Perasol faces big test for Eagles 6-peat

MANILA, Philippines - Bo Perasol takes over Ateneo beginning Dec. 1, hard pressed to sustain the Eagles’ winning run in the UAAP with a roster decimated by the graduation of a number of key stars.

The ex-Powerade coach will be at the helm the next three years, hopeful but wary of his stint where he will try to keep the winning tradition started by multi-titled coach and now Talk n Text mentor Norman Black.

“It will be a daunting task for me especially in keeping the team hungry and prepared for another championship run,” said Perasol, a former UP team skipper in the 90s who steered Powerade to last year’s PBA Philippine Cup finals.

“I am well aware of the changes this team will undergo in as far as its personnel is concerned.

“However, it is not going to deter me from finding a way to make us a strong contender all the time,” he added.

But he will have to make do without some of the team’s stars, including Greg Slaughter and Nico Salva, who have graduated.

Ateneo president Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ, said the key to Perasol’s hiring was their renewed ties with patron and business mogul Manny V. Pangilinan.

“On the specific issue of the head coach of our men’s varsity basketball team, MVP offered to arrange for me to meet with Bo Perasol so that we could reconsider our mutual termination of an earlier agreement,” said Villarin in an official statement.

“In view of this development, I reconvened the Search Committee, which had earlier recommended coach Bo as their candidate for the said post.

“The Committee met last Nov. 24 and confirmed their recommendation in respect of coach Bo. With the affirmation and support of the Search Committee, I am pleased to announce that coach Bo shall be the head coach of the Ateneo Blue Eagles beginning Dec. 1, 2012.

“We are grateful to MVP for his gesture and goodwill,” he added.

Perasol was supposed to have taken over the position left by Black as early as late last month, weeks after Ateneo copped its fifth straight UAAP championship with a two-game sweep of UST.

But after Ateneo and MVP severed ties, Perasol, an MVP supporter, had to beg off from taking over although the Ateneo management has decided to rescind his three-year contract earlier.

Gabby Severino has been handling Ateneo since, leading the school to a runner-up finish in the recent University Games in Bacolod and the Final Four of the ongoing Phl Collegiate Champions League.