EVEN before Phoenix officially announced his departure on Wednesday, coach Willy Wilson was already packing his bags for a trip to the US.
The reason? He wants to go away to lick his wounds.
Sources told SPIN.ph that although Wilson had no plans to leave the Philippines where he had a long basketball career, he's jetting off to leave his frustrations behind after a sudden and premature end to his PBA coaching career.
“Masyadong nasaktan si Willy sa nangyari. Kaya aalis muna siya para makalimot,” said a former teammate of the 15-year PBA veteran who also spent almost five seasons as an assistant coach at Phoenix.
READ Phoenix lets go of coach Willy Wilson after one conference
“Willy doesn’t want to leave the Philippines but he is doing so now kasi sabi nya maaalala lang nya ang basketball na minahal siya pero sa huli sasaktan rin pala siya,” added the source.
"Willy is in too much pain. He needs to leave to forget," the source continued. "He loved the game, but in the end, he feels the game hurt him."
The same source bared that Wilson felt betrayed after giving in to Phoenix management and taking over the head-coaching job, shortly after Jamike Jarin suffered the same fate last August.
“Dun nasaktan si Willy kasi hesitant naman talaga siya at first to take the job kasi alam naman n'ya limitations nya, but the management egged him on and promised they will be patient and will even guide him,” he said.
“Then ayun, tinanggal siya. Ganun-ganun lang. Masakit, kahit sa dati nyang assistant coaching role, hindi siya pinabalik,” he added.
SPIN.ph tried to contact Wilson but he wasn’t accepting the calls.
Phoenix management has already made an announcement and even bid Wilson and Jarin goodbye and thanked them for their contributions to the team.
In his maiden and, it turned out, only conference as Phoenix head coach, Wilson won three games and lost eight. But the former Wilson teammate rued that the team lacked the necessary manpower and time to implement his sytem.
“Tapos na-trade pa yung No. 2 pick [nila], which was a perfect chance sana for Willy to somehow improve the offensive power of the team,” he said.
“Well, that’s life. Ang masasabi ko lang, 'Good luck Willy.' Sana hindi ka magsawang mahalin ang larong basketball dito sa Pilipinas,” he added.
After helping the Dela Salle win an impressive four consecutive championships in the UAAP from 1998 to 2001, he had a stellar career in the PBA from 2004 playing for Alaska, San Miguel, Ginebra, Barako Bull and Phoenix.
He then transitioned to coaching, eventually winning a championship in the PBA 3x3 2021 first conference.
His only PBA championship came with Ginebra in 2008.
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