Fighting Maroons head coach Goldwin Monteverde brings his flock from NU-NS to UP with the same championship mentality.
UP head coach Goldwin Monteverde is a certified winner, with two championships to show in his four UAAP seasons at the helm for the Fighting Maroons.
And the key to those titles might be the culture that he has cultivated with his players--right when they were young.
What might be unbeknownst to a lot of people is that when Monteverde came to UP, he also brought a handful of players that became the vital pieces in the Diliman team’s championship run.
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Monteverde, who previously led the National University-Nazareth School Bullpups to the UAAP juniors crown in UAAP Season 82, also brought with him most of the vital cogs in that title run.
From Harold Alarcon, Terrence Fortea, Carl Tamayo, Gerry Abadiano, among others, there wasn’t any shortage of talent from the high school squad that swept the tournament 16-0 en route to the championship.
That's why the Korea-based Tamayo made sure to celebrate with the team in the dugout via a video call.
Now well into their college years, Monteverde said that they continued to be the most reliable players he can have.
“Never ako nag-doubt sa mga kasama ko dati. Ever since magkakasama kami hanggang ngayon. Talagang alam mo na pagpasok, if they’re gonna enter into battle, 'pag sila kasama mo, feeling mo lahat kaya mo eh,” said Monteverde after winning Game Three against the DLSU Green Archers on Sunday.
“Very thankful ako sa tiwala nila and yung lahat ng pagpupursigi na ginagawa nila para makuha namin to,” he added.
Alarcon, Fortea, and Abadiano are all part of Monteverde’s two championship squads, while Reyland Torres and Janjan Felicilda won their first title after previously playing for the NU seniors squad for a year before transferring to Diliman.
Also in that team was two-time UAAP MVP Kevin Quiambao who ended up in DLSU, further underscoring the talent that Monteverde nurtured in that high school squad.
Though Tamayo and Quiambao have already moved on to professional stints, Monteverde will still be able to rely on the rest of his boys — Alarcon, Fortea, Abadiano, Torres, and Felicilda — at least for one more year in Diliman.
After tasting the crown anew for the first time since UAAP Season 84, Monteverde and his boys will surely be motivated to push for the title anew next year.