Yeng Guiao moves to Road Warriors

Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Yeng Guiao, who has won PBA championships with practically every team he has coached, will be calling the shots for the NLEX Road Warriors starting next season, as confirmed by Rain or Shine team owner Raymund Yu Wednesday.

“We are happy and sad at the same time,” Yu said after Guiao had formally bid the Elasto Painters goodbye after coming to terms with NLEX management Wednesday, confirming a development broken first by the Inquirer.

Guiao left the Elasto Painters even with Rain or Shine management offering him a fresh three-year deal.

READ: NLEX drops Boyet Fernandez

Yu, a basketball nut who co-owns Rain or Shine with Terry Que, was the one who was negotiating with Guiao regarding a new deal.

Rain or Shine will thus give Caloy Garcia another shot at coaching the Elasto Painters starting with the Philippine Cup in November. Garcia slid down to assistant with Rain or Shine signed Guiao in 2011.

Guiao has also coached Swift, Pepsi, Red Bull and Burger King before moving to NLEX, where management wants him to come up with a solid program after failing to make a Final Four series under Boyet Fernandez.

READ: Guiao says consistency key in Rain or Shine’s title run: ‘It’s our culture‘

Fernandez was let go on Tuesday night after reportedly meeting with management.

Guiao’s last championship came just a few months back, when he steered the Elasto Painters – then parading the lowest-scoring import to ever win a title – to the Commissioner’s Cup diadem over Alaska.

It was, by far, Guiao’s greatest work as he took out Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer, in that order, in the quarterfinals and Final Four even with the Gin Kings and the Beermen being led by two of the best big men in the league in Greg Slaughter and June Mar Fajardo.

With a year still left in his contract, Fernandez, according to a different source, has the option to stay on and slide down as an assistant to Guiao.