NOT long after leaving University of the East after a half-a-season stint as interim coach, Obet Vital is taking his talents to the University of the Philippines.
Vital mentioned a difference in direction as the foremost reason for his departure from Recto, where he left behind homegrown wards Casiey Dongallo, yet-to-debut Jelai Gajero, Kizzie Madriaga, and Grace Fernandez from Antipolo-based California Academy (CAL).
He also pointed to a hope at handling a grassroots program that would have ensured continued contention, something that the Lady Warriors were apparently uninterested in.
According to sources, Vital has found a willing taker for his grand plans of discovering and then developing young talents in the Fighting Maroons, who will slot him alongside new shot-caller Benson Bocboc.
Interestingly, Vital is going from one Frank Lao-backed team to another, with Strong Group Athletics supporting both UP and UE.
Vital's pride and joy
In his short stint in red-and-white, Vital brought a quartet of homegrown CAL aces in spikers Dongallo, Gajero, and Fernandez, and setter Madriaga to join champion mentor Jerry Yee’s tutelage.
But midway through a rocky UAAP Season 86 campaign sans the injured Gajero, Yee was handed a three-month suspension prompted by a complaint to the league on his exit from Adamson to join the Lady Warriors.
It would result to Vital taking over the reins for UE on an interim capacity to finish off a promising season which even saw Dongallo finish second in the Rookie of the Year race.
Vital's new fight
Such a short-lived rollercoaster ride in Recto will come to an end for Vital, as he moves to Diliman to bolster Bocboc’s staff still under the leadership of program director Oliver Almadro.
Led by outgoing seniors Niña Ytang, Nica Celis, Irah Jaboneta, the Fighting Maroons will feature a youthful core with NU-Nazareth School's Kianne Olango and Yesha Noceja, Bacolod Tay Tung’s Jothea Mae Ramos, and Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s Joanneesse Gabrielle Perez.
Come Season 87, UP has its sights set on ending an eight-year Final Four drought in a bid to mount a resurgence similar to that of their men’s basketball counterparts.
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