Louie Alas

Francisco Luis "Louie" Alas (born October 10, 1963) is a Filipino basketball head coach. He is the former head coach of the Letran Knights in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and Philippine Patriots in the ASEAN Basketball League. He was also a former coach of Mobiline from 2000 to 2001 in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Louie Alas
Personal information
Born (1963-10-10) October 10, 1963
Unisan, Quezon, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Career information
CollegeAdamson University
Coaching career1998–present
Career history
As coach:
1998Letran Knights (NCAA)
1999Manila Metrostars (MBA)
2000–2001Mobiline/Talk 'n Text Phone Pals (PBA)
2002–2012Letran Knights (NCAA)
2009–2011Philippine Patriots (ABL)
2017–2020Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters (PBA)

Playing career

Alas' basketball career began in Adamson University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines where he played for the school's team Adamson Falcons. During his playing days, he is considered one of the best amateur players in the country and has won a couple PABL championships. In the PABL, he played for ESQ, Purefoods, Philips Sardines and Burger Machine.

In 1990, he was drafted by Purefoods late in the first round but never really had the chance to play for the PBA team due to a career-ending ACL injury he sustained during practice. Unable to play basketball anymore, he shifted his gears towards coaching.

He also used to work in the Philippine Sports Commission.

Coaching career

His first coaching job was with the Saint Francis of Assisi Baby Doves in Las Piñas City. He steered the team to a championship in the 19951996 season of the National Capital Region Athletic Association. Afterwards, he moved to Las Piñas College. For a time, Alas used to be an assistant coach in Adamson University.

PBA and MBA

He had numerous stints as an assistant coach in teams like the Alaska Milkmen, Sta. Lucia Realtors and lastly with the Purefoods Carne Norte Beefies under Eric Altamirano from 1996 to 1998. Later on, he transferred to the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association where he steered the Manila Metrostars to a championship title during the 1999 season following an incredible 22 game-winning streak which is the longest in Philippine professional basketball history. He was awarded that year's Coach of the Year.

Alas was supposed to handle another MBA team, the Batangas Blades when the chance to coach PBA's Mobiline Phone Pals was offered to him, he immediately took it. Prior to this, Mobiline was struggling under Eric Altamirano. While in the PBA, he led the Phone Pals to its best record in the elimination phase of the Governor's Cup in 2000 and 2001 but all ended up losing in the semis. The Pop Cola Panthers was the first PBA team to offer him a coaching job but decided to stick with the Metrostars.

Controversy

However, before the 2002 season, Alas was fired from the team. According to reports, Alas angered top Mobiline officials when he chose Gilbert Demape over John Arigo as the team's top rookie draft pick.[1] But he denied this allegation, saying that he had a series of meetings with the owners, and was given the freedom to decide on what he felt was best for the team.[2] On December 3, 2001, Mobiline announced that Alas had stepped down as the team's head coach.

Alas was replaced by American Bill Bayno who immediately received heavy criticism from the nationalist Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines due to his nationality].

NCAA and PBL

In 1998, Alas barged into NCAA territory with Letran. He immediately captured that year's championship trophy by sweeping the San Sebastian Stags in a best-of-three series.

In 2003, his Letran Knights will face the Stags again in the finals and once again he prevailed thanks to the heroics of Boyet Bautista, Aaron Aban and Jonathan Pinera. Right after the title win, the Knights joined the Philippine Basketball League under the name of Toyota Otis-Letran. The Knights captured the third-place trophy in the league's Unity Cup after beating defending champions Hapee Toothpaste Sparklers. In the 2006 PBL Unity Cup, he led Toyota to its first finals appearance only to lose to the Harbour Centre Portmasters in the pivotal fifth game in their best-of-5 series.

In 2005, he gave Letran its 16th NCAA Championship by beating the PCU Dolphins 2-1 in their epic championship series despite being down 0-1. They also ended the eliminations with a 13-1 win-loss card which is their best record since 1950.

In 2007, he suffered his very first NCAA championship loss in the hands of the San Beda Red Lions who swept them in two games. during the championship series, basketball analysts were very aware of his coaching mystique that some believed he can pull off an upset against the mighty Red Lions.

Philippine youth and senior national team

He made his coaching debut in the national team by assisting San Beda College High School coach Ato Badolato in the SEABA Jrs in 1996. The team was led by Ren-Ren Ritualo and Aries Dimaunahan. A year later, he was named coach of the youth team and formed a formidable lineup composed of future basketball stars like Kerby Raymundo, Enrico Villanueva, Cyrus Baguio, Yancy de Ocampo and others. The team won the SEABA Championship and placed third in the ABC Juniors Championship.

