by Jonas Terrado
Instead of celebrating wildly, Victolero opted to congratulate his coaching staff before making countless ‘sign of the cross’ gestures as he was approaching losing NLEX Road Warriors coach Yeng Guiao for the customary postgame handshake.
Victolero, 42, had every reason to openly savor how grateful an achievement it was making the finals for the first time in a coaching career that began with plenty of losing, but opted to be reflective of the journey with his typical no-frills attitude.
“Relieved at the same time thankful,” Victolero said. “Siyempre, hindi naman lahat ng coach nabibigyan ng ganitong opportunity, diba? And then, di lahat ng coach napupunta sa semis or sa finals so very thankful ako dun.”
The Sta. Maria, Bulacan native had every reason to be thankful after meeting heavy expectations of bringing the Hotshots back to prominence after a brief period of struggle and heartbreak in the aftermath of team’s 2014 Grand Slam season and the transfer of coach Tim Cone to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel the following year.
He made the Hotshots a finalist in the PBA’s preeminent tournament – the Philippine Cup – with a talent-laden lineup who brought into his defensive mentality which can be described by Victolero’s postgame cliches of “grinding game” and “48 minutes of basketball” with members of the media.
Defense has been Victolero’s calling card since his playing days, first with the San Juan Knights in the MBA, a stint with the 2001 Philippine team that won gold in the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games and a short PBA career with Sta. Lucia and FedEx.
This perhaps enticed the struggling Hotshots to tap Victolero as coach in lieu of Jason Webb, who was brought back to his old role as assistant during Cone’s tenure.
Few, though, expected Victolero to succeed, given his fairly decent stint handling his alma mater Mapua in the NCAA from 2009 to 2012 with only one Final Four appearance in 2010 followed by a 15-29 record in four conferences between 2015 and 2016 as lead assistant for the usually-absent playing coach Manny Pacquiao with the Kia/Mahindra franchise.
“I’ve been with the team for 20 years, kaya lahat ng coaches naabutan ko na – Derrick Pumaren, Eric Altamirano – iba-iba naman ang style nila e,” said Magnolia team governor Rene Pardo.
“Ito lang kay Chito, surprisingly in less than a year maganda ang ginawa niya sa team dahil yung chemistry ng team maganda ang samahan.”
“He’s a player’s coach dahil magaling siyang mag-motivate ng player e,” Pardo added. “He draws out the best in a player to come up and compete a hundred percent. Nakita mo naman si Aldrech (Ramos), si Kyle (Pascual), kung sa ibang team yan, di naman basta-basta nabibigyan ng playing time.
