By REYNALD MAGALLON
Blackwater has decided to part ways with head coach Ariel Vanguardia and decided to tap the services of former Converge mentor Jeffrey Cariaso, the team announced on Monday, April 3.
The PBA great-turned-coach returned to the PBA floor less than a year since he was also given the pink slip by the FiberXers who then signed the services of Aldin Ayo prior to the start of the 2022 PBA Season.
Blackwater is banking on Cariaso in hopes of turning its fortune around for the cellar-dwellers who have failed to advance to the playoffs in the last two conferences after initially making it in the Philippine Cup as the eighth seed.
The Bossing finished ninth with a 3-9 record in the mid-season conference and even got worse in the Governors’ Cup where they exited the season on a nine-game losing streak to wound up dead last in the standings with a 1-10 record.
Ending that streak and turning another losing season into a hopefully a winning one next year would fall at the hands of Cariaso who has been decent during his tenure with the Alaska Aces with six playoff appearances under his stewardship.
He will be inheriting a lineup that has some of players he previously handled in the likes of Mike DiGregorio, Jvee Casio and RK Ilagan. The team also has Ato Ular, Troy Rosario and Baser Amer.
With Vanguardia at the helm, Blackwater ended a record-worst 29 game losing streak – a series of futility he inherited from former coach Nash Racela.
Although having slightly better performance, the Bossing never really got into a winning rhythm as they compiled a 10-36 record under Vanguardia.
