Eagles hope to keep soaring

COACH Norman Black is leaving Ateneo. But the Blue Eagles hope they won’t have to say goodbye to their basketball success too.

Black thinks they won’t have to. While he admits it’s going to be tough for the school to keep the winning run going, he believes the historic five UAAP championships he’s leaving behind should serve as a blueprint for continued varsity success.

“The hardest thing to do in sports is to continue winning,” said Black after steering the Blue Eagles for one last time to a title sweep of the University of Santo Tomas  Thursday.

“They always say the first one is difficult, but it’s always difficult to continue winning. The more you win, the more people want to bring you down, and the more you get the A-game from every team each night, as you saw this year.”

With their latest conquest, the Blue Eagles emerged as the most dominant team in the league in the last 40 years.

No other team has reigned in the league this long since University of the East picked up seven straight crowns from 1965 to 1971.

And the Blue Eagles don’t see to see a reason to stop from aspiring to stay on top.

“We still see a strong nucleus for next year,” said Ateneo’s sophomore star Kiefer Ravena. “One thing I can promise is Ateneo will give everything it got every game. It’s hard to say we’ll have another championship, but we’ll try our best.”

Black thinks the Blue Eagles have the tools to get it done despite the departure of several key cogs led by big man Greg Slaughter and back-to-back Finals MVP Nico Salva.

“What I would like to be remembered for as coach of Ateneo is basically building a foundation for a successful program,” said Black, who also exits with a 110-26 win-loss coaching record—or a staggering 80 percent winning rate—in eight seasons.

Indeed, Black’s numbers are mind-boggling. According to statistics tracked by Pong Ducanes of Imperium, the official UAAP stat group, Black has a winning record against all the teams in the UAAP, with Adamson and NU only winning once against him in his eight seasons as coach.

And to prove his coaching consistency, his worst finish with the Eagles was third place during his first and third seasons with Ateneo (2005 and 2007).

“What we did over the years was go out to the countryside and recruit. We tried to get the best players we can to study and play for Ateneo. We built a foundation, we grew it to the point we were able to get good players and it has become very successful because of it. And since it has a strong foundation, even if I leave, it will continue to be strong.”

Salva, who has won a championship in all five years he played for Ateneo, also attests to the tremendous behind-the-scene work in building a dynasty.

“They were able to look ahead, they were able to plan for the future,” said Salva. “They recruited very well and they got players who are willing to sacrifice and very coachable.”

“A lot of people don’t know that we have a year-round program,” added Black. “We work the entire year and we push our players a lot.”