CHICAGO - In the cauldron of Game Six, where San Miguel was frantically trying to save its season and uncharacteristically panicking on the way to their PBA Governors' Cup exit. Ginebra coach Tim Cone was an oasis of calm.
Cone huddled his players with purpose, his baby blue eyes focused on another PBA Final appearance, his 41st overall, and the sixth for Ginebra in seven seasons.
Tim gets unhinged, too. but only when his players don't execute his marching orders or when referees swallow their whistles.
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On Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum, Cone was as tranquil as the Dalai Lama, snuffing the dying semifinals breath of San Miguel, 102-99.
His 25 titles won and a 62.5 percent success rate in the championship round (25-15) has made Cone the highest-paid coach in the PBA.
I asked him to confirm his $25,000 (about P1.3 million) a month salary during a phone call last April 22 but he only told me he had paid his dues and that his first salary as Alaska coach in 1989 was only P25,000.
Having added another crown since our phone chat it's hard to imagine the 66-year old concurrent Gilas Pilipinas coach taking a pay cut.
CONFIRM OR DENY.
Understandably, coaches get dodgy with the topic, unlike in the NBA and other leagues where coaches' salaries are public record.
With some diligence and help from reliable sources, I was able to unearth the following.
I am told that TNT head coach Chot Reyes is the next highest-paid bench boss in the league, raking in P700,000 a month.
When reached for comment this morning Chot refused to confirm, but the nine-time champion and former national coach didn't deny it, either.
Rain Or Shine's Yeng Guiao, the other elite coach in the level of Cone and Reyes, was similarly hesitant to talk about money when I spoke to him on the phone.
"Masyadong sensitive," he said with a laugh, but sources revealed that Guiao, also a former Gilas coach, pulls in "around P500,000" a month. That, of course, is a very conservative estimate.
Over at Meralco, active consultant Nenad Vucinic pulls in $12,000 a month or P672,000 in today's exchange rate.
HIGH VOLTAGE PAY.
No word on how much Bolts coach Luigi Trillo makes in a month but with two titles to his name it is safe to assume that he is in the P500K club as well.
Not surprisingly, NLEX pays its head coaching post about P500,000 monthly, an agent told me. Not so fast, says current occupant Jong Uichico.
"I think it's confidential information po," he told me via text message.
It's unclear how much Frankie Atienza pockets as the interim coach at Converge but when the prolific Aldin Ayo was the helm he was handsomely compensated, P400,000 a month, a person familiar with the deal said.
Phoenix team manager Paolo Bugia won't reveal what the Fuel Masters pay coach Jamike Jariin, who was similarly mum while hinting he didn't want long-lost relatives showing up at his doorstep.
But a source said Jarin pulls in P350,000 a month.
Trying to reach San Miguel's Jorge Gallent and Chito Victolero of Magnolia is like having a colonoscopy minus the anesthesia. But since they work for a conglomerate that has a one billion-peso PBA budget annually, they must be generously paid.
NorthPort, Terrafirma and Blackwater reportedly pay their coaches the lowest, an agent told me. "Between P200,000 to P250,000 monthly," he said.
Coaching is a high-stress job that has more blame than fame, more sorry than glory.
Glad to know teams are paying the league's 12 special men the compensation they deserve.
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