USJ-R hires veteran coach Jun Noel to replace Salacut

In their bid to take their middling basketball program to the next level, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars have tabbed veteran head coach Jun Noel to man the squad starting with their stint in the 2013 National University Games in Bacolod City this week.

This development was confirmed by the Jaguars’ starting point guard, James Regalado, while the team gears up for the games in the aforementioned tournament.

According to the ace guard, Noel has been at the helm of the team for several weeks already. And as early as now, he said that Noel is already stamping his imprint on the squad with his no-joke approach to the game.

“He’s very strict when it comes to practices. He’s more into cultivating the players’ character. As for his system, it’s similar to what we used to run. Some flex offense and more of a run-and-gun offense,” Regalado said.

Noel replaces former head coach Edito Salacut, who last steered the squad to the finals back in 2008, when the likes of former stars Manny Gabas, Lyndon Gudez, Armand Ponce and Luther Justiniani went up and lost against seven-footer Greg Slaughter and the rest of the mighty University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers.

Noel boasts of a stellar record which has seen him coach in defunct leagues such as the Philippine Basketball League, the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association, the Liga Pilipinas and the Metropolitan Basketball Association, where he made a name for himself by coaching Cebu’s biggest rivals, the Negros Slashers.