cup.
Earlier, Shell management accepted the resignation of long-time coach Perry Ronquillo and named Moran, a Brooklyn, New York native who made his first appearance in the local basketball scene by conducting the very first PBA Rookie Camp last year at SM Megamall, as his replacement.
With seemingly no to Shell’s run of disappointing performances, Ronquillo offered himself as a solution as the the portly, amiable Shell team mentor tendered his courtesy resignation.
Ronquillo, who signed a three-year-contract with the Turbochargers in 2001, still has one year left in his pact, but he said he would waive it if Shell management reconsiders his resignation.
“We will evaluate the team and see what we can do after coach Perry offered his resignation,” said Shell team governor Bobby Kanapi.
Ronquillo steered the Turbochargers to the 1999 All Filipino title over heavily favored Tanduay.
Right now, Shell management is only finalizing the details of Moran’s contract and working out the necessary papers that would allow the American mentor to coach in the pro league. Shell has already started facilitating his entry with league officials.
Surely, Shell can expect one intense and loud battle from the BCAP, which is formed by local coaches which believes that the practice of hiring American coaches robs jobs from equally capable local coaches.
“We have to be consistent, we have to fight it. It is one lost job for a Filipino coach,” BCAP president Chito Narvasa said.
Narvasa thinks there are many local coaches who are more qualified to coach the Shell ballclub than Moran. Narvasa said they plan to use all legal means to make sure Moran does not sit on the bench and call the shots for Shell.
“For the BCAP, the Filipinos are just as able as these foreign coaches,” he said.
Narvasa said formal announcement of Moran’s appointment would be a good news as it would enable them to finally make a move to block his entry into the PBA.
“We have people checking with the labor and immigration departments regularly. Fact is, the last we checked with labor last week, Moran has not applied for a working permit,” said Narvasa. “We’ve heard that he served as one of Shell’s consultants since he arrived in the country in December 2002. So we’re checking now if he had violated labor and immigration laws by doing that.”
Narvasa, who ironically once coached Shell, said the BCAP board has come up with a decision to challenge Moran’s right to coach in the country.
“The BCAP board wants to pursue our battle against foreign coaches. The board wants to have final ruling in this particular case,” said Narvasa, pointing out that Bill Bayno’s case has not yet been decided by the Court of Appeals.
Narvasa is even thinking on having Moran investigated whether he had violated immigration laws as the BCAP president heard reports the American coach had worked as trainer of the Turbochargers last year.
PBA Commissioner Noli Eala said the league will not stand in the way if and when Shell announces Moran’s appointment “for as long as his papers with the labor and immigration departments are in order.”
“We’ve allowed Bill Bayno, Tom Woolpert, Tim Cone and even Norman Black in the past. If he’s going to have problems, it will be with the BCAP,” said Eala.
BCAP had its biggest court battle last year when it tried to block Talk ‘N’ Text’s hiring of Bayno.
The Department of Labor and Employment gave Bayno a working permit as no one challenged his appointment to coach Talk ‘N’ Text in a notice published in one national daily. Although BCAP lost the battle against Bayno, Narvasa said the crusade against this practice is far from over.
“We will never let up in the fight against foreign coaches taking over jobs that we strongly believe can be ably filled up by Filipino coaches,” he said.
Narvasa said Moran is “nowhere near Woolpert” when it comes to credentials.
“Of Bayno and Woolpert, the former is considered the best. Moran, from what we’ve heard, served only as an assistant to Bobby Knight in the United States. He’s never had a head coaching experience,” Narvasa said.
It can be recalled that Talk ‘N’ Text dropped the axe on American coach Woolpert, replacing him with Joel Banal last year. Management gave Woolpert the pink slip in a surprising twist to a ballclub known for its penchant on changing coaches.
The former Yakima Suns mentor inherited the Talk ‘N’ Text job from Bayno shortly after the Phone Pals came short of winning the Commissioner’s Cup title two years ago, losing to Batang Red Bull in the deciding seventh game of the Finals.
For the record, the two Americans were just one of several coaches which the Phone Pals brought in as part of their ambitious bid to capture a league championship. Among the previous team mentors include Yeng Guiao (1996), Norman Black (1997), Derick Pumaren (1997), Eric Altamirano (1998-2000) and Louie Alas (2000-01).
Both the hiring of Woolpert and Bayno came under fire from the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines (BCAP), which stressed time and again that such act deprives Filipino coaches of their livelihood.
While Bayno was volatile on the hardcourt, Woolpert was more composed, at least in his first game in the land’s premier league. Woolpert’s occasional shouts were directed more to his players rather than the referees.
Woolpert had success with the Suns, whom he steered to the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) championship in the 90s, but he can’t seemed to weave the same magic with the Phone Pals.
Caption: Outgoing Shell coach Perry Ronquillo