After his stint with the youth, he was tasked to coach the Philippines in the 1999 Southeast Asian Games in Brunei. Majority of his players were from his MBA team, the Manila Metrostars because prior to the competition, the Metrostars were the top-seeded team in that season. He led the Philippines to a gold medal by sweeping the whole tournament and beating Thailand in the Gold Medal Match.

In December 2007, he helped the Philippines win another gold medal in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Ratchaburi, Thailand. This time though, he was an assistant coach to Junel Baculi.

Personal life

Alas hails from the fishing town of Unisan, Quezon, and is the seventh of eight children. His younger brother Carmelo is one of his assistant coaches.

He is married to Liza Alas (née Platón), a hotel manager and has four sons: Kristoffer Louie, Kevin, Kenneth, and Kieffer, all of whom are inclined towards basketball. Kenneth is currently enrolled in Far Eastern University while Kristoffer and Kevin formerly played for the Letran Knights. Kevin is currently signed to the Philippine Basketball Association's NLEX Road Warriors.

Historian Pepe Alas is a nephew of his, a son of his elder brother Josefino.

Coaching profile

He is known to nicknames such as "Coach A" or "The Ace Coach". He has a reputation of being a very good motivator and a certified winner. So far he has tallied a total of 208 wins and 118 losses with .638 winning percentage.

Some of his coaching idols are Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, Dean Smith, John Wooden, and Mike Krzyzewski.

He also has the ability to transform a weak team to a championship contender and turning unknown or under the radar players into stars. His players from Letran that went up to the pros are the best example of that. In 2007, his Letran team, despite undergoing a three-year rebuilding stage, surprisingly made it to the finals only to lose to the San Beda Red Lions, but the team were adored by showing their winning attitude despite being a rebuilding team. He only missed the NCAA Final Four twice (2002 and 2010).

As a coach, he specializes on defense which is the important key in winning a championship. He became the first non-Letran graduate coach in school history to give Letran at least 3 championships (1998, 2003, and 2005) and 10 Final Four appearances.

Coaching record

SeasonLeagueConferenceTeamElims./Clas. roundPlayoffs
WLPCTFinishPGWLPCTResults
1998*NCAACSJL 1st3301.000Won NCAA championship
1999*MBANorthMLA 264.8671stNorth742.667Won MBA championship
2000*PBAGovernors CupMOB 72.7781st625.286Lost in third place playoff
2001*PBAAll-FilipinoMOB 59.3578th101.000Lost in quarterfinals
Commissioner's CupMOB 48.3337th101.000Lost in quarterfinals
Governors CupTNT 76.5385th101.000Lost in quarterfinals
2002NCAACSJL 77.5006thDid not qualify
2003NCAACSJL 95.6431st431.750Won NCAA championship
2004NCAACSJL 95.6433rd211.500Lost in the semifinals
2005NCAACSJL 131.9291st431.750Won NCAA championship
2006NCAACSJL 104.7143rd202.000Lost in the semifinals
2007NCAACSJL 93.7502nd312.333Lost in the Finals
2008NCAACSJL 95.6433rd312.333Lost in the semifinals
2009NCAACSJL 126.6674th101.000Lost in the semifinals
2009–10ABLPHI 103.7331st5501.000Won ABL championship
2010NCAACSJL 79.4385thDid not qualify
2010–11ABLPHI 96.6002nd422.500Lost in the Finals
2011NCAACSJL 144.7783rd211.500Lost in the semifinals
2012NCAACSJL 126.6673rd532.600Lost in the Finals
NCAA* record12768.6513 NCAA championships
MBA* record306.8331 MBA championship
PBA record2533.431
ABL record2611.7031 ABL championship
Totals*208118.638Includes playoffs

*incomplete

References

Preceded by
Mollet Pineda
Letran Knights head coach
1998
Succeeded by
Binky Favis
Preceded by
Ricky Dandan
Manila Metrostars head coach
1999
Succeeded by
Boysie Zamar
Preceded by
Binky Favis
Letran Knights head coach
2002-2012
Succeeded by
Caloy Garcia
Preceded by
Bogs Adornado (interim)
AirAsia Philippine Patriots head coach
2009-11
Succeeded by
Glenn Capacio
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.