UNIVERSITY of the Philippines (UP) legend Eric Altamirano came home to Diliman to mentor its women’s basketball team while former De La Salle University sensation Kieffer Alas committed to rival Ateneo de Manila University for collegiate play as team ushered in their offseason moves for the much-awaited UAAP Season 89 later this year.
Mr. Altamirano, a member of the famed UP team that ruled the UAAP with Benjie Paras and Ronnie Magsanoc in 1986, on Wednesday was officially introduced as the Fighting Maroons women’s basketball team head coach to replace Paul Ramos, who steered the team back to final four in Season 86.
“I’ve come full circle. This is my way of giving back to the school that gave me the opportunity to start my playing career and coaching career,” said Mr. Altamirano, who will inherit an intact core led by Gilas Pilipinas women players Louna Ozar and Camille Nolasco as well as veteran Kaye Pesquera.
Mr. Altamirano was the Finals MVP in Season 49 when UP under mentor Joe Lipa swept UE to snap a 48-year title drought. That served as Diliman’s last title en route to another 36 years of dry spell before coach Goldwin Monteverde ended it by spoiling Ateneo’s four-peat bid in 2022.
Since then, Mr. Altamirano transitioned to coaching gigs with Purefoods, Mobiline and Coca-Cola in the PBA before coming back to coach the UP men’s team in 1996. In 2014, he engineered National University’s UAAP supremacy to snap a 60-year futility.
And now, he’ll be up for a similar mission of putting an end to Diliman’s misery in UAAP women’s basketball after last winning in 1984.
“Of course, our long-term plan is to bring UP to the mountain top. But for now, we have to continue taking these many steps to get there. For now, what we want is sustainable competitiveness,” said Mr. Altamirano, who’s no stranger to women’s play after overseeing Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 Women and the Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.
Mr. Altamirano, who also heads the National Basketball Training Center for grassroots and high school basketball, will have Jeff Perlas, Paolo Layug, Anton Altamirano, and Gilas Women mainstay Mikka Cacho, as part of his staff in a bid to bounce back from UP’s 3-11 campaign last season.
His appointment came on the heels of UP’s Katipunan rival’s massive recruitment in men’s basketball after scooping up the services of Mr. Alas, the star of Gilas Pilipinas youth that made it to the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup after a final four finish in the Asian qualifier, where he was named to the Mythical Team with averages of 15.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Mr. Alas, 18, suffered a knee injury in the World Cup but came back with a bang to win the UAAP Season 87 MVP crown before going to the United States to play for former Gilas and PBA mentor Mark Dickel, a protege of Tab Baldwin, in Utah Prep.
“Homecoming,” said Mr. Alas on Instagram on Tuesday as he reunites with father Louie, who serves as deputy to Mr. Baldwin, after choosing Ateneo over a bevy of other UAAP and US NCAA Division 2 schools. — John Bryan Ulanday
