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Catching Up With: 2-time PBA champion coach Perry Ronquillo

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Rey Joble

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Photo from PBA Retro Facebook page" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/sports/07/30/retro.jpg"/><figcaption>Photo from PBA Retro Facebook page</figcaption></figure></div>If you look at the current roster of coaches handling a PBA team, half of them are still in search for the elusive league championship.Jeff Cariaso started his head coaching job at Ginebra in the 2014 Governors’ Cup and handled the team until the 2015 Philippine Cup before agreeing to a contract buyout and returned to Alaska to join the coaching staff where he served as an assistant coach.In 2019, he started coaching the Alaska Aces and has remained as its mentor until its last day in the PBA in the 2021 Governors’ Cup.Converge, which took over the Alaska franchise, has retained the services of Cariaso for the new season.Johnedel Cardel, another former player like Cariaso, has been the head coach of Terrafirma ever since the franchise was carrying the brand name, Columbian Dyip in 2018 and has coached the team while the team is searching for an elusive playoff run.Ariel Vanguardia has returned as head coach in the PBA after he took over as mentor of the Blackwater Bossing in the Governors’ Cup last season. In the ongoing Philippine Cup, he transformed the squad to becoming a serious playoff contender, leading the squad to five wins in nine games.Blackwater’s record last season was 1-21.Chris Gavina inherited the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters squad from former mentor Caloy Garcia, but in the season-ending Governors’ Cup, the team missed out the playoffs for the first time in a long while.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/16/22/pba-blackwaters-turnaround-impresses-nlexs-guiao">PBA: Blackwater’s turnaround performance catches Coach Yeng’s fancy</a></li></ul>Topex Robinson had a promising first season as head coach of the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters during the firs ever bubble tournament in Pampanga. His squad went a game away from reaching the franchise’s first ever finals berth, but last season, the team missed out the playoffs of the Philippine Cup, then made it to the quarterfinals of the Governors’ Cup before getting the boot from top seed Magnolia Hotshots.In the ongoing Philippine Cup, Phoenix Super LPG is again on the verge of missing the playoffs, winning only two games in nine matches with still only two games left on its schedule as of this posting. Then, there’s Pido Jarencio, head mentor of the NorthPort Batang Pier, who is also in search for his first ever PBA title.The household names of PBA coaching had kept their status as among the most in demand coaches in the business led by two-time grand slam coach Tim Cone of Barangay Ginebra, grand slam mentor Norman Black of Meralco, returning TNT mentor and six-time Coach of the Year awardee Chot Reyes, eight-time league champion Leo Austria of San Miguel Beer, six-time champion coach Yeng of NLEX and Chito Victolero of the Magnolia Hotshots, who won a PBA title as coach of the franchise in the 2018 Governors’ Cup.But there are champion coaches in the past who are no longer calling the shots for a PBA team and for whatever reason, it’s interesting to find out what are they doing so far.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/16/22/cariaso-optimistic-converge-will-learn-from-losses">PBA: Cariaso optimistic Converge will learn from painful losses</a></li></ul>Whatever happened to Perry Ronquillo, a two-time PBA champion coach and two-time Coach of the Year awardee? The former Shell Turbochargers coach has retired from active coaching for about two decades now and has moved to the United States where he’s now working as a substitute teacher for the West Costa County School District.Away from the basketball scene for a long time, Ronquillo is happily retired from the game he loves, beginning as a marginal player for the La Salle Green Archers coached by Derrick Pumaren’s champion teams, to serving as an assistant coach to Norman Black in the 1994 Asian Games and Chito Narvasa at Shell to becoming head coach at Burger King in the PBL and the Turbochargers in the PBA.Ronquillo doesn’t have the itch to return as he’s taking his sweet time with less stress from his current job.“I don’t,” replied Ronquillo when asked by ABS-CBN News if he misses being involved in the game. “Eto nga ako at present, nagkakape (sending a photo of him taking sweet time while biding his time in his favorite coffee shop).”The hazards of having to come up with quick game adjustments and the time consuming hours of preparing a game plan for his team is no longer there, but just like everybody else, Ronquillo had his own challenges facing in his new-found career.“The first challenge, of course, is following safety protocols for children and the changing landscape of public education. Ginagamit kasi para sa political gain ng both sides — Republicans and Democrats,” added Ronquillo.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/11/01/20/pba-phoenix-promotes-topex-robinson-to-full-time-head-coach">PBA: Phoenix promotes Topex Robinson to full-time head coach</a></li></ul>But Ronquillo enjoys the time relishing the great journey he had, especially during the 1998 and 1999 seasons when he and the Turbochargers had the finest moments of their careers.“The first conference that I took over, there were four games left. We need to win four to make it to the next round,” said Ronquillo. “It was really slow progression. We only won three. But that was a good thing because we were already winning.”“The second conference, we were one second away from making the finals of the second conference when John Best was fouled with one second left. But he was told by the referee thar he was fouled before the shot “Ronquillo was referring to Game 5 of their best-of-five semifinals series against Alaska in a game where the Milkmen escaped with a 71-69 win to reach the championship round and earn the right to face the San Miguel Beermen.But Ronquillo and the Turbochargers were able to make it to the finals of the next four conferences, including the side event Centennial Cup. In the Centennial Cup, Shell lost to Mobiline in a knockout championship match, 67-66, in overtime.