Sources: UST sacks head coach Bong dela Cruz

Santo Tomas head coach Bong Dela Cruz. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Even a UAAP Finals stint isn’t enough to keep University of Santo Tomas coach Bong dela Cruz at the helm.

Dela Cruz had been sacked recently as head coach of the UST menís basketball team, multiple sources told the Inquirer Saturday.

The move came just a month after the Tigers settled as runner-up to Far Eastern University in the title series.

UST also disbanded the current roster of Tigers and sacked current team management. The team will hold tryouts when a new coach is named.

Blackwater assistant coach Boy Sablan, a former team staff of champion UST coach Pido Jarencio heads the list of coaching candidates along with ex-Ginebra and UST standout Bal David and former UST deputy Estong Ballesteros.

Dela Cruz steered the Tigers to the No. 1 spot with an 11-3 record at the end of the UAAP eliminations, a huge turnaround from his debut season where the team finished sixth with a dismal 5-9 slate.

A former UST high school player, Dela Cruz took over early 2014 to replace champion mentor Jarencio, who left to coach in the pro league.

Dela Cruz’s departure continued the spate of coaching changes in the collegiate leagues that saw national coach Tab Baldwin taking over the Ateneo post, former champion Letran mentor Aldin Ayo moving to La Salle and multi-titled mentor Franz Pumaren to Adamson.