THE sabbatical period is over.
So said former San Miguel Beer champion coach Leo Austria, who returned to the sidelines on Wednesday night as the team’s active consultant.
Austria showed up at the Ynares Center in Antipolo for the Beermen’s debut game in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup against the NLEX Road Warriors in his first public appearance together with the team since last season.
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The four-time PBA Coach of the Year admitted getting recharged after deciding to briefly walk away from coaching 10 months ago.
“Naka-recharge ako, nakapag relax. Na-meet ko yung family and mga relatives ko the past few months,” said Austria, who disclosed he plays basketball three times a week with buddies led by former Formula Shell team manager Charlie Favis.
The 65-year-old native of Sariaya, Quezon said the pressure of meeting the expectations of fans for the Beermen to win one championship after the other eventually took its toll on him.
“We went to the finals 10 times and we won nine. Talagang napakahirap nun dahil maraming nag-e-expect sa San Miguel na manalo, kaya every game is important for us. So we’re so lucky we were able to win nine championships,” said Austria.
His last title with the Beermen came in last year’s Philippine Cup, a challenging campaign that saw the team survive two Game 7s to regain the All-Filipino championship.
'Dumaan sa butas ng karayom'
“Talagang dumaan kami sa (butas ng) karayom. Semifinals and finals, Game 7 yun against Meralco and TNT,” recalled Austria.
It didn’t help any that during his nine years at the helm of San Miguel, two years of those had to be played during the pandemic.
“Very stressful yun,” he added.
Nonetheless, he’s grateful to SMC management for giving him the time to rest for a while, and now allow him to do his job again as active consultant.
“Gusto lang natin ma-share kung ano ang maitutulong ko sa team,” said Austria.
And his wish? “Hopefully, makarating ulit sa finals and win a championship.”
Too bad, San Miguel lost a heartbreaker against NLEX in overtime, 117-113, as the Road Warriors rallied back from a 19-point third quarter deficit.
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