THE NCAA will have a lawyer and a former College of Law Dean for its basketball commissioner in the coming Season 101.
Atty. Rico Quicho was formally introduced on Monday as the man in charge of the league’s centerpiece event that officially kicks off on Oct. 1 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
So who is Atty. Quicho?
While the man loves sports, he’s really more involved in the academic, having served as Dean of Law School of both University of Makati and Unibersidad ng Manila.
READ: NCAA 101: Coaches agree title chase will still go through Mapua
“I’m really an educator and part of the academe,” he said in the sidelines of the NCAA Season 101 presser at the Novotel Manila.
At the moment, he teaches at the San Beda College Alabang School of Law, but made it clear, he’s not a graduate of the Order of Saint Benedict institution.
“I guess that’s a misconception,” said Quicho.
He’s actually a product of the Ateneo School of Law, where he had his Juris Doctor’s degree and then took his masters of law at the University of California Berkeley.
But green also runs in his blood as he earned his Political Science degree at De La Salle.
“Ateneo ako sa Law School, pero La Salle ako nung college,” he said in between laughs.
His time at Taft Avenue had him looking up to the likes of Renren Ritualo, Don Allado, Dino Aldeguer, and later Mike Cortez during the Green Archers’ UAAP men’s basketball title run, and then caught up with the batch of LA Tenorio, Rich Alvarez, and Wesley Gonzales as the Blue Eagles reigned in the collegiate league while he was taking up law at Ateneo.
He did play the game in his younger years, but never got to compete in organized tournaments.
“Lahat naman tayo nung bata tayo, marami sa atin nangarap na maglaro. Hindi po ako pinalad na makapaglaro,” said Atty. Quicho.
“Once upon a time, I wanted to play. But I guess the talent was not there.”
But he did make his mark as a lawyer, having once served as spokesperson of the defense team during the impeachment trial of the late Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona in 2012, and four years after, served in the same capacity for beleaguered former Vice President Jejomar Binay, replacing then Cavite Governor and now Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
Now, the high-profile lawyer is eyeing to do the same in the field of sports, basketball in particular.
He was also involved in the Philippine cheerdancing for the past eight years, a role that allowed him to work with some of the NCAA Management Committee members, who eventually asked him if he’s interested to become the basketball commissioner of the league’s coming season.
“An opportunity presented itself and they asked me if I’m interested. So I wrote a letter of intent to be considered as commissioner,” said Quicho.
Soon enough he received a call from NCAA Mancom chairman Melchor Divina of host Mapua, which he considered as a formal interview for the job where he presented his plans for the coming season.
“Actually my plan is not really on the basketball side. It’s really more on the transformative developmental values formation side, because ‘yung basketball maraming experts na diyan. I really told them na values ang first and foremost. Skills, that’s for the coaches to work on,” the commissioner stressed.
“So from the court of law to basketball court ngayon. Once upon a time I wanted to play, but I guess the talent is not there,” he added. “But you know how serendipitous it could be now that I’m still in the basketball court, but on a different role. And I’m really happy and excited about it.”
As a commissioner, Quicho said his trust is to provide an environment where student-athletes would be able to really showcase their talent.
And one way to make that possible, is to have what he referred to as ‘top notch’ officiating.
Heading to the season, Quicho constantly met with coaches and visited teams in practices to make them understand the standard of officiating to be used for the season, make use these standards are properly met, and would be consistently applied.
He also sat down with Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Executive Director Erika Dy and SBP Technical Academy head Andrew Teh and asked them to give the NCAA the same access to quality, competent referees that other leagues enjoy.
“We need that in the NCAA. We have the same talent, our coaches are known as well. We have a very good talent pool not only in the juniors but in the seniors as well. So we have to provide them an environment where they could really flourish and showcase their talent and skills. And as a commissioner, I think that should be my focus,” said the native of Mariveles, Bataan.
Quicho made it clear though, that things should not just be a one-way street as he also asked coaches and teams to be responsible as well.
“Sabi ko nga sa mga coaches, let us build character for our players and for us individuals,” he said. “I told them, yes you could be tough, but never dirty. You would see the games played competitively, but never dirty. I told the coaches we all have to do our part. It’s not only about officiating, but it is also about policing and being responsible for our oath.”
“Naging Dean ako and as a commissioner para rin lang akong Dean. Ang mga professors natin yung katuwang ko diyan, would be the coaches. And so kailangan hand in hand kami.”
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