Olsen Racela

Rodericko Cesar Escueta Racela, also known as Olsen Racela, (born November 1, 1970) is the head coach of the FEU Tamaraws men's basketball team.[1] He is also currently an assistant coach of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He is a retired PBA player and is considered to be one of the best point guards who ever played in the league. He was also a notable member of the Philippine national basketball team on many occasions.

Olsen Racela
FEU Tamaraws
PositionHead coach
LeagueUAAP
Personal information
Born (1970-11-01) November 1, 1970
Quezon City, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
CollegeAteneo de Manila University
PBA draft1993 Round: 2 / Pick: 12th overall
Selected by the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
Playing career1993–2011
PositionPoint guard
Number17
Career history
As player:
1993–1996Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
1997–2011San Miguel Beermen
As coach:
2011–2013Petron Blaze Boosters (Head coach / assistant coach)
2013–2014San Mig Coffee Mixers (assistant)
2014–presentBarangay Ginebra San Miguel (assistant)
2016–presentFEU Tamaraws
Career highlights and awards

As Assistant Coach

As Head Coach:

Early life

Olsen Racela, born on November 1 in Quezon City, Philippines, was so named because he was born on All Saint's Day (his brother Nash was born on National Heroes' Day). As a young boy, he started playing basketball early in his life. It was just a simple game for Olsen back then, which consisted of a couple of shots through a hoop in his old neighborhood. Among his brothers, he proved to have the prodigious basketball skills which gave him a spot in Ateneo de Manila University's varsity team.

Amateur career

Racela played for the Ateneo Blue Eagles in a backup role to Jun Reyes and was a member of the Blue Eagles team that won the UAAP title in 1988. He also played in the Philippine Amateur Basketball League and the RP Youth Team.

PBA career

Purefoods

In 1993, Racela was selected 12th by Purefoods in the 1993 PBA Rookie Draft. From 1993-1996, he played the backup role to Dindo Pumaren and won two titles with the Purefoods franchise under a limited role with the team.

San Miguel Beermen

In 1997, Racela was traded to the San Miguel Beermen for merely two second round picks for the succeeding three years beginning 1998. This became the turnaround of his young career. Under new San Miguel head coach Ron Jacobs, Racela's skills were noticed under a rebuilding Beermen squad of Nelson Asaytono, Freddie Abuda and Mike Mustre.

In 1998, Racela's game would improve and was rewarded with a spot on the Tim Cone-coached Philippine Centennial Team that took home a bronze medal in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. A season later, with Racela as its top point guard, San Miguel became the league's new dynasty under Jong Uichico, winning five titles from 1999-2001.

2002 Busan Asiad

He made his second stint in the national team in 2002 for the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. With Racela as point guard, the Nationals made it all the way through the semifinals against host South Korea. In the final minute, Racela scored a three-pointer to give the Philippines the lead. However, after recovering the possession and was fouled, he missed two crucial free throws that could have given the country a four-point lead. Instead, Lee Sang Min's buzzer-beating triple gave the Koreans a dramatic 69-68 victory. Some argued that the blame rested on Jong Uichico's coaching strategy in which he did not set up a plan to ease Racela's pressure from the 15 foot line.

Despite the missed free-throws, Racela continued to shine in his point guard duties with San Miguel. In 2004, he dished his 2,000th career assist and was the starting point guard when the Beermen won another title in the 2005 PBA Fiesta Conference.

Starting in the 2007-08 All Filipino Conference, Racela occasionally played off the bench in preparation for his retirement and later life as an assistant coach.

On August 11, 2010, Racela became the fifth player alongside Ramon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski, Abet Guidaben & Philip Cezar to play at least 900 games in the PBA.

League's oldest active Player and Retirement

After PBA legend Johnny Abarrientos announced his retirement, Racela played for another season with San Miguel. He turned 40 on November 1, 2010 and was the senior statesman of the PBA during that season. He announced his retirement on January 28, 2011 at the Araneta Coliseum at the start of Game 4 of the finals. He had played the entire finals series before he hanged up his #17 jersey in which Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters subdued San Miguel Beermen in 6 games.

Coaching career

On December 20, 2016, FEU announced the hiring of Racela as the head coach of the FEU Tamaraws men's basketball team in the UAAP. He replaced his brother Nash, who was appointed as the head coach of the PBA team TNT Katropa. This also serves as his first head coaching job in a varsity basketball team.[2]

Coaching record

Collegiate record

SeasonTeamEliminationsPlayoffs
WLPCTFinishPGWLPCTResults
2017FEU77.5004th211.500Lost to Ateneo in the semifinals.
2018FEU86.5714th211.500Won over La Salle in the 4th-seed playoff, Lost to Ateneo in the semifinals
2019FEU86.5713rd101.000Lost to UST in the First round
Totals2319.547523.4000 championships

Personal life

Racela's nickname was based on the day of his birth as it was during All-Saints Day.

His brother, Raoul Cesar or Nash Racela, is currently the head coach of the Blackwater Elite and the former head coach of the FEU Tamaraws who were champions in the UAAP. Nash also coached the Batangas Blades in the Metropolitan Basketball Association. Olsen has 3 children namely Ryan, Raya, and Rafa.

Basketball career

School leagues

Philippine Basketball League

Philippine Basketball Association

National teams

Awards and achievements

Philippine Basketball Association

  • 1993 Mr. Quality Minutes
  • 1998-1999 2-time Mythical Second Team
  • 2000-2001 2-time Mythical First Team
  • 2000-01, 2003–04, 2006 5-time All-Star
  • 2002-2003 Mythical Second team
  • 2004 21st member of 2000-Assist Club
  • 2010 5th member of 900 Games club

PBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Correct as of July 26, 2011[3]

Season-by-season averages

Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1993 Coney Island/Purefoods 438.3.514.333.7000.91.3.4.13.4
1994 Coney Island/Purefoods 6215.6.479.444.6610.91.5.4.13.7
1995 Purefoods 5924.8.502.222.8511.73.11.2.16.7
1996 Purefoods Corned Beef 5822.6.454.115.7951.53.0.8.16.4
1997 San Miguel 6240.0.439.316.8761.84.7.7.111.4
1998 San Miguel 4938.2.455.292.8472.84.51.1.28.8
1999 San Miguel 5334.2.399.233.8432.33.6.8.17.3
2000 San Miguel 5832.9.461.383.8392.33.0.6.19.6
2001 San Miguel 7034.3.395.381.8712.22.8.8.0310.9
2002 San Miguel 1226.2.384.294.8001.94.6.9.29.7
2003 San Miguel 5032.5.417.373.8653.04.81.1.110.8
2004-05 San Miguel 7834.0.398.354.8272.25.31.1.111.4
2005-06 San Miguel 4332.6.367.305.8632.74.31.1.18.3
2006-07 San Miguel 6226.3.373.286.8722.33.51.0.18.5
2007-08 Magnolia 4720.0.426.391.9121.62.5.6.16.3
2008-09 San Miguel 5620.0.387.327.8281.93.2.6.046.0
2009-10 San Miguel 3911.0.393.328.8330.81.2.6.033.2
2010-11 San Miguel 2412.0.344.303.8750.81.7.3.03.0
Career 92527.0.419.334.8411.93.3.8.17.8

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-01-18. Retrieved 2016-12-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Terrado, Reuben (December 20, 2016). "Olsen Racela takes over as head coach of FEU Tamaraws". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  3. http://www.pba-online.net/profile/Olsen-Racela/
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