Bonnie Tan takes rein at Letran

MANILA, Philippines — Letran will have a new coach in Bonnie Tan while Jose Rizal is in search for a replacement to Vergel Meneses who has resigned.

Tan has taken over from Jeff Napa and will serve as concurrent coach and manager of the Knights. He will inherit a loaded roster headed by reigning NCAA rookie of the year Larry Muyang, Christian Fajarito, Bonbon Batiller and Jeo Ambohot.

It will be the second tour of duty in the NCAA for Tan as he had coached the Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates during their early years in the NCAA before current mentor Topex Robinson took over.

Meneses, for his part, has given up his post after coaching the Bombers in a nine-year period where the team made the Final Four five times.

The one-time PBA MVP awardee resigned from coaching to be able to concentrate on his mayoralty bid in Bulacan.

JRU athletic director and Management Committee member Paul Supan said they’re still looking for Meneses’ successor.

Letran and JRU are two of five NCAA member schools which have made coaching changes this year, with the other three being Arellano University (Cholo Martin), Emilio Aguinaldo (Oliver Bunyi) and Mapua U (Randy Alcantara).