Jeff Napa returns home as NU Bulldogs head coach

Former CEU head coach and National University alumnus Jeff Napa has returned home to coach the Bulldogs, the school announced on Friday, October 9.

But the homecoming will certainly be bittersweet for the former Bulldog player as he is now tasked to lead another rebuild following the broken transition of NU-Nazareth Bullpups stars Carl Tamayo and Gerry Abadiano, who jumped ship to UP, and Kevin Quiambao, who transferred to La Salle.

Napa, a three-time juniors champion coach with the Bullpups, is ready for the challenge, however.

“I am deeply honored to come home and be tasked to handle my alma mater. Hopefully, we can bring back the glory to Jhocson and make the Bulldogs competitive again,” he said.

The amiable tactician was most recently part of former head coach Jamike Jarin’s staff until Season 82, which saw the Bulldogs suffer multiple close-game losses as they plummeted to last place with a 2-12 record.

The team was then handled by Season 81 juniors champion coach Goldwin Monteverde, before he resigned in the midst of the controversy swirling around the transfers of Tamayo, Abadiano, and Quiambao.

Following Napa’s exit from the Bulldogs at the end of Season 82, he briefly held the head coaching spot of the UCBL’s CEU Scorpions while also being a consultant with the NCAA title-winning Letran Knights and an assistant with the PBA’s NorthPort Batang Pier.

He was also the head coach of Letran from 2016 to 2019 before being replaced by Bonnie Tan, who kept close ties with Napa until and after they won it all in Season 95.

Prior to his reunion with NU, he handed down the reigns at CEU to his friend Chico Manabat, his top deputy during their title-winning days with the Bullpups.

Napa will now handle a young squad with a few promising prospects left like John Lloyd Clemente. – Rappler.com