Globalport owner Romero to give coach Jarencio ‘more chances’

MANILA, Philippines – Talks of a coaching change at the Globalport camp are rumors – for now.

Globalport Batang Pier team owner Mikee Romero refuted reports that the team’s head coach Pido Jarencio will be replaced. Though he did imply that it’s still an open-ended decision and Jarencio will be given chances to prove himself.

“There’s no decision yet and so far we won the game. Yung change of (coaches), chismis lang yan,” Romero spoke on Sunday, October 26 after Globalport notched its first win of the Philippine Cup at the expense of Barako Bull. (Talks of change of coaches are just rumors.)

“To be fair to coach Pido, we’ll be giving him more chances,” he added.

News of a coaching switch surfaced after Globalport dropped its first outing against the NLEX Road Warriors – a game the Batang Pier appeared to have control over until the Road Warriors rallied in the fourth quarter and snatched the win from Globalport’s grip.

There were reports Globalport management was eyeing former Air21 Express (now NLEX) coach Franz Pumaren as replacement.

“After our loss to NLEX, medyo nasermonan yung coaches ko ng management. Right now, coach Pido is still our coach and he will remain,” Romero explained. (After our loss to NLEX, my coaches received an earful from management.)

Romero, who has won several championships before in the now-defunct Philippine Basketball League with his old team Harbour Centre, said that his evaluation will continue as the conference goes along.

“Of course coaches in the PBA, they are evaluated based on their performance,” he explained.

“Masyado pang maaga at this point to change a coach eh. We’re just two games in, so it’s still very, very early.” (It’s too early at this point to change a coach.)

He said there is no specific time table as to what will make him decide to change coaches or how many wins or losses it will take.

“Walang time table. Game to game syempre. Pero kami, Globalport, we’ll just enjoy this win today.” (There’s no timetable. It’s game to game of course. But we at Globalport, we’ll just enjoy this win today.)

‘I’m steady’

For his part, Jarencio spoke up about the reports during the post-game interview and said he paid no attention to talk on social media.

“Ako naman steady lang ako,” the former champion UAAP coach said. “Kung ano man yung andyan sa social media, hindi naman natin pinapansin yun because nung naglalaro naman ako noon wala naman social media. Wala kang nababasa. Hindi tulad ngayon masyadong mabilis yung nangyayari.“

(I’m steady. Whatever is on social media, I don’t pay attention to it because when I was playing there wasn’t any social media. You couldn’t read about anything. Unlike now, everything happens too fast.)

Jarencio made the jump to the PBA in February 2014 after 8 seasons with the UST Growling Tigers in the UAAP. He came on board for Globalport during the 39th season Commissioner’s Cup and replaced Ritchie Ticzon, who handled the Batang Pier in the Philippine Cup.

For the previous two conferences, the Commissioner’s Cup and Governors’ Cup last season, Jarencio tallied a 2-16 win-loss record as Globalport wound up in last place.

Jarencio shared what management told him in the days after the NLEX loss.

“Ang sinabi lang naman sa akin ng management, manalo kami and mag-coach ako. Huwag ako mag-isip ng kahit ano,” he said, adding that there was no pressure on his part coming into the Barako Bull game.

“Sanay na tayo sa pressure. Yung pressure nandiyan lang yan. Basta ako ang iniisip ko lang palagi huwag ako magkulang sa ginagawa ko.”

(Management told us to win and that I should coach. That I shouldn’t think about anything. I’m used to pressure. Pressure will always be there. I just think to myself that I should do everything I can.)

Team captain Alex Cabagnot, for his part, shared the team didn’t allow the news to throw them off.

“Those are just rumors. We can’t really pay attention to them. We wanted to win last game, we were just as fired up last game.”

While sophomore guard Terrence Romeo also shared the same sentiment but added how the team fought hard against Barako to help Jarencio as well.

“Hindi kami na-bother about dun kasi hindi pa naman final eh. Hindi kami nakikinig sa negative na sinasabi sa labas eh. Yung team namin family na yun eh tsaka okay yung tinatakbo namin kay coach Pido,” Romeo explained.

“Kasi lahat kami gusto makatulong sa team especially kay coach Pido. So binigay namin yung best namin para kay coach, para sa team and para rin sa sarili namin.“

(We weren’t bothered by that because it wasn’t anything final. We don’t let the negativity around us get to us. Our team is a family and we’re doing okay with coach Pido. All of us want to help the team especially coach Pido. So we gave it our all for coach, for the team and for ourselves.)

Globalport has had several coaching changes since joining the PBA in 2012. Previous coaches include Glenn Capacio, Junel Baculi and Ticzon. – Rappler.com