Joseph Enrique "Jong" Floro Uichico (born July 15, 1962) is a
Filipino professional basketball coach who is currently serving as the head coach of
NLEX Road Warriors
The NLEX Road Warriors is a professional basketball team owned by Manila North Tollways Corporation, NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since the 2014 ...
in the
Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...
. Uichico is a former
Philippine national team Youth member and a former player and head coach of the
La Salle Green Archers in the
UAAP
The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univer ...
before replacing
Ron Jacobs as SMB coach in 1999. Uichico was coach of the
San Miguel Beermen
The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Magnolia ...
from 1999–2006, leading the Beermen to six PBA championships.
Basketball career
Uichico played for the
La Salle Green Archers in the collegiate ranks. He was a member of the 1982
RP Youth Team that won the
ABC Under-18 Championship. After a stint with the famed
Northern Consolidated Cement squad of
Ron Jacobs, Uichico ended his basketball career early.
Coaching career
Early years
In the mid-1990s, Uichico had a coaching stint with the Green Archers and guided them to two runner-up trophies. He also joined the Magnolia Beverage Masters coaching staff during
Norman Black and Jacobs tenure. In 1999, Uichico became the new head coach of the Beermen after Jacobs' departure.
San Miguel Beermen
After an early elimination in the All-Filipino Cup, he coached the Beermen to the Commissioner and Governors Cup titles during the 1999 campaign, ending San Miguel's five-year title drought. He is also the first rookie coach to lead his team to back-to-back titles in the same year, a feat duplicated by
Siot Tanquingcen
Bethune "Siot" Tanquingcen is a Filipino professional basketball head coach. He is currently an assistant coach for the NU Bulldogs and the NLEX Road Warriors.
As coach, Tanquingcen has won three PBA championships: two with Barangay Ginebra San M ...
in 2005.
In 2000, Uichico once again guided San Miguel to two more titles and laid claim to his first and only Coach of the Year plum. His first All-Filipino Cup title with the Beermen came in 2001, defeating sister team
Barangay Ginebra Kings.
He returned as San Miguel's head coach after the Asian Games campaign, but went on a four-year title drought before winning his sixth PBA title in six years in the 2005 Fiesta Conference. The Beermen defeated the
Talk 'N Text Phone Pals, 4–1.
Barangay Ginebra
On August 3, 2006,
Chot Reyes
Vincent "Chot" P. Reyes (born August 1, 1964) is a Filipino basketball coach who is the head coach for the TNT Tropang 5G of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He also served as the head coach for the Philippines men's national basket ...
was named as the new head coach of the
San Miguel Beermen
The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Magnolia ...
replacing Uichico and the
San Miguel Corporation
San Miguel Corporation (), abbreviated as SMC, is a Philippine multinational conglomerate with headquarters in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila. The company is one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the Philippines. Originally fo ...
moved Uichico to San Miguel's sister team the
Barangay Ginebra Kings replacing
Siot Tanquingcen
Bethune "Siot" Tanquingcen is a Filipino professional basketball head coach. He is currently an assistant coach for the NU Bulldogs and the NLEX Road Warriors.
As coach, Tanquingcen has won three PBA championships: two with Barangay Ginebra San M ...
, who was demoted as one of Uichico's assistants. On his first Ginebra coaching stint, he was able to win a championship in the
2006–07 PBA Philippine Cup that season. A year later, he won his 2nd championship with the Gin Kings in the
2008 PBA Fiesta Conference
The 2008 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Conference, also known as the 2008 Smart PBA Fiesta Conference for sponsorship reasons, was the last conference
A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized o ...
and his 8th overall title.
In 2012, he left Ginebra to coach the Smart Gilas National Team.
Talk 'N Text
On July 9, 2014, The MVP group shuffled the coaches of
Meralco Bolts,
NLEX Road Warriors
The NLEX Road Warriors is a professional basketball team owned by Manila North Tollways Corporation, NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since the 2014 ...
and
Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters and as a result
Norman Black would be the head coach of
Meralco Bolts and Uichico would replace him as the new head coach of
Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters.
On April 29, 2015, Uichico got his ninth championship with the Tropang Texters after defeating the
Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association owned by Asian Coatings Philippines, Inc. It debuted in the league in the 2006–07 PBA season after acquiring the franchise righ ...
in seven games.
Philippines at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games
Uichico led the Philippine national team that will participate at the
2017 Southeast Asian Games
The 2017 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 29th Southeast Asian Games, or the 29th SEA Games, and commonly known as Kuala Lumpur 2017, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event that took place from 19 to 30 August 2017 in Kuala ...
instead of the Chot Reyes, who will be leading the Philippine squad which will compete at the
2017 FIBA Asia Cup due to an overlapping schedule between the two competitions.
List of PBA championships
* 9×
PBA champion, 14× Finals Appearances
*
San Miguel Franchise (6):
**
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
Commissioner's
**
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
Governors'
**
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
Commissioner's
**
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
Governors'
**
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
All-Filipino
**
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
Fiesta
*
Ginebra Franchise (2):
**
2006-07 Philippine
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
**
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
Fiesta
*
Talk 'N Text Franchise (1):
**
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
Commissioner's
National team
Ron Jacobs appointed Uichico as one of his assistants for the RP team's
2002 Asian Games
The 2002 Asian Games, officially known as the XIV Asian Games and also known as Busan 2002 (), were an international multi-sport event held in Busan, South Korea from September 29 to October 14, 2002. Due to schedule impediments the football tour ...
campaign. However, after Jacobs suffered a stroke, Uichico was named as the new head coach of the
national squad. Uichico guided the Philippines to a fourth-place finish in the event. Their semifinal loss against eventual tournament winner
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
was a crushing blow for Uichico's squad losing by one point on a
Lee Sang-min triple in the final seconds. Despite the loss, the team still brought home what is known to Filipino basketball fans as "The Silent Gold."
He returned in 2013 as an assistant coach for national team and helped the team to win two silver medals in
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
and
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
FIBA Asia Championships.
But in 2017, Uichico was slapped a three-game suspension after he was caught on video joining a mob that attacked an already fallen Chris Goulding of Australian team in 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers game at the Philippine Arena.
Coaching record
Collegiate record
Professional record
National team record
References
External links
PBA Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uichico, Jong
1962 births
Living people
Filipino men's basketball coaches
Filipino men's basketball players
San Miguel Beermen coaches
Philippines men's national basketball team players
Philippines men's national basketball team coaches
Basketball players from Manila
De La Salle Green Archers basketball players
De La Salle Green Archers basketball coaches
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coaches
NLEX Road Warriors coaches
TNT Tropang 5G coaches
MPBL coaches