Man on a mission:
Derrick Pumaren returns to UE
by rick olivares
He returns to the school he called home for his high
school days and his first two years in college. He won a UAAP Juniors
Championship during his senior year in high school then when he transferred to
another school two years into college, his former teammates copped a seniors
crown.
Derrick Pumaren has had success in leading teams to
collegiate championships (La Salle in 1989 and 1990) to amateur titles
(Magnolia and Triple V) and the pros (Sunkist in 1995). Now, he hopes to lead
his alma mater back to the Promised Land that is a UAAP title; something the UE
Red Warriors have not taken back to Recto since 1985. “Twenty-nine years…” he
said with his voice trailing. “It’s been that long.”
Pumaren admitted to being intrigued with returning to
his alma mater. When he last donned UE’s colors in 1978, Hector Calma’s Adamson
Falcons ended up league champions. The follow year, when his father, Pilo, who
was also UE’s coach, transferred to La Salle, Derrick followed suit.
But life has a way of making one go back to where it
all began for him.
“I would be lying if I said that I do not want us to
compete for a championship,” he said during a sit down with media at the Coffee
Bean shop at Promenade in Greenhills. The veteran head coach has slimmed down
considerably; the product of “eating right” as he explains. “It is also setting
an example to the players to get fit. Everyone has to make sacrifices.”
Sacrifice indeed. Pumaren recently gave up his consulting
job with Hong Kong’s Men’s National Basketball Team. “They have been calling
but I could no longer commit because with UE, my plate is now full. But
international basketball is always wonderful. There is so much to teach and
learn. Now that applies to UE.
Pumaren has only been on the job for seven days. “Not
enough time to get to know the team and the players,” noted Noynoy Falcasantos
who will join Derrick on the bench as an assistant.
The Red Warriors lost six players from a
disappointing last season – team captain Adrian Santos, JM Noble, Jai Flores,
Ralf Olivares, Lord Casajeros, and Jay-R Sumido. After annexing the Filoil
Flying V Hanes Premier Cup, the Red Warriors were seeded to compete for a Final
Four slot. Instead, they floundered and limped to the finish line.
But hope spring eternal… or does it?
“When I looked at the stat sheet from last season,
aside from Roi Sumang and Charles Mammie, I am left with players who played
four, five, or six minutes a game last year so we will have our work cut our
for us. Hopefully, we will still have time to recruit…. whoever is left out
there.”
The coach returns to a college basketball landscape
that is vastly different from the one he left. Recruitment has spiraled out of
control. “Our work isn’t only confined to Xs and Os but to also the entire
program. Do we compete with everyone else?”
For now, he has to figure out the weapons he has left
in his arsenal. And that is point guard Roi Sumang and center Charles Mammie.
Pumaren was a point guard when he played for both UE
and La Salle. “The point guard is the extension of the head coach,” he pointed
out. “I am not going to stop Roi from getting his points but I will also ask he
to direct the plays and become a better playmaker. We do not have enough scoring
options. If we can get others to score that will ease the burden on Roi and
even Charles.”
Charles Mammie.
Talented. Enigmatic.
“I spoke with Charles and laid down all my cards. I
am a no-nonsense coach but I am also a fair man,” explained Pumaren by way of
sending a message to the Sierra Leone native who sometimes coasts or lives in
“Mammie-time or “Mammie-world” as some of his teammates put it. “I have to show
fairness to everyone. They have to all work hard. Right now even the veterans
have to qualify for a spot on the team. Nothing is a given. Every one works
hard or they do not play at all.”
The past two weeks (not counting the brief Holy Week
break) have been one of observation. “It’s all been practice,” bared
Falcasantos who played for Pumaren with the Triple V team in the old Philippine
Amateur Basketball League. “Pagdating sa Filoil tournament marami kaming
matututunan.”
“There are a lot of challenges,” summed up Pumaren.
“But no one ever said it was easy. And that is why we do this.”
The road to bringing back UE to glory is long and
hard. New powers have risen up. Recruitment is way even more insane than the
PBA.
The veteran coach knows that. But as he said, “I
would be lying if I said that I do not want us to compete for a championship.”
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