“When we made the finals of the Centennial Cup, it was still a step up,” he added. “We lost that game by a point. It was competitive all the way.”The Turbo Chargers got some sort of a payback, facing the same team which defeated them for the championship, in the season-ending Governors’ Cup.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/13/22/blackwater-coach-desiderio-deserves-to-share-his-side">Blackwater coach Vanguardia says Desiderio deserves to share his side</a></li></ul>With more time to adjust as the championship showdown has reverted to a best-of-seven finals series, the Turbochargers were able to have their vengeance.“It was a totally different series. In one game, anything can happen, but in a series, you can make adjustments here and there,” said Ronquillo. “They didn’t have some of their better players because they were in the Centennial Team, but it worked for them because it gave them a different dimension. The people that were left were shooters — Al Solis, Patrick Fran, Glenn Capacio — all of then can shoot. Then, they have two imports who were tough match ups for us. Tee McClary was strong enough to take on anybody at the post and Silas Mills, a bigger import, was a good perimeter player. It gave us a different match up problems.”“But the guys were really motivated to win. They felt it has to be a step up performance for us. True enough, they came through. I think we stepped up to the challenge and it worked well for us.”In the Governors’ Cup, Mobiline played without 6-foot-9 center Andy Seigle, so Benjie Paras was able to get the better end of the match up against the Phone Pals’ big men, but the Turbo Chargers also got key contributions from Vic Pablo, Gerry Esplana, and then rookie Noy Castillo. “Wala kasing sapawan eh,” added Ronquillo. “Everybody had their own specialty. Then, coming from the bench, you had a Jun Marzan who could come in for Noy and there’s Rommel Santos, who could play as a 1 or 2. We had Chris Jackson, Jay Mendoza, Joel Dualan, Jolly Escobar, who could come in as 3, 4, and 5, then we had Jojo Lim as well. They complemented Donald Williams and John Best very well.”<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/11/22/tim-cones-heat-coaching-stint-on-the-spotlight">Tim Cone&#x27;s Heat coaching stint on the spotlight</a></li></ul>“They did their jobs and they did it to the utmost of their level. As I said, it was a challenge for us, but everybody just got tired of losing. We hadn’t won anything in the last six years. On a personal note, I wanted to do it for my mom as well. At that time, my mom was dying in New York. It was tough, but we had to do it. We were successful because of the meshing of mind and body.”Shell won in seven games with Gerry Esplana propelling his team to a 92-89 win with a jumper in the last 27 seconds, but Paras was the Finals MVP, the first time he won the award.Perhaps, the sweetest victory Ronquillo won with the squad happened the following season when the underdog Shell team upstaged powerhouse Tanduay to win the All-Filipino title.Looking back, Ronquillo recalled how tough it was choosing between Tanduay, an expansion team that has a loaded line up, and Alaska, a team with rich championship tradition as its finals opponent in the 1999 All-Filipino.“The first two conferences of 1998, ang champion Alaska. In 1999, ang ka-match up ng Alaska sa semis, Tanduay. I remember (the late) Ronnie Nathanielsz coming to me in one of the games and I was scouting the game, asking me, ‘who do you want to face?’ It’s like asking me if I want to face (Mike Tyson) or Muhammad Ali. So it’s like picking my poison. Yung isa methodical, yung isa kaya kang patayin in one knockout punch.”<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/19/22/jarencio-fined-for-physical-contact-with-vanguardia">PBA: Jarencio fined P20k for &#x27;physical contact&#x27; with Vanguardia</a></li></ul>“We went to the finals facing Tanduay in the finals. The team beat us twice in the elimination round — big. Tambak kami,” he added. “They were a running team. Remember, at that time, Benjie was already in his 30s, Pablo was nearing his 30s, Esplana and Chris Jackson were about my age (I was 34 at that time). We were an old team. But there’s an old saying in coaching that you don’t change something that brought you that far. After the first game in the series, Tanduay just dominated the game. It was their pace.”But Shell made the adjustments and took the next two games, winning 79-76 in Game 2, and 91-81 in Game 3.The Turbochargers rallied from 18 points down in Game 2 then spoiled Eric Menk’s breakout performance of 42 points in Game 3, the most made by a rookie in a finals game during that time as Pablo stepped up and finished with 27 points.Tanduay leveled the series with another pulverizing performance in Game 4, but Esplana took over in Game 5, knocking in 14 of his 25 points to put Shell within striking distance of winning the championship.Shell wrapped up the series with an 85-76 win in Game 6.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/15/22/pba-magnolia-outlasts-meralco-in-overtime">PBA: Magnolia outlasts Meralco in overtime</a></li></ul>Ronquillo and his troops made it one last tour to the finals, the fourth straight finals appearance of the franchise, but lost in six games to the mighty San Miguel squad.It was a great journey for Ronquillo and the Turbochargers and looking back, it was a good way for the group to end that way.Years later after he retired from active coaching and now embarking a new career in the US, people who knew Ronquillo would still approach the two-time PBA champion coach and would ask pointers.“People who knew me from the PBA would ask me once in a while and ask, ‘can you please teach my kid’? Gusto niya kasi maglaro. Sabi ko, ‘sige, pero siya lang. I don’t want to make it a big thing.’“It gives me a lot of personal satisfaction for a kid making an AAU team from nothing dahil you trained him. Yung mga ganun, yun na lang ginagawa ko.”That’s Ronquillo’s own little way of giving back to the game he loves and somehow staying connected in the game.For now, life goes on for Ronquillo — and it is an entirely different ball game.

If you look at the current roster of coaches handling a PBA team, half of them are still in search for the elusive league championship.