Jong Uichico

Jong Uichico
NLEX Road Warriors
PositionHead coach
LeaguePBA
Personal information
Born (1962-07-15) July 15, 1962 (age 62)
Manila, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Career information
CollegeDe La Salle (1979–1983)
Career history
As coach:
1993–1998San Miguel Beermen (assistant)
1996–1997De La Salle
1999–2006San Miguel Beermen
2002Philippines
2006–2012Barangay Ginebra Kings
2012–2014Meralco Bolts (team consultant)
2013Philippines
2014Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters (assistant)
2014–2016TNT KaTropa
2017Philippines
2019–2020Bataan Risers
2019–presentPhilippines (assistant)
2020Philippines
2023–2024NLEX Road Warriors (assistant)
2024–presentNLEX Road Warriors
Career highlights and awards
As head coach

As assistant coach

Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Philippines
FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship
Gold medal – first place 1982 Manila Team
Head coach for  Philippines
Southeast Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2013 Naypyidaw Team
Gold medal – first place 2017 Kuala Lumpur Team
Assistant coach for  Philippines
FIBA Asia Championship
Silver medal – second place 2013 Manila Team
Silver medal – second place 2015 Changsha Team
Southeast Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2021 Hanoi Team
Gold medal – first place 2023 Phnom Penh Team
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Hangzhou Team

Joseph Enrique "Jong" Floro Uichico (born July 15, 1962) is a Filipino professional basketball coach who is currently serving as the head coach of NLEX Road Warriors in the Philippine Basketball Association. Uichico is a former Philippine national team Youth member and a former player and head coach of the La Salle Green Archers in the UAAP before replacing Ron Jacobs as SMB coach in 1999. Uichico was coach of the San Miguel Beermen from 1999–2006, leading the Beermen to six PBA championships.

Basketball career

Uichico played for the La Salle Green Archers in the collegiate ranks. He was a member of the 1982 RP Youth Team that won the ABC Under-18 Championship. After a stint with the famed Northern Consolidated Cement squad of Ron Jacobs, Uichico ended his basketball career early.

Coaching career

Early years

In the mid-1990s, Uichico had a coaching stint with the Green Archers and guided them to two runner-up trophies. He also joined the Magnolia Beverage Masters coaching staff during Norman Black and Jacobs tenure. In 1999, Uichico became the new head coach of the Beermen after Jacobs' departure.

San Miguel Beermen

After an early elimination in the All-Filipino Cup, he coached the Beermen to the Commissioner and Governors Cup titles during the 1999 campaign, ending San Miguel's five-year title drought. He is also the first rookie coach to lead his team to back-to-back titles in the same year, a feat duplicated by Siot Tanquingcen in 2005.

In 2000, Uichico once again guided San Miguel to two more titles and laid claim to his first and only Coach of the Year plum. His first All-Filipino Cup title with the Beermen came in 2001, defeating sister team Barangay Ginebra Kings.

He returned as San Miguel's head coach after the Asian Games campaign, but went on a four-year title drought before winning his sixth PBA title in six years in the 2005 Fiesta Conference. The Beermen defeated the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals, 4–1.

Barangay Ginebra

On August 3, 2006, Chot Reyes was named as the new head coach of the San Miguel Beermen replacing Uichico and the San Miguel Corporation moved Uichico to San Miguel's sister team the Barangay Ginebra Kings replacing Siot Tanquingcen, who was demoted as one of Uichico's assistants. On his first Ginebra coaching stint, he was able to win a championship in the 2006–07 PBA Philippine Cup that season. A year later, he won his 2nd championship with the Gin Kings in the 2008 PBA Fiesta Conference and his 8th overall title.

In 2012, he left Ginebra to coach the Smart Gilas National Team.[1]

Talk 'N Text

On July 9, 2014, The MVP group shuffled the coaches of Meralco Bolts, NLEX Road Warriors and Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters and as a result Norman Black would be the head coach of Meralco Bolts and Uichico would replace him as the new head coach of Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters.[2][3]

On April 29, 2015, Uichico got his ninth championship with the Tropang Texters after defeating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in seven games.[4][5]

Uichico coaching TNT Tropang Giga in 2015

Philippines at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games

Uichico led the Philippine national team that will participate at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games instead of the Chot Reyes, who will be leading the Philippine squad which will compete at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup due to an overlapping schedule between the two competitions.[6]

List of PBA championships

National team

Ron Jacobs appointed Uichico as one of his assistants for the RP team's 2002 Asian Games campaign. However, after Jacobs suffered a stroke, Uichico was named as the new head coach of the national squad. Uichico guided the Philippines to a fourth-place finish in the event. Their semifinal loss against eventual tournament winner South Korea was a crushing blow for Uichico's squad losing by one point on a Lee Sang-min triple in the final seconds. Despite the loss, the team still brought home what is known to Filipino basketball fans as "The Silent Gold."

Uichico coaching Philippines vs South Korea in 2002 Asiad

He returned in 2013 as an assistant coach for national team and helped the team to win two silver medals in 2013 and 2015 FIBA Asia Championships.

