Jong Uichico

Joseph Uichico is a Filipino professional basketball head coach for the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the Philippine Basketball Association. Uichico is a former Philippines national basketball team Youth member and a former player and head coach of the La Salle Green Archers in the UAAP before replacing Ron Jacobs as SMB coach in 1999. Uichico was coach of the San Miguel Beermen from 1999-2006 leading the Beermen to six PBA champioships.

Basketball career

Uichico played for the La Salle Green Archers in the collegiate ranks. He was a member of the 1982 RP Youth Team that won the ABC Under-18 Championship. After a stint with the famed Northern Consolidated squad of Ron Jacobs, Uichico ended his basketball career early.

Coaching career

In the mid-90's, Uichico had a coaching stint with the Green Archers and guided them to two runner-up trophies. He also joined the Magnolia Beverage Masters coaching staff during Norman Black and Jacobs tenure. In 1999, Uichico became the new head coach of the Beermen after Jacobs' departure.

After an early elimination in the All-Filipino Cup, he coached the Beermen to the Commissioner and Governors Cup titles during the 1999 campaign, ending San Miguel's five-year title drought. He is also the first rookie coach to lead his team to back-to-back titles in the same year, a feat duplicated by Siot Tanquincen in 2005.

In 2000, Uichico once again guided San Miguel to two more titles and laid claim to his first and only Coach of the Year plum. His first All-Filipino Cup title with the Beermen came in 2001, defeating sister team Barangay Ginebra Kings.

Ron Jacobs appointed Uichico as one of his assistants for the RP team's 2002 Asian Games campaign. However, after Jacobs suffered a stroke, Uichico was named as the new head coach of the national squad. Uichico guided the Philippines to a fourth-place finish in the event. Their semifinal loss against eventual tournament winner South Korea was a crushing blow for Uichico's squad losing by one point on a Lee Sang Min triple in the final seconds. Despite the loss, the team still brought home what is known to Filipino basketball fans as, "The Silent Gold".

He returned as San Miguel's head coach after the Asian Games campaign, but went on a four-year title drought before winning his sixth PBA title in six years, the 2005 Fiesta Conference, as the Beermen defeated the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals, 4-1. Uichico is also serving as one of the assistant coaches of Team Pilipinas, with Chot Reyes as head coach.

Barangay Ginebra Head Coach

On August 3, 2006, Chot Reyes was named as the new head coach of the San Miguel Beermen replacing Uichico. However, San Miguel Corporation moved Uichico to its sister team Barangay Ginebra Kings replacing Siot Tanquincen, who was demoted as Uichico's assistant. On his first Ginebra coaching stint, he was able to win a championship in the first conference of the year's season. After a year he won his 2nd chmpionship with the Kings in the 2008 PBA Fiesta Conference and his 8th overall title.

External links

* [http://www.pba.ph PBA.ph]