Globalport undergoes coaching shuffle anew; Jarencio now consultant

MANILA, Philippines – Globalport has again shuffled its coaching staff, tapping Eric Gonzales to be the head coach in an interim basis with Pido Jarencio relegated to being a coaching consultant as the Batang Pier struggle at eighth place entering the home stretch of the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round.

But despite his ouster as head coach, Jarencio still hopes the best for the team, praying that the Batang Pier win their last two games versus Barangay Ginebra and Meralco, and salvage a spot in the Top Six.

In fact, the one-time UAAP champion coach still showed up in practice at the Moro Lorenzo gym inside the Ateneo campus Thursday, encouraging the players to exert best effort to achieve the team’s goal.

“I told them to play as hard as they can and make boss (team owner Mikee Romero) proud,” said Jarencio.

From the start, Romero had said Jarencio was under evaluation specially after losing their first game in the season against newcomer NLEX.

Globalport eventually effected the change after a 26-point rout by the San Miguel Beermen Tuesday.

It was a close game until the Beermen got away with 19 unanswered points in the second half, infuriating the Globalport team owner.

Still, Jarencio was thankful to Romero for the opportunity to coach in the pros. “It’s every coach’s dream to coach in the PBA,” said Jarencio.

Gonzales will the fifth coach to handle the team after Glenn Capacio, Junel Baculi, Ritchie Ticzon and Jarencio. Capacio and Ticzon both served in interim capacity.