Yeng Guiao

Joseller "Yeng" Guiao is a Filipino professional basketball head coach for the Red Bull Barako in the Philippine Basketball Association. Guiao won four PBA titles since starting his head coaching job for Swift in the early-1990's. He is a former Philippine Basketball League commissioner from 1997-2000. He is also the Vice Governor of the province of Pampanga.

Early life

Guiao is the son of former Pampanga Governor, the late Bren Guiao. He was an alumnus of La Salle Green Hills and studied at the University of the Philippines before entering the coaching ranks in the 1980s.

First Coaching Stint

Prior to his PBA coaching career, Guiao was head coach of the Swift franchise in the Philippine Amateur Basketball League with Alvin Patrimonio as one of its top stars. The RFM franchise entered the PBA in 1990, as Pop Cola, joining market rival Pepsi. Guiao was the team's first head coach and led the renamed Diet Sarsi to its first finals appearance, losing to the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs in the 1991 All-Filipino Finals.

In the 1992 Third Conference, he led Swift to their first championship with a 4-0 sweep of 7-Up in the championship. It was also Guiao's first championship in the PBA. He would also led the Mighty Meaties squad to two finals appearances in 1993 and 1994, losing to San Miguel and Alaska.

In 1995, Guiao and then-Pepsi mentor Derrick Pumaren were involved in rare coach for coach trade. While Pumaren led the rechristened Sunkist Orange Juicers to two championships that year, Guiao had two forgettable seasons with Pepsi and then-renamed as Mobiline before leaving his coaching position in 1996.

Philippine Basketball League Commissioner

In 1997, Guiao became the new commissioner of the Philippine Basketball League, replacing Charlie Favis. His first move was to put the league's game from the Rizal Memorial Coliseum to the newly-built Makati Coliseum. He was also helped the league gained marginal success from 1997-1999, with teams such as the Tanduay Rhum Masters winning titles and Blu Detergent signing-up Asi Taulava.

In 1999, he put the PBL coverage for one-season on Vintage Sports, the same coveror of the PBA games back then. The year saw significant exposure for the league while Welcoat Paints established themselves as the league's new dynasty.

Commentator

Around the time he was the PBL commissioner, he also joined Vintage Sports as their regular color commentator from 1997-1999. From 1998-1999, Guiao formed a popular tandem with Chino Trinidad, mostly delivering humor to the broadcasting booth and also formed a friendship off the mic. Trinidad and Guiao's called Barangay Ginebra's upset of the Mobiline Phone Pals in 1999 All-Filipino Cup quarterfinals for Vintage Sports.

Guiao would leave the commentary booth, as well as the Commissioner post in 2000 to join Red Bull's move to the pro ranks. Ironically, the PBL board choose Trinidad as its successor.

Red Bull head coach

In 2000, Guiao made his PBA coaching return for the Red Bull Energy Kings. Despite poor performances in the All-Filipino and Commissioners Cup, he coached the Thunder to a third-place finish in the 2000 Governors Cup.

In 2001, he would lead Red Bull to its first PBA title by defeating San Miguel 4-2 in the Commissioners Cup finals with Antonio Lang as import. The series was marred by physical play between both teams and also Guiao's famous "San Miguel has never beat us with a complete lineup" line, during the series. It was a reference to the PBA suspending Kerby Raymundo and Junthy Valenzuela in Games 3 and 4, respectively as the Beermen won both games.

Guiao would later repeat the same feat in 2002 Commissioners Cup, leading the Red Bull Thunder to a seven-game series victory over Talk N' Text to defend its championship won a year ago.

Red Bull had a two-season title drought, despite several respective finishes during those seasons. But in the 2005-06 PBA season, he coached the Bulls to the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference Championship, defeating Purefoods in six games and a runner-up finish in the 2006 Philippine Cup, losing to the same Purefoods team, 4-2.

In the 2006-07 Philippine Cup, Guiao led the Bulls to its ninth semifinals appearance in franchise history but lost to San Miguel in seven games. The series saw physical confrontation between teams even Guiao was ejected in Game 6 for elbowing Dondon Hontiveros and getting involved in a verbal exchange with SMB assistant Pido Jarencio.

National team coach

The Philippine Basketball Association, on September 25, 2008, officially named Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao, 49, as Philippine national basketball team or "Team Pilipinas" national team coach tasked with "selecting, forming, and training the national squad with the ultimate goal of competing in the 2010 World Basketball Championship (FIBA World Championship) in Istanbul, Turkey." Guiao is the successor of Chot Reyes, Filipino basketball head coach of the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals in the Philippine Basketball Association and the Philippine national basketball team or "Team "Pilipinas"." Guiao became the 6th coach to head a PBA-backed national squad after Robert Jaworski Sr (1990), Norman Black (1994), Tim Cone (1998), Jong Uichico (2002), and, Reyes, who had a 9th-place finish in 2007 FIBA-Asia Men’s Basketball Championship in Tokushima, Japan. [ [http://sports.inquirer.net/inquirersports/inquirersports/view/20080926-162986/Guiao-is-RP-five-head-coach-at-last sports.inquirer.net, Guiao is RP five head coach at last] ] [ [http://www.gmanews.tv/story/122991/PBA-names-Yeng-Guiao-as-national-team-coach gmanews.tv, PBA names Yeng Guiao as national team coach] ]

Political career

In 2001, Guiao became a board member in the province of Pampanga to start off his political career. Guiao had plans to have Pampanga host several sports for the 2005 Southeast Asian Games but was later scrapped. In 2004, he won the Vice Governor position of the province in the local elections which he currently serves.

Guiao has been critical about the leadership of former Pampanga Governor Mark Lapid. In 2005, he asked Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to investigate Gov. Lapid and his father Senator Lito Lapid of plunder charges.

He won for re-election as Vice Governor as a running mate of Senior Provincial Board Member Baby Pineda, the wife of alleged-Jueteng lord Bong Pineda, under the Kampi banner (Kampi is the mother party of Arroyo).

Criticisms and Controversies

Guiao coaching style is currently criticized by most basketball fans for its physical style of play. Most of them believe that he ask his players to resort to dirty tactics. This was further intensified when Purefoods' Eugene Tejada suffered a critical injury on May 14, 2006.

In November 2006, Guiao was involved in a verbal exchange with Talk N Text team manager Frankie Lim after an incident between Red Bull's Carlo Sharma and Asi Taulava. Lim was complaining about Guiao's reaction after the incident and both were ejected. Guiao received a one-game suspension for the incident.

During Game 6 of the 2006-07 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals against San Miguel, Guiao was ejected in the second quarter after two technical fouls. The first was when he elbowed Dondon Hontiveros after the latter hit a three-pointer from the corner. This led to a shouting incident between him and Beermen assistant Pido Jarencio, resulting in Guiao's second technical.

Some also criticized Guiao if he could control his time both as Pampanga's Vice Governors and as Red Bull's head coach. Recently, Guiao gave team control to Gee Abanilla to avoid being reprimanded by the Commission on Elections at the height of the political campaign.

ee also

* Pop Cola Panthers
* Philippine Basketball League
* Red Bull Barako

External links

* [http://www.pba.ph PBA.ph]
* [http://www.mypbl.com MYPBL.com]

References