Franz speaks

Franz Pumaren has been feeling like a human target lately. The longtime De La Salle basketball coach kept his silence as long as he could on the mounting and harsh criticism of his decision to leave the Nokia Philippine Youth team before their stint in the FIBA-Asia Youth tournament in Iran was finished. The STAR decided to get his side.

“Jack (Santiago) was really having a hard time,” Pumaren explains.

“Even before we left, his Dad was already critical, and deteriorating by the day. You could see that he was just going through the motions.

Physically, he was there; but mentally, he couldn’t focus.”

The loyal assistant started missing practices, such was his worry.

Eventually, Jack Santiago, the good soldier gave way to Jack Santiago, worried son.

“When I called my wife from Iran, Jack asked to talk to me, and asked if I could come back already. I understood his situation. So I asked permission from (assistant team manager) Joel Lopa.”

“Franz approached me and told me had had difficult decisions to make. We allowed him to go,” explained Lopa, also TAO Holdings president.

“Because we felt that, under the circumstances, he was making a sacrifice to help a friend. And we felt that the boys would be able to adjust to coach Derick (Pumaren). And coach Dan Rose was very instrumental to helping the boys adjust to the conditions there.”

Franz came home and coached the Green Archers against Ateneo last Saturday, and was roundly vilified in the media. Thursday, La Salle survived a playoff game against FEU. At halftime, the team learned that Sofronio Santiago had died. Commiserating with his friend, Franz was unable to attend media interviews. What pains Pumaren is that nobody bothered to call him up and get his side.

“That’s what disappointed me about the comments of (SBP executive director) Noli Eala,” Pumaren told The STAR. “I thought we were one team working together. Why didn’t he call me first? They allowed me to leave. Crucify me if Joel had said no and I still left the team.”

The De La Salle community had already given up much for the national cause. It wasn’t just Pumaren who had agreed to coach the Philippine youth team, it was also assistant coaches Tonichi Yturri, Dan Rose and Derick Pumaren. Franz missed the summer training of his team. The Green Archers were practically left with Jack Santiago and Tyrone Bautista. The question was: hadn’t they also sacrificed enough?

Pumaren has taken the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (as Shakespeare would put it) without complaint. After all, he wasn’t just doing it for his school; he was doing it for a good friend who happened to be a trusted lieutenant. He made the unpopular – but for him, right – decision.

“Let’s talk about sacrifice,” a sad Pumaren continued. “I’ve helped the national team for years. The week before we left, we were practicing from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. just to prepare the team. And we accomplished more than the men’s team, and we spent less. Nobody gives us credit for it.”

I asked Pumaren point blank if he would have left had the team still been in contention.

“You know, it’s really a hard decision,” was all he could say, followed by a deep breath, probably a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to make that choice. But he also said he was willing to resign, if it would please the SBP.

Some Olympic athletes and NBA players have also been forced by circumstance to leave the heat of competition in their greatest battles for flag and country to attend to family and personal emergencies. In some countries, soldiers are even called from the front in wartime to mourn. What more when the choice involves what is essentially a game, weighed against helping a dear friend who wouldn’t ask unless it was absolutely necessary?

Franz Pumaren made the difficult choice, and he was being guided by his Christian values. He took the stones and barbs hurled at him, even being branded a traitor, until he broke down from frustration, disappointment and hurt. And he willingly took it, all for a friend.

To paraphrase the Bible, no greater love hath man than this.