But in 2017, Uichico was slapped a three-game suspension after he was caught on video joining a mob that attacked an already fallen Chris Goulding of Australian team in 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers game at the Philippine Arena.[7]

Coaching record

Collegiate record

Season Team Elimination round Playoffs
GP W L PCT Finish GP W L PCT Results
1996 DLSU 14 11 3 .786 1st 3 1 2 .333 Runner-up
1997 DLSU 14 10 4 .714 3rd 4 2 2 .500 Runner-up
Totals 28 21 7 .750 7 3 4 .429 0 championships

Professional record

Season Conference Team Elimination/classification round Playoffs
GP W L PCT Finish GP W L PCT Results
1999 All-Filipino Cup San Miguel 16 8 8 .500 5th 1 0 1 .000 Quarterfinals
Commissioner's Cup 8 5 3 .625 4th 12 8 4 .667 Champions
Governors' Cup 8 6 2 .750 3rd 10 8 2 .800 Champions
2000 All-Filipino Cup 14 10 4 .714 2nd 6 2 4 .333 Third place
Commissioner's Cup 9 7 2 .778 1st 9 8 1 .889 Champions
Governors' Cup 9 4 5 .444 6th 11 9 2 .818 Champions
2001 All-Filipino Cup 14 9 5 .643 1st 12 8 4 .667 Champions
Commissioner's Cup 9 7 2 .778 1st 12 6 6 .500 Runner-up
Governors' Cup 13 7 6 .538 4th 9 5 4 .556 Runner-up
2002 Governors' Cup 11 5 6 .455 8th 8 4 4 .500 Third place
Commissioner's Cup 10 6 4 .600 4th 7 3 4 .429 Third place
All-Filipino Cup 9 6 3 .667 2nd 4 2 2 .500 Third place
2003 All-Filipino Cup 18 12 6 .667 1st (A) 3 1 2 .333 Quarterfinals
Invitational 4 2 2 .500 3rd (B) Eliminated
Reinforced 13 5 8 .385 3rd (A) 12 8 4 .667 Runner-up
2004 Fiesta 18 16 2 .889 1st 3 1 2 .333 Quarterfinals
2004–05 Philippine Cup 18 9 9 .500 5th 10 7 3 .700 Third place
Fiesta 18 11 7 .611 2nd 9 7 2 .778 Champions
2005–06 Fiesta 16 6 10 .375 8th 4 2 2 .500 Wildcard round
Philippine Cup Barangay Ginebra 16 11 5 .688 2nd 8 3 5 .375 Fourth place
2006–07 Philippine Cup 18 13 5 .722 1st 12 8 4 .667 Champions
Fiesta 18 12 6 .667 3rd 2 1 1 .500 Quarterfinals
2007–08 Philippine Cup 18 8 10 .444 7th 1 0 1 .000 Wildcard phase
Fiesta 18 10 8 .556 3rd 13 10 3 .769 Champions
2008–09 Philippine Cup 18 10 8 .556 3rd 3 1 2 .333 Quarterfinals
Fiesta 14 8 6 .571 2nd 14 8 6 .571 Runners-up
2009–10 Philippine Cup 18 12 6 .667 4th 10 3 7 .300 Fourth place
Fiesta 18 9 9 .500 5th 5 2 3 .400 Quarterfinals
2010–11 Philippine Cup 14 10 4 .714 3rd 9 4 5 .444 Semifinals
Commissioner's Cup 9 5 4 .556 3rd 13 7 6 .538 Runner-up
Governors' Cup 8 5 3 .625 4th 5 3 2 .600 Semifinals
2014–15 Philippine Cup Talk 'N Text/TNT 11 8 3 .727 4th 6 2 4 .333 Semifinals
Commissioner's Cup 11 8 3 .727 2nd 12 8 4 .667 Champions
Governors' Cup 11 5 6 .455 10th Eliminated
2015–16 Philippine Cup 11 6 5 .545 6th 2 1 1 .500 Quarterfinals 1st phase
Commissioner's Cup 11 6 5 .545 6th 3 1 2 .333 Quarterfinals
Governors' Cup 11 10 1 .909 1st 5 2 3 .400 Semifinals
2019–20 Bataan 12 6 6 .500 (resigned) (resigned)
Totals 500 303 197 .606 265 153 112 .577 9 championships

National team record

Tournament Team Preliminary round Final round
GP W L PCT Finish GP W L PCT Results
2002 Asian Games  Philippines 2 2 0 1.000 1st (C) 5 2 3 .400 Fourth place
2013 SEA Games 6 6 0 1.00 1st 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold medal
2017 SEA Games 3 3 0 1.000 1st (A) 2 2 0 1.000 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold medal
2022 FIBA Asia Cup qualifying 3 3 0 1.000 (resigned) (resigned)
Totals 14 14 0 1.000 7 4 3 .571 2 gold medals

References

  1. ^ "Jong Uichico leaves Barangay Ginebra, national team stint next?". GMANetwork.com. January 12, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  2. ^ "Source: MVP group to shuffle coaches of Meralco, Talk 'N Text, and NLEX". Spin.ph. July 8, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  3. ^ "Manny Pangilinan's PBA teams to shuffle coaches after lackluster season". Musong Castillo, Inquirer.net. July 8, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  4. ^ "Uichico overcomes 'rust' and 'jitters' for 9th PBA title". Bong Lozada, Inquirer.net. April 30, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  5. ^ "Danny Seigle, Jong Uichico come 'full circle' after winning title with Talk 'N Text". Rey Joble, InterAksyon.com. April 29, 2015. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  6. ^ Castillo, Musong (22 July 2017). "Uichico aware of PH's rich cage history as he calls shots in SEAG". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  7. ^ "A year on, Uichico still regrets role in brawl but focuses on lessons learned". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
Preceded by De La Salle Green Archers men's basketball head coach
1996-1997
Succeeded by
Preceded by San Miguel Beermen head coach
1999-2002
2003-2006
Succeeded by
Preceded by Philippine national basketball team Asian Games Head Coach
2002
Succeeded by
Preceded by Barangay Ginebra Kings Head Coach
2006-2012
Succeeded by
Preceded by Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters Head Coach
2014-2016
Succeeded by