SMC relieves Eala as sports director for basketball operations

SAN MIGUEL Corporation (SMC)-owned squads in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) have done massive reshuffling that saw coaches moving from one team to another. The revamp has reached the top management level.

In a statement released to media yesterday, SMC announced the relief of Noli Eala as sports director and consultant for basketball operations and was transferred to the company’s infrastructure businesses.

SMC also announced that Al Francis Chua has been allowed to go on leave instead of accepting his resignation as head coach of the Barangay Ginebra Kings.

The full statement read:

San Miguel Corporation (SMC) today announced that it has assigned Mr. Noli Eala, consultant for basketball operations, to help out in the company’s infrastructure businesses as various projects are now either in full swing or at the development stages.

The company believes that Eala’s managerial expertise and experience with various companies he handled in recent years will be very valuable in his new assignment in infrastructure, one of the high-growth areas for the company.

SMC assures the public, particularly its basketball fans that the operations of its basketball teams will continue to run smoothly despite Eala’s new role in the organization.

Meanwhile, management also announced that it has accepted the request of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel head coach Alfrancis Chua for a leave of absence for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup due to personal reasons.

Last month, Olsen Racela was removed as head coach of the Petron Blaze Boosters and was transferred to the San Mig Coffee Mixers as one of the assistant coaches of Tim Cone. Gee Abanilla took over as Petron’s new bench tactician.

A few days ago, Chua announced his resignation in a team practice session.

Eala received online criticisms with some netizens asking for his ouster. Last Monday, Eala took to Twitter to break his silence.

“Certainly I don’t appreciate all d hate I’m receiving, mostly unfair. Frankly many haters are barking up d wrong tree. Still life goes on,” tweeted Eala. “Bashing people first then demanding an explanation after is so unfair. All this hate because some people believe stories based on conjecture. This mob mentality needs to end. Just because people don’t fight back doesn’t mean they’ve done something wrong.” /Editorial assistant Calvin D. Cordova