WILLY Wilson is not thinking of being one of the country's top coaches. Not yet anyway. Yes, he wants to succeed but he also knows the road to glory is filled with pitfalls and disappointment.
This is specially true for a man like him who is taking a head-coaching job for the first time in the country's toughest professional basketball league and handling a team that has not tasted a championship or be in the finals since it joined the PBA, although it once made the semifinals in the 2023-24 Commissioner’s Cup.
So the new head coach's objective is simple: bring Phoenix to the playoffs. Which means the Fuelmasters will just have to be in the top eight of any conference in the 12-team league and the target is reached.
READ Willy Wilson named new Phoenix coach
He admits he cannot do it alone and he will gather a team of assistant coaches to plot the team's comeback after it missed the playoffs in all three of the last conferences.
The 45-year-old coach admitted he is still at the learning stage of being a head coach, a post previously held by Jamike Jarin who is moving to a consultancy role. He said he will not be reluctant to seek the help of others to make Phoenix a serious playoff copntender.
It can be said that Wilson rose from the ranks. He played for the Fuelmasters from 2016 to 2018 and was assistant coach from 2020 to 2025. Earlier, he played for La Salle where he won four championships. After college, Wilson was drafted No. 15 overall by Alaska in 2004, and later played for San Miguel, Barangay Ginebra, and Barako Bull before making it to Phoenix.
He won a championship with the Gin Kings during the 2008 Fiesta Conference.
Explaining his coaching style, Wilson said: “I’m very collaborative when it comes to handling the team. Obviously, this is my first time. I’ve been coached by great coaches and I’ve seen more or less how they coach the team. I’ve been with Coach Louie (Alas), I’ve been with Coach Topex (Robinson), and I’ve been with Coach Jamike. So I’m taking a combination of what all three did and I’m trying to put that together along with a lot of who I am as a person and using that to prepare,” said Wilson.
With emphasis on learning, Wilson isn’t promising that Phoenix will have a drastic turnaround after the Fuelmasters poor 49th Season.
“I’m collaborative when it comes to that. Don’t be surprised if you see my assistant coaches sitting in the chair, holding the coaching board, and running the huddle at times because I always feel like there is more than one right way to do certain things and I don’t have all the answers.”
“I’m not Tim Cone or Chot Reyes or Coach Leo Austria. I’m starting out. And obviously, I’m going to allow my assistant coaches also to grow alongside me and I’m going to put them in position to become more valuable and gain more experience,” Wilson said.
“One thing that you’re going to hear from me a lot moving forward is growth and learning. And that’s the goal of mine, not to become a PBA coach, but to continue to grow and learn, not just as a basketball coach, but as a human being, but as a person,” said Wilson.
Wilson said he believes in the capabilities of his players, and it is his responsibility to bring out the best in them. If he can do that, Wilson said the Fuelmasters have the potential to achieve their goal of reaching the playoffs which last happened for the franchise during the 2023-24 Commissioner’s Cup when they reached the semifinals with Johnathan Williams as their import.
“I’m going to have to learn how to get the most out of my players, put them in the position to be successful,” said Wilson. “I’m gonna have to learn how to do that better because the talent is there. We have a talented group of guys. Obviously, we lack a true center, but there are ways, schematically, to work around that. So now it’s just all about them learning how to win together consistently, us, actually as a team, learning how to win consistently and just to continue growing as a team.”
As to their goal, Wilson said: “The goal obviously is to make the playoffs and then go from there. Our chances of doing that, I think they’re just as good as most of the other teams. Obviously, we all start zero-zero and, taking away the injuries, I think it’s a pretty even playing field. Obviously, you see some teams that are on paper a lot stronger than others, but I like our chances and I like where we're headed."
But before thinking about the playoffs, Wilson said the focus each day is doing his best for the team that gave him the trust and belief that he can be a PBA head coach.
“I’m more concerned with just winning one game first. That’s what I’m more concerned about, winning one game first. But priority for me is just repaying the trust to the Phoenix management that they have in me. I owe a lot to the Phoenix management. They've taken great care of me from when I was playing, and obviously until now. And I have nothing but gratitude for them and what they’ve done for me and my family and I want to give that back to them,” said Wilson.
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.
