By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
GIVEN how difficult it is to land a coaching job in Division 1 basketball in the United States, Filipino-American coach Mike Magpayo is just grateful to be given an opportunity to be thrust in such a position.
Recently named as head coach of University of California (UC)Riverside, Mr. Magpayo, 41, said the new challenge at hand has him very thrilled just as he expressed determination to maintain a steady program with the Highlanders.
“Obviously it’s exciting, my parents are proud as heck. My mom keeps saying, she was just like oh everybody’s adding me on Facebook. Nobody’s more proud than my mom and dad so first it means a lot just to make my family proud,” said Mr. Magpayo in the recent episode of Tiebreaker Vods’ Coaches Unfiltered podcast where he was a guest.
“It just happened fast for me, too, as far as just the last week and how it went down but obviously it’s really, really exciting and I’m thrilled. It’s crazy,” he added.
Landing the UC Riverside coaching job was a culmination of a decade of putting in the work and continuously bettering himself as a coach, making where he is now all the more gratifying.
Mr. Magpayo, who graduated from UC Santa Barbara, had stops as assistant coach at Columbia and Campbell and was director of basketball operations in San Francisco.
He joined the Highlanders in 2018 as assistant to David Patrick, who a fortnight ago resigned from his post to become the associate head coach at the University of Arkansas.
Mr. Magpayo, the first NCAA Division 1 head coach of Asian descent, gave Mr. Patrick a lot of credit for paving the way for him in UC Riverside, considering the former as “a friend and mentor.”
Now running the show at UC Riverside, which plays in the Big West Conference, the Filipino-American coach said he recognizes that challenges abound for him on various levels but said he is ready to take them on.
“[Among the challenges is] trying to make sure we retain all of our guys and jelling with the team and just telling all the parents and basically re-recruiting them and telling them to be recommitted to the program which is so far we got a 100% retention which is the biggest and most important part because we really have a really, really good team actually,” he said.
“I’m the first [Asian]. In men’s basketball coaching, there are no Asians, very little. But just the way I’ve been in life and just the way my parents raised me, my dad and mom always said chase your dream, believe in yourself and I’m proud to be Filipino, I think we are awesome, I think we are great so I never let those barriers, I never even thought about it. I’m always prepared for it and all that stuff,” added Mr. Magpayo, who founded the Asian Coaches Association.
Despite doing his thing and representing in the States, Mr. Magpayo shared that he is not completely alien to what is happening in basketball in the country and is happy that players here are branching out and pursuing opportunities outside of the Philippines.
He cited, for one, Kai Sotto who is in the States and set to play in the NBA G League.
“I think Kai obviously is good, he’s good, I’ve seen a bunch of highlights. I’ve never seen him in person… I root for all the Filipinos, and Kai, I think is good,” he said.
As his coaching journey continues, Mr. Magpayo said key lessons for him along the way were establishing good relationships, particularly with players, and continuing to work hard, something he intends to use as guides as UC Riverside coach.
“As a coach, I think I’d talked about it, you have to build great relationships with the players. I guess that’s humongous. I think that’s really important, just to have a great relationship,” Mr. Magpayo said.
“And I think if you’re good, the cream rises to the top and I’m not saying that about me but I think if you’re good and you work hard [the better].”
