THE NLEX coaching staff expanded its scope in terms of experience and championship caliber after its recent addition to the team.
Champion mentor Siot Tanquingcen came on board the Road Warriors camp starting last Thursday and will serve as one of the deputies to head coach Jong Uichico.
Team manager Virgil Villavicencio confirmed the signing of the 52-year-old Tanquingcen to Spin.ph, a move which he said was made in collaboration and coordination with top management.
“He started reporting for the team today,” said Villavicencio.
"The move adds experience to the coaching staff," he added, saying Uichico was definitely consulted too, about bringing in Tanquingcen.
Jong, Siot reunited
The hiring of Tanquingcen serves as a reunion with Uichico after the two previously worked and won championships together at San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra.
The 62-year-old Uichico had Tanquingcen as his deputy when the Beermen won the 2000 Commissioner's Cup, 2000 Governors' Cup, 2001 All-Filipino Cup, and the 2007 Philippine Cup with the Kings.
A product of the University of Santo Tomas, Tanquingcen joins the NLEX coaching staff already composed of veteran Adonis Tierra, Borgie Hermida, Emman Monfort, Melo Lim, and JB Sison.
Tanquingcen however, was a champion a coach in his own right, too.
Two championships with Ginebra, one with San Miguel
The 5-foot-9 former PBA guard led Ginebra to back-to-back championships in the 2004 Fiesta Cup and the 2004-05 Philippine Cup.
The two straight crowns paved the way for Tanquingcen to be named as PBA Press Corps Coach of the Year.
He last won a title as head coach in the 2009 Fiesta Cup by guiding San Miguel to the championship after beating Uichico and Ginebra in the finals.
Long career for Siot as player, coach
Tanquingcen was part of the multi-titled University of Santo Tomas team that won four straight UAAP men's basketball championships in the 90s, including the 1993 unit that completed a 14-0 sweep of the tournament.
He was likewise a member of the rag-tag Philippine men's team under the late coach Rogelio 'Tembong' Melencio that won the basketball gold in the 1993 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
Despite a fine amateur career, he was never drafted in the PBA, but later played for the RFM franchise and San Miguel.
He then played for college coach, the late Aric Del Rosario, with the Pampanga Dragons in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) before finally retiring at the end of the 2000 season.
Tanquingcen then shifted his focus into coaching, becoming an assistant to Uichico at San Miguel beginning in 2000.
He stayed with the SMC Group for 13 years either as head coach or assistant.
In his last coaching foray in Asia's first ever play-for-pay league, Tanquingcen briefly called the shots for the Barako Bull in 2014.
He then became one of the deputy coaches at Dela Salle, went to College of St. Benilde after three years, before transferring to National University in the same capacity.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
