Talk N Text revamp up; Pumaren on way out?

The Talk n Text team management is now looking at various options, including a total revamp of its coaching staff following the Pals’ disastrous finish in the ongoing Smart PBA Philippine Cup.

Top bosses Manny V. Pangilinan and Ricky Vargas met yesterday with the players minus the coaching staff headed by Derrick Pumaren and team manager Frankie Lim.

Apparently, the management wanted to feel the pulse of the players on a possible overhaul of the coaching staff.

Reports said the management is considering national coach Chot Reyes to replace Pumaren.

Among the teams fancied to make a strong showing in the All-Filipino tourney, the Pals instead finished eighth place, ambushed by former main man Asi Taulava and his new team, the Coca-Cola Tigers, in the first stage of the wildcard round.

The Pals were beaten twice by the Tigers, the first denying Talk n Text a playoff crack at an outright quarterfinals seat against Magnolia.

It was a tragic finish for the Pals who were even sent abroad for training during the off-season.

Talk n Text has been under Pumaren the last two seasons. The team’s best finish was first runner-up to Alaska Milk in the Fiesta Cup last year.

The team has been under so many coaches since joining the league under the banner of Pepsi Cola in 1990. It has won only one crown so far –  under coach Joel Banal in the 2003 All-Filipino Cup.

It will be remembered that the management even had resorted to tapping foreign coaches in Paul Woolpert and Bill Bayno.

Most of the players are hoping the management stick with Pumaren, allowing him to stay on at least up to the end of his contract at the end of the season.

“Hopefully, coach Derrick is given another chance. Hopefully, the team is also kept intact. We admit our shortcomings but we have yet to really get along well because of the continuous revamp,” said one player, who requested not to be named.

“It’s not all coach Derrick’s fault. He had his grand plans. It so happened that at times we just couldn’t execute,” the player added.

Renren Ritualo, Kelly Washington, Don Allado, Yancy de Ocampo, Ali Peek and Yousif Aljamal are among players taken by the team through continuous wheeling and dealing operations.

“We’re (former Talk n Text players) pretty scattered now. But look where we are and where they are now,” said Taulava after the Tigers eliminated the Pals Friday.