By Jonas Terrado
TNT KaTropa was scheduled to play yesterday’s PBA Governors’ Cup game against Columbian Dyip minus coach Nash Racela, who is reportedly on leave after the talent-laden squad began the conference with a 1-4 record.
Team manager Virgil Villacencio refrained from responding to queries about Racela’s status which came out online hours before the KaTropa’s scheduled 4:30 p.m. meeting with the winless Dyip at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Spin.ph reported that top assistant Eric Gonzales was due to call the shots for TNT in its bid to snap a three-game skid.
It is unknown at presstime as to what Racela’s status is but the 46-year-old did make a cryptic post on his Twitter account, obviously providing a clue about his future.
“Closed door means open windows. Our God is faithful,” Racela tweeted while adding a verse from Jeremiah 29:11.
A day earlier, Racela also posted an Instagram story showed him spending a round of golf which he said happened during TNT’s scheduled practice session.
“Scheduled 1-3 practice. Ended up in the range. #ballislife,” he said.
Racela was hired by TNT management in late-2016 after four seasons coaching Far Eastern University highlighted by a UAAP championship in 2015. The brother of PBA legend and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel assistant Olsen Racela has a 50-41 record in his KaTropa stint.
He led TNT to the semifinals of all three conferences last season, making the finals of the Commissioner’s Cup. But the KaTropa have failed to reach past the quarterfinals in this year’s first two conferences, losing both times to San Miguel Beer.
TNT struggled to get out of the hump in the Governors’ Cup marred by their last two losses to the Alaska and Phoenix by a combined margin of 59 points.
The blowout defeats perhaps sealed Racela’s fate.
Gonzales, who has been Racela’s chief lieutenant during their FEU days, twice handled GlobalPort between 2014 and 2015 and for a brief period in 2016. He joined the TNT coaching staff before the start of the season.
