Joseph Enrique "Jong" Floro Uichico (born July 15, 1962) is a Filipino professional basketball coach who is serves as an assistant coach of NLEX Road Warriors in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). 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 before replacing Ron Jacobs as SMB coach in 1999. Uichico was coach of the San Miguel Beermen 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 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 was named as the new head coach of the San Miguel Beermen replacing Uichico and the San Miguel Corporation moved Uichico to San Miguel's sister team the Barangay Ginebra Kings replacing Siot Tanquingcen, 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 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 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 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 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 Commissioner's 1999 Governors' 2000 Commissioner's 2000 Governors' 2001 All-Filipino 2005 Fiesta Ginebra Franchise (2): 2006-07 Philippine 2008 Fiesta Talk 'N Text Franchise (1): 2015 Commissioner's
National team
Ron Jacobs appointed Uichico as one of his assistants for the RP team's 2002 Asian Games 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 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 and 2015 FIBA Asia Championships.
But in 2018, 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 SeasonTeamElimination roundPlayoffsGPWLPCTFinishGPWLPCTResults1996 DLSU14 11 3 .786 1st 3 1 2 .333 Runner-up1997 DLSU14 10 4 .714 3rd 4 2 2 .500 Runner-upTotals 28 21 7 .750 7 3 4 .429 0 championships
Professional record SeasonConferenceTeamElimination/classification roundPlayoffsGPWLPCTFinishGPWLPCTResults1999All-Filipino Cup San Miguel1688.5005th101.000QuarterfinalsCommissioner's Cup853.6254th1284.667ChampionsGovernors' Cup862.7503rd1082.800Champions2000All-Filipino Cup San Miguel14104.7142nd624.333Third placeCommissioner's Cup972.7781st981.889ChampionsGovernors' Cup945.4446th1192.818Champions2001All-Filipino Cup San Miguel1495.6431st1284.667ChampionsCommissioner's Cup972.7781st1266.500Runner-upGovernors' Cup1376.5384th954.556Runner-up2002Governors' Cup San Miguel1156.4558th844.500Third placeCommissioner's Cup1064.6004th734.429Third placeAll-Filipino Cup963.6672nd422.500Third place2003All-Filipino Cup San Miguel18126.6671st (A)312.333QuarterfinalsInvitational422.5003rd (B)————EliminatedReinforced1358.3853rd (A)1284.667Runner-up2004 Fiesta San Miguel18162.8891st312.333Quarterfinals2004–05Philippine Cup1899.5005th1073.700Third placeFiesta18117.6112nd972.778Champions2005–06Fiesta San Miguel16610.3758th422.500Wildcard roundPhilippine Cup16115.6882nd835.375Fourth place2006–07Philippine Cup Ginebra18135.7221st1284.667ChampionsFiesta18126.6673rd211.500Quarterfinals2007–08Philippine Cup Ginebra18810.4447th101.000Wildcard phaseFiesta18108.5563rd13103.769Champions2008–09Philippine Cup Ginebra18108.5563rd312.333QuarterfinalsFiesta1486.5712nd1486.571Runners-up2009–10Philippine Cup Ginebra18126.6674th1037.300Fourth placeFiesta1899.5005th523.400Quarterfinals2010–11Philippine Cup Ginebra14104.7143rd945.444SemifinalsCommissioner's Cup954.5563rd1376.538Runner-upGovernors' Cup853.6254th532.600Semifinals2014–15Philippine Cup Talk 'N Text1183.7274th624.333SemifinalsCommissioner's Cup1183.7272nd1284.667ChampionsGovernors' Cup1156.45510th————Eliminated2015–16Philippine Cup TNT1165.5456th211.500Quarterfinals 1st phaseCommissioner's Cup1165.5456th312.333QuarterfinalsGovernors' Cup11101.9091st523.400Semifinals2019–20Bataan1266.500(resigned)————(resigned)Totals500303197.606265153112.5779 championships
National team record TournamentTeamPreliminary roundFinal roundGPWLPCTFinishGPWLPCTResults2002 Asian Games Philippines2201.0001st (C)523.400Fourth place2013 SEA Games6601.001st———— Gold medal2017 SEA Games3301.0001st (A)2201.000 Gold medal2022 FIBA Asia Cup qualifying3301.000(resigned)————(resigned)Totals141401.000743.5712 gold medals
References
External links PBA Website