LA Salle will trot out a foreign coach in UAAP Season 82, but it will not be Tim Lewis.
Jermaine Byrd is set to take over from coach Louie Gonzalez as the Houston-born mentor will be tasked to bring the Green Archers back to contention after missing out on the Final Four this past UAAP season.
Sources close to the situation confirmed that the Taft side did replace Gonzalez with Byrd and not with Lewis, the former Thailand and Qatar national team coach, as sources earlier told.
Byrd has worked as an assistant coach for NBA G-League teams Tulsa 66ers, Sioux Falls Skyforce, and the LA D-Fenders, before taking his act to Asia where he was a player development coach with Samsung Blue Minx and the Seoul Samsung Thunders in the Korean Basketball League (KBL).
He is set to join the team in the first week of January.
Joining Byrd in his coaching staff are San Miguel Alab Pilipinas deputies Danny Seigle, Chappy Callanta, MC Abolucion, and Charles Waters.
Paulo Sauler is the lone holdover from Gonzalez' coaching staff as La Salle also let go of Glenn Capacio, Siot Tanquingcen, and Anton Altamirano.
Lewis, meanwhile, was just one of a number of options the Green Archers considered, but ultimately turned down the offer.
Other candidates for the position were Alab head coach Jimmy Alapag, who chose to decline the offer, and Lyceum head coach Topex Robinson, who opted to accept the five-year deal to take over the LPU's sports program.
Tiebreaker Times was the first to report on the development.
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