Interim Adamson coach Mike Fermin. Photo by Randolph Leongson/INQUIRER.net
Tasked to handle the Adamson Falcons on coach Kenneth Duremdes’ ouster, interim coach Mike Fermin said that the team was still in shock over what transpired in the last week.
“They were shocked. We were all shocked. We learned about it on Sunday night. On Monday, it was gloomy in our practice. And up until now, we’re still in shock,” he said.
A part of Duremdes’ coaching staff alongside Vince Hizon and Marlou Aquino, it was Fermin who was tapped to handle the reins for the Falcons.
After going 1-13 in his UAAP coaching debut last season, Duremdes didn’t really have much success in his succeeding tourneys with Adamson, with his latest being a 2-5 card in the Filoil preseason tourney before being sacked on Sunday.
Both Hizon and Aquino were noticeably absent in Adamson’s last game, an 85-77 defeat to JRU on Friday.
However, Fermin said that Duremdes’ focus was still on the team’s progress.
“Personally, he called me up telling me he was sacked. He just told me, ‘In case they make you the interim, grab it. Don’t worry about me.’ As the good man that he is, he told me to stay and take care of the players,” he said.
Fermin, though, admitted that Duremdes firing will be a big blow to the upstart Falcons, saying, “He left a big hole. He’s the director, he’s the one who took the cast in, the one telling what the players will do. The system is there, so we just have to polish it and designated me to watch over the team. That’s what his contribution is to the community.”