The University of the Philippines is flipping the page on a new chapter in the UAAP.
Following Bo Perasol's resignation as head coach of the UP Fighting Maroons, State U is now looking for the next coach who could possibly lead the university to the promised land for the first time since 1986.
The job opening in Diliman is an attractive one, especially given the abundance of talent within the current core, but coaching a UP team beset with outsized championship expectations from a hopeful community certainly still has its challenges.
Here are a few coaches who could welcome the test of stewarding the future of these Fighting Maroons.
Goldwin Monteverde
Hiring the former National University-Nazareth coach to take over a team bannered by some of his former players from the juniors level could make sense from a coaching standpoint -- and it appears UP understands that, too, as Monteverde is one of two names who have emerged as successors to Perasol, sources told ESPN5.com.
In UP, Monteverde with Carl Tamayo, Gerry Abadiano and Terrence Fortea, who earlier made the jump to Diliman after wrapping up their juniors careers with the Bullpups.
Monteverde has established himself in the past two UAAP seasons by leading NU to back-to-back juniors championships in 2019 and 2020, including a 16-0 sweep on the way to a title in Season 82.
He was actually set to take over NU's men's team, but Monteverde filed his resignation August last year before being able to coach his first game with the Bulldogs.
Patrick Aquino
Aquino -- the second candidate for the newly-vacated UP job, according to sources -- offers a wealth of winning experience owing to the sheer success he attained with the NU women's basketball team over the past decade.
The 50-year-old mentor took up the mantle for the Lady Bulldogs in 2014 and subsequently transformed them into an unparalleled powerhouse program that has bagged six straight UAAP championships while owning the longest winning streak in Philippine collegiate basketball history with 96 straight wins and counting.
This kind of continuity and stability could make it hard for UP to pry away Aquino, especially since his current job also gives him leeway to recruit prospects as head coach of the Gilas Pilipinas Women's team, but there's always a chance for the decorated tactician to take on a new challenge by going back to his roots. Years before he got into coaching, Aquino first suited up for the Fighting Maroons from 1988 to 1993.
Eric Altamirano
Altamirano has entrenched himself in the 3x3 scene in recent years, and more recently also had a brief stint as an assistant coach with the Alaska Aces. But if UP officials decide to pass on the two aforementioned candidates to look elsewhere for a more capable choice in their eyes, they can always seek out Altamirano and see if he would be open to a homecoming.
If ever, it would be a full-circle moment of sorts for the former UAAP Most Valuable Player, who was one of the protagonists alongside Benjie Paras and Ronnie Magsanoc for the last UP team that won a title in 1986.
Altamirano also landed his first coaching gig in UP, which rolled to a Final Four finish under his guidance in 1996.
Hiring Altamirano might even work wonders in the context of busting a 32-year title drought for UP. Under the 54-year-old mentor, NU in 2014 ended 60 years of futility in men's basketball with a historic championship run in Season 77.
Ronnie Magsanoc
Another member of that 1986 championship team is also a viable option in an expanded coaching search since Magsanoc possesses the requisite UP pedigree and coaching experience needed for the job.
The PBA Hall of Famer has been a longtime assistant coach in the pro league, having taken on the role as a deputy with the Purefoods franchise from 2002 to 2010 before moving on to Meralco, where he continues to coach until today.
Magsanoc, 55, also led San Beda to an NCAA championship in his lone season as head coach of the Red Lions back in Season 88 before moving on to win another title with the Hapee Fresh Fighters in the 2014-15 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup.
At the moment, Magsanoc still serves as the head coach of Gilas Pilipinas 3x3, which competed in the 2021 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz, Austria last May.
Chris Daleo
This may seem far-fetched, so hear us out. Daleo, the current head coach of Thailand's national basketball team, has previously expressed interest in handling a UAAP team and could throw his name in the hat if the UP opening does intrigue him.
The American mentor, who applied as a consultant for the job vacancy at the University of Santo Tomas program last year, has done nothing but win ever since he arrived in Thailand in 2017.
Daleo, so far, has steered the Hi-Tech Bangkok City franchise to five professional titles -- two in the Thailand Open, one in the Thailand Basketball League (TBL), one in the Thailand Basketball Super League (TBSL), and another one in the Thailand Professional Basketball League (TPBL).
The DePaul University alumnus also owns a silver medal for leading Thailand to a runner-up finish behind Gilas Pilipinas in the 2019 SEA Games. He recently coached Thailand in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in the Clark bubble.
Before coaching in Thailand, Daleo mentored teams in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) in the United States, as well as Barat College in US NAIA.