With nine PBA titles to his name, there's really not a lot of doubt when it comes to Jong Uichico's place in history alongside many of the league's greatest coaches.
There was a time, though, that Uichico would have happily settled for a regular job at the bank instead of manning the sidelines.
"I didn't have an inkling that I'd coach. I really wanted to just have an eight-hour job," Uichico said during the pilot episode of 'An Eternity of Basketball', a podcast by ESPN5.com's Charlie Cuna, Sid Ventura and Noel Zarate. "I said I do not like basketball to be my profession. I really said that. I'd like to work in a bank. I'd like to work somewhere. But I do not [want] to make basketball a profession."
Uichico initially came to that conclusion after a fruitful stint as a player with De La Salle University in college and with the Northern Consolidated Cement team under the late Ron Jacobs, and after going undrafted in the 1988 PBA rookie draft. But basketball would continue to pull him back, and he didn't know he'd be reeled in for life when he took a coaching job at De La Salle Zobel in 1990.
"It was just for fun. Since I also lived in Alabang, I took the job," he said of the head coaching role. "And I liked it. I don't know why I liked it. Maybe because it's basketball."
"So instead of forcing myself to search for another livelihood, I stayed in basketball," he added. "I don't think anyone influenced me. I think destiny was the one who got me here into basketball, into coaching."
Destiny would later lead him into an open spot at San Miguel, where he first served as an assistant to Norman Black until 1996, and later to Jacobs for the next two years. He also coached the seniors team of DLSU for two years to the finals midway through the decade before taking over the helm in SMB for Jacobs, who stepped down in 1998.
Jacobs' departure left Uichico with what he admitted to be huge shoes to fill.
"They were expecting the same results that coach Ron gave to San Miguel," he shared. "It was difficult. There was a lot of pressure on me."
That pressure was primarily the reason why his first-ever championship as a head coach, which he won in the 1999 Commissioner's Cup, remains his favorite title up to this day.
"That championship really got the monkey off my back," Uichico described. "That championship, regardless of who they give the credit to, made me feel lighter because I finally became a champion."
The fateful Korea game
Five more titles would come Uichico's way before an opportunity born out of an unfortunate circumstance fell out in the open in 2002: after his mentor Jacobs, initially tasked to build a team he'd coach for that year's Asian Games, suffered a stroke, the young assistant was suddenly thrust into the role of trying to pilot a country to its first gold in the regional meet since 1962.
Even without Jacobs, Uichico stuck to the blueprint they both initially agreed on.
"Our principle was to try to build a team that can beat Korea, not China, because you have to beat Korea in order to get to China," said Uichico. "We tried to build a team that can defend the Koreans. Never mind China."
"From day 1 to that game versus Korea, Korea was really our main emphasis."
For most of that fateful semifinals game, Uichico and the national team had everything under control -- until, of course, after star guard Olsen Racela unexpectedly missed both his free throws with under 30 seconds left.
Though many pundits would later ache at some missed opportunities to slow it down in the clutch -- Uichico said they "had two fouls to give and I think I had one or two timeouts left, if I'm not mistaken" -- the coach simply said circumstances just didn't fall the Filipinos' way.
"I looked down the other bench and the Koreans didn't have a timeout. So I was deciding, 'Do I call a timeout or do I not call a timeout?' We had a split-second to decide and I decided not to call a timeout before the free throws (of Racela)," he explained.
"[Y]our mind is running. If you call a timeout, that gives them the time to set up something. Now you're giving them the pressure to run something not within their structure. That was my thinking. They fumbled the ball, Dondon (Hontiveros) tapped the ball, he lost the ball, it went into Lee Sang-Min's (hands), he fired, it went in," he continued. "We had two fouls to give, but I don't think there was really a legit chance to foul them at the right time -- not too early or not too late -- because there was a scramble for the ball."
Uichico proceeded to win three more titles with SMB and Barangay Ginebra before finally getting the chance to avenge that loss as an assistant to coach Chot Reyes in 2013 with Gilas Pilipinas, which took down the Koreans in a decisive semifinals matchup in the Asian Championships to avoid another heartbreak and, more importantly, book a historic ticket to the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
"Korea was a tough opponent there, too. Their game was evolving. Not only are they three-point shooters at the time, they could also drive to the basket. Their game was evolving at the time," said the coach. "It's like the weight was lifted off of you."
After the 2014 World Cup, Uichico would bag one more title, this time with the Talk 'N Text franchise in 2015, to pad his haul and fall within two short in the all-time tally from tying Black, whom he considers to be a major influence on his coaching style along with Jacobs.
"They're both disciplinarians," he said of Black and Jacobs. "Coach Norman is by the letter. Coach Ron, in a way, is also like that. Very disciplinarian. But he gives a little bit more freedom. Less plays, more read-and-react on the offense, and then emphasizes more on the defensive end. Coach Norman also focuses on defense, but his offense is more structured. I got that structure-type of offense from coach Norman, then I drew a bit from coach Ron in terms of freedom, and then I put both their defensive philosophies together."
Toughest coaching match-up
Despite some famed influences, Uichico admittedly has had a tough time solving the puzzle often posed by a certain future Hall of Fame shoo-in.
"Coach Tim (Cone) is really great at adjusting game-to-game, especially in a series," he answered when asked who was the toughest coach he's ever had to face. "You might be able to beat him in one game in the eliminations, but when it comes to a series, coach Tim's a difficult opponent. I really had a hard time with coach Tim."
The two have only faced each other once in the finals as head coaches; Uichico was still an assistant to Jacobs when Cone's Alaska Milkmen trounced the Beermen in six games in the 1998 Commissioner's Cup finals, but the protege-turned-headliner would later exact revenge for his mentor in the 1999 Governors' Cup by beating Cone in six for the title.
"He'll adjust the game, and then he'll also adjust for the next game," he continued. "If he wins today, don't expect him to show up with the same game plan for the following game. He'll change it for some adjustment that he thinks I or any other coach would do. Coach Tim's really the most difficult coach to play against in a series."
From nearly entering the corporate world to being among the league's winningest coaches, you could say Uichico had quite the ride. The 57-year-old coach, however, said such a roller-coaster journey would not be possible if not for his two muses.
"I'm very lucky that I was under all these great coaches. Coach Norman was a Grand Slam coach, coach Ron was a national team coach," he said. "[Coach Ron even] sat me down and my wife for dinner and said, 'Do you really want to coach? Do you know what it entails to become a coach?' I said yes, I want to coach... And then things just fell in place."
That type of relationship with his mentors, along with the ordeals of coaching in the amateur ranks before diving into bigger duties in the pros, are the primary reasons why he uses his career as an example when he gives aspiring coaches some advice on how to make it big one day.
"I was lucky. I really advised all these coaches coming in to have a mentor. You need to have a mentor and not just enter a situation where you won't have a person to talk to in times of need or in times of improvement," he imparted.
"I made a big leap, from high school coach to assistant coach in the PBA. I needed some experience in handling a basketball team. That's important for a coach. Before you jump into head coaching in the PBA, for me you need to have experience in handling your own team in a competitive environment like college or the MPBL or the D-League so you can make mistakes there."