BY ANDREI BARRANTES
CHRIS Gavina’s first ‘official’ stint as University of the East head coach didn’t quite go well as planned.
The Red Warriors suffered a 17-point blowout to neighboring FEU Tamaraws in their first game of the Playtime Cares Filoil Preseason Cup on Thursday in San Juan.
READ: Gavina vows to restore UE's lost luster to make sure Red Warriors remain in Recto
As rough as his start is, Gavina knows that these are the games – and the days –where character is built. And if he can build that character now, he knows that sunny days are ahead out east.
“The results that we want may not happen right now, but it will. It will when the time comes,” Gavina said.
The most crucial thing now for Gavina is building a culture – a culture of accountability, toughness and staying prepared.
It’s not something that they will be building overnight, and that’s fine with him. For as long as his players trust the process and stay the course, he expects that culture to start materializing.
“Honestly, it's harder to build the identity. I'd rather have guys, you know, really hone in on the emphasis of being tough, mentally tough at that, as UE's identity,” he said.
“And so I tell them, our identity will expose itself during difficult time like right now. That's what culture is to me. Culture to me will reveal itself in its essence when things aren't going your way.”
OG influence
Gavina’s coaching philosophy ultimately boils down to his old school influence as he named the likes of US NCAA coaches such as Bobby Knight, Bobby Hurley, and Rick Pitino as the mentors he truly looks up to when it comes to manning the sidelines.
But among all his influences, it’s the teachings of the legendary Joe Lipa – who he worked with during his time with Kia and Mahindra in the PBA – as the one that stuck with him the most.
Freedom merits discipline first, and not the other way around.
“The things that they shared with me, especially Coach Joe being my mentor, is you have to establish discipline before you could give freedom,” he said.
“Some of the guys get more freedom than others because they’ve shown their level of discipline.”
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