A TEAM in tatters attracts a lot of coaching applicants these days.
More tacticians have applied for the UST coaching job after controversial coach Aldin Ayo stepped down last Sept. 4.
Aside from Bethune “Siot” Tanquingcen, Estong Ballesteros, and Chris Cantonjos, former UST standouts Ed Cordero and Gilbert Lao, former pro league strategist Chris Gavina, and former Technological Institute of the Philippines coach Sebastian “Potit” De Vera have joined the list of applicants.
Former Tiger players Jeric Fortuna and Kim Lo have also applied as assistant coaches, while former PBA resident star import Sean Chambers of Alaska has expressed interest to be the new UST coach.
Cordero was a former Glowing Goldie star in the late 1970s and once scored 54 points in 1979, a UAAP record still not broken to this day.
He had an eight-year stint in the PBA with Toyota, Beer Hausen/Manila Beer, Tanduay, Shell, and Alaska before retiring in 1990.
Cordero served as deputy of Atoy Co at Mapua in the NCAA from 2012 to 2018 and is currently an assistant to Frankie Lim at Perpetual Help.
Lao played for UST from 1997-2000 under the great late Aric Del Rosario and saw action in the PBA for 12 seasons with stops at Welcoat, Ginebra, Talk ‘N Text, and Barako Bull.
He served as assistant to brothers Nash and Olsen Racela at Far Eastern University and for Nash Racela and Eric Gonzales at TNT from 2016 to 2018 and is now still under Nash Racela at Blackwater.