EXPECTATIONS are high former varsity player Patrick Aquino will be named the next head coach of the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons for the coming 70th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) season which the state school is hosting.

But the problem is Aquino, if ever he is named to the post, would be cramming in trying to put up a competitive team that would erase the stigma of the 0-14 record the Maroons of Season 70 established.

BusinessMirror learned that Mark Lopez, Socrates Rivera and Dexter Rosales are planning to transfer elsewhere next season as a show of loyalty to former coach Joe Lipa, whose contract with the Diliman-based squad was not renewed by Chancellor Sergio Cao last year.

“Yung mga ni-recruit ni coach Joe sa UP last season, nag-iisip nang ganoon to show their loyalty,” said the source who is privy to the issue. “Baka nga hindi lang tatlo, baka mas marami pa.”

The source admitted that the team is now divided on the issue as more than half of UP’s players last season were personally recruited by Lipa and are now contemplating leaving the school and taking the required two-year residency rule of the UAAP to again play in the league for another school.

College of Human Kinetics Dean Hercules Callanta, however, said Aquino’s appointment as head coach and the transfer of the three UP players to another school “are all speculations.”

In a text message, UP’s representative to the UAAP board Kiko Diaz said Aquino is one of the eight candidates for the position that also includes former players Mark Jomalesa, Bo Perasol of Air21 and Xavier Nunag.

Diaz said Cao will make an official announcement on who will succeed Lipa anytime soon.

But the source insisted that Aquino, who played from 1989 to 1993 for the Fighting Maroons, is top on the list because Callanta personally endorsed him to Cao.

“What I knew is he (Callanta) was the one who endorsed Pat Aquino to the Chancellor,” said the source. “But there’s still a possibility that the endorsement will be turned down by the Chancellor.”

UP is expecting to make good in Season 71, which it is hosting simultaneously with its celebration of its centennial anniversary. The state university is a pioneer member of the UAAP, but has won the men’s basketball crown only once in 1985.

Lipa coached that team which included Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano, all of whom have become stars in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Altamirano has also won a title in the PBA as coach.

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EXPECTATIONS are high former varsity player Patrick Aquino will be named the next head coach of the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons for the coming 70th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) season which the state school is hosting.

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