OLSEN Racela will soon call the shots for the University of Perpetual Help Altas in the NCAA Season 100 men's basketball tournament.
Accompanied by the likes of Altas team manager Anton Tamayo and Perpetual great Scottie Thompson, the Barangay Ginebra deputy coach put pen to paper on Thursday afternoon.
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Racela, who has 10 PBA titles to his name as an assistant coach and nine as a player, eyes an early start to his new role with roughly eight months of preparation before the NCAA's centennial season tips off.
"The first step I will take is to meet the coaching staff like Coach Myk Saguiguit (outgoing Perpetual head coach), Coach Joph Cleopas before we meet the players. Our target is to start training on Monday, January 15 since the players are now starting to coming back from their vacation." said Racela.
On his Ginebra ace's role to help shape this year's Perpetual squad, Racela added: "Perpetual pride Scottie Thompson, of course, he was there to help as an alumni player and share his past experience as a national player, there's a lot to share with those kids."
Departing head coach Saguiguit, who'll be staying onboard in Olsen's staff, fell one win shy of a Final Four trip in Season 99 despite a promising 10-8 (win-loss) campaign.
As the Altas bade farewell to Jielo Razon and Jasper Cuevas, Perpetual mainly remains intact with 15 holdovers to build a title-contending squad come the centennial season in September.
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