Pumaren out of youth team

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is set to replace Philippine youth basketball team head coach Franz Pumaren with Eric Altamirano. The SBP is set to make the announcement Dec. 1. Only a few months ago, Pumaren was at the center of a maelstrom concerning leaving his charges after they had fallen out of contention from the FIBA-Asia Youth tournament in Iran, even though the competition had not yet finished. He flew back to coach the De La Salle Green Archers in a game against rival Ateneo de Manila, primarily because the father of his assistant, Jack Santiago, was dying.

“There is really no fixed tenure for national coaches,” clarified SBP executive director Noli Eala. “After each stint, we re-evaluate each coach’s performance, and make a decision.”

After the Iran incident, Eala was among the first to criticize Pumaren for what was widely interpreted as dereliction of duty. Pumaren himself expressed his disappointment at the very public reprimand. It stung even more painfully because, strangely enough, nobody but The STAR got his side of the issue. Days after his return, Santiago’s father died, and Franz broke down into tears after a UAAP post-game press conference. Pumaren offered to resign as youth team coach.

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

But Eala instead gave a more practical reason for the change.

“This is also a part of streamlining our programs,” he elaborated. “Coach Eric already handles the National Basketball Training Center, and it only stands to reason that he should also handle the youth team.”

Lopa, of the sponsoring TAO Corporation, also said that there was no ill will towards Pumaren. Lopa explained that Pumaren had asked his permission to leave Iran.

“Franz wants more time to attend to his prior commitment to De La Salle, and his constituents in Quezon City, where he is a councilor,” Lopa revealed. “We understand. After all, these duties came before his appointment to the youth team.”

Lopa said that TAO Corporation had nothing to do with Pumaren’s ouster.

“Although we are sponsoring the team, we do not meddle in the affairs of the SBP,” Lopa explained. “We aren’t involved in the selection of the coach; that’s purely an SBP matter. But we appreciate their courtesy of consulting us on these things.”

Some sources claim that the replacement of Pumaren was not just a backlash for the Iran tournament, but also for his using the youth team to reportedly recruit at least four players for La Salle.

Allegedly, no players from La Salle were recruited for the national cause, and players who made the team were obviously unable to play for their mother schools in the UAAP and NCAA, since some of them were already eligible at the time they donned the flag.

“Perhaps a national youth coach should not belong to any major school, since there may be conflict of interest, and his actions would be misinterpreted in the first place,” commented an SBP official who requested anonymity. “And if the coach ends up getting players for his school, it wouldn’t look good.”

As it stands, Altamirano, a former PBA head coach and founder of the Nike Elite Basketball Camp for high school players, now has the tools to finish the job he started. And Franz Pumaren now has more weapons in his campaign to regain the UAAP title won by Ateneo while his attention was divided by coaching the Philippine team.

Is everybody happy?