UV replaces coach with former player Gary Cortes

COACHING CHANGE

Former PBA player Felix Belano coaches the UV Green Lancers during the 2013 Cesafi Finals in this file photo. Belano won’t be calling the shots for UV next season.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

In the wake of a disappointing season that saw them regress from their championship form, the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers are banking on a new voice to guide them back to their winning ways as they tapped former player Gary Cortes to assume the head coaching position, replacing ex-pro Felix “Donbel” Belano.

According to UV’s liaison Marichu Cabanilla, the call to replace Belano was made by the school’s top brass last week.

“It’s time to give someone else a chance to coach the Green Lancers. After all, four years na sad siya (Belano),” Cabanilla said.

UV is the winningest team in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi), winning a total of 10 championships, including the 2013 crown where they came back from a 0-2 deficit in the finals and stunned the heavily-favored Southwestern University Cobras in five games.

However, trouble already hung on the horizon for the Green Lancers as early as the preseason when they decided to let go of former Rookie of the Year-MVP Wowie Escosio for failing to meet the standards set by management for its student-athletes. Then in the preseason, the Lancers failed to get a single victory during the FilOil Preseason Cup.

The Lancers finally unraveled in the semifinals of this past season when teammates Franz Arong and Jeffakins Aguara nearly came to blows near the end of their loss to eventual runners-up University of San Carlos. The two players were suspended by the school’s management for the rest of the season.

Cortes will not have much time to accustom himself to the new role as he is set to lead the Green Lancers in a tournament in Lapu-Lapu before they compete in the Elite Eight of the 2014 Philippine Collegiate Champions League.

Cortes, who played for the Green Lancers in the late 1980s and the early 90s, admitted he is nervous about the new job, given the school’s winning tradition.

“It’s difficult because of the expectations to win but I will try my best to get my players in the best position to succeed,” Cortes said.

Also gone from the coaching staff is longtime assistant coach Bong Pineda, who is already with the Café France Bakers in the PBA D-League. Helping Cortes on the sidelines will be Van Parmis and yet another former UV varsity player and commercial circuit standout, Junel Maglasang.