AROUND THE LEAGUE: NU Parts Ways With Dandan
By Sid Ventura
23 October 2009 12:00 AM
After weeks of speculation, National University finally let go of head coach Manny Dandan early this month. Fairly or unfairly, Coach Manny had been under the gun even before the season began, and it was widely believed that only a major improvement over Season 71’s dismal 2-12 finish could save his job.
Such is the life of a head coach in the UAAP. Oftentimes, especially if you haven’t won it all, you are only as good as your last season. Coach Manny lost veterans Edwin Asoro, Jay Jankhe, Jessey Garcia and Raymond Aguilar – who were also his top four scorers – to graduation, leaving him with a young but promising team. With all those veterans leaving and all these young recruits coming in, most of whom were no doubt attracted by the entry of the Sy family, there were some who felt that it would be another rebuilding year for the Bulldogs.
This marks the end of an association that began in 1996 when Coach Manny was first brought onboard as an assistant coach under then head coach Jojo Villa. He would assume the head coaching chores himself in 1998 before moving on to coach John O Juice in the PBL from 2003 to 2004, during which time he was retained as a team consultant. So for 14 consecutive seasons, he was connected with the NU basketball program. It’s a pity the partnership had to end under less than desirable circumstances.
What was going against Coach Manny was his overall record in his second tour of duty. He returned in 2005 to steer the Bulldogs to a 1-13 record, their only win coming on the very last second of their very last game when Jankhe hit a running bank shot for a one-point win over UST. The following year, with the UAAP tournament featuring only seven teams following the suspension of La Salle, the Bulldogs improved slightly to 3-9, but once again finished dead last. In 2007, it looked as if NU was finally on the rise, climbing to sixth overall with a 6-8 record punctuated by a big win over Ateneo in the second round. And with only Jonathan Fernandez the player of note leaving, there was reason to be optimistic for Season 71. However, the Bulldogs regressed and reclaimed their position at the cellar with only two wins to show.
Even before Season 71 ended, though, the Sy family began its investment into the NU sports program. Junel Baculi was brought onboard as the school’s athletic director, something the university previously never had. A new air-conditioned bus was purchased. A practice facility in the SM Mall of Asia grounds was set up. Finally, a series of tryouts in the offseason attracted over 300 aspirants from all over the country. At long last, NU had a pool of recruits from which to choose their players.
So this past season, the Bulldogs went into the UAAP wars with six new faces – Ajeet Singh, Kokoy Hermosisima, Deanmark Cabaluna, Larry Malanday, Ronald Roy, and Francis Donahue. A number of other talented players were waiting in the wings serving their residency, including an African import.
As early as the October 2008 tryouts, Coach Manny was already saying that despite the abundance of talent at his disposal, his Season 72 team would be raw and unproven. He likened it to his 1998 team whose rookies eventually formed the core of the 2001 team that made it to the Final Four.
And when you look at it, this Season 72 team actually performed slightly better than the veteran Season 71 team in terms of wins. They even opened the season with a 74-64 thrashing of the UP Maroons. Plus, they concluded their season with a big upset over the DLSU Green Archers. However, in between those opening-day and final-day victories, there were losses that were just plain ugly and embarrassing. There was that 29-point loss to Adamson where the Bulldogs scored only 13 second-half points. There was that game against Ateneo which I covered for ABS-CBN Sports, where the Bulldogs opened up scoring with a Hermosisima three before surrendering 28 unanswered points.
So even though the Bulldogs improved from eighth to seventh this season, this apparently wasn’t improvement enough in the eyes of NU management. Personally, I would have wanted to see what Coach Manny could have done next year with his transferees onboard, especially the African import. These were also his recruits, after all, and I feel he deserved first crack at them.
I tried contacting Coach Manny while writing this piece, but calls to his cell phone went unanswered. In the meantime, the scuttlebutt is that Eric Altamirano has been offered the head coaching position, but he has yet to accept. Let’s see what happens.
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