It wasn’t a nice birthday present but losing coach Ariel Vanguardia of Jose Rizal U offered no excuses after failing to steer the Bombers to victory and end the school’s long title drought in the NCAA.
“No alibis, we just lost,” said Vanguardia, who turned 36 yesterday. “But we will be back, I’ll guarantee you we will be back next year.”
Truly, the Bombers will be a potent force next season with only Jayson Nocom and Maui Pradas graduating next year.
“I’m losing only two guys, so I guess we’re pretty much intact,” said Vanguardia, who transformed JRU from a whipping team into a championship contender in the last three years.
“I guess we can’t win them all. It was a good ride. It could have been us. But we’ll try again next year,” Vanguardia said.
From the Big Dome, the Bombers headed straight to the Jose Rizal U campus in Mandaluyong where a simple birthday celebration for their coach would help ease the pain of a shattered dream. – Joey Villar