Down to his last five years of coaching, Louie Alas gets opportunity of a lifetime

Louie Alas. PBA IMAGES

Louie Alas has given his self five more years to coach.

And what better way than to end his illustrious career than return as a head mentor in the pro league.

“I’m on my last five years in coaching,” revealed Alas Thursday at SportsIQ, the INQUIRER’s omni-platform sports talk show. “My wife and I had an agreement that before we turn 60, we’ll retire.”

“So when the opportunity to head coach Phoenix came in, I thought to myself maybe this chance won’t ever come again.”

READ: Basketball is part of Alas family culture

Alas, who still has a couple of years in his Alaska contract, replaced former head coach Ariel Vanguardia in late October after the latter stepped down from his post.

And Alas got a massive boost of support from Alaska head coach Alex Compton, to whom he served as an assistant since 2012, in getting Phoenix’ top coaching position.

“Initially I didn’t want to leave Alaska then the opportunity came… and coach Alex was the one who really initiated a move to tell the bosses of Alaska [that I had an offer from Phoenix],” said Alas in Filipino.

READ: Alas satisfied with Phoenix’s ‘aggressive’ rookie picks

“Coach Alex said that he wouldn’t let this opportunity pass by, he knew that this would be difficult for him to tell the bosses of Alaska but he found a way.”

Alas last held a head coaching job in the PBA with the Mobiline Phone Pals, now the TNT KaTropa, back in 2001 but he gained his reputation as the head honcho at Letran where he led the Knights to three NCAA titles.

This combination of scenarios—a long hiatus as a head coach in the PBA and spending more than a decade in the collegiate ranks—is making him anxious ahead of his first practice with Fuel Masters on Mondau.

READ: No reunion for Alas, son at Phoenix

“I have mixed emotions right now. I’ve been asking myself, ‘do I still have what it takes to be a head coach?’ because I’ve been an assistant for so long. In the past two weeks I’ve been waking up at 2 am thinking about it,” said Alas.

And in his times of crisis, Alas can’t help but look back at his stint with Letran—a time when the Knights’ program became synonymous with the Alas brand of basketball.

“I think I’ll still be the same coach as when I was with Letran, not to brag but I had a pretty decent batting average in college.”