By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – Veteran head coach Joseller “Yeng” Guiao is returning to Rain or Shine Elasto Painters after six years. He agreed to a three-year contract on Monday.
The 63-year-old Guiao said he was more than excited with his Painters homecoming and is grateful to team owners Raymond Yu and Terry Que for trusting him anew.
“Malaki ang utang na loob ko kina Boss Raymond and Boss Terry. I’m grateful for their enthusiasm,” Guiao said in an interview with ABS-CBN Online on Monday.
The seven-time PBA champion coach added that it only took less than a day for him to reach an agreement with Yu to return to the Rain or Shine fold.
“Kararating niya (Yu) lang ng Saturday night from Singapore, then tinawagan niya ako ng morning of the next day and we met in the afternoon. Ganoon kabilis,” Guiao said.
“Pero matagal na rin talaga kami magkasama. It feels like déjà vu. I think mga six years ko rin naman na-coach itong team na ito and malalim na rin yung pinagsamahan namin. We’re like family here,” he added.
Guiao, who steered Rain or Shine to two PBA titles, said the fans should be more patient as he said there will be birth pains in his first conference back with the team in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
“Just like in any other team, there will be changes once a new coach takes over. So I asked the management to be a little more patient in the development of the team,” he said.
From the ROS team that Guiao left in 2016, only three players are still with the Welbest franchise until now, namely Gabe Norwood, Beau Belga and Jewel Ponferrada.
Guiao left the Road Warriors camp last week after being offered a corporate post instead of head coaching job during the process of their contract extension talks./PN
