Virgil Villavicencio - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

Villavicencio coached the Ateneo Blue Eaglets high school basketball team to five consecutive titles in the Metro Manila Basketball League (1989–1993) and four consecutive runner-up spots in the UAAP Juniors Division (1989–1992). In 1993, he was appointed head coach of the La Salle Green Archers, and in his first year guided the team to a second-place finish in a tournament dominated by UST. In the next season, 1994-95, he led the team even closer to the title, as they won the first of a three-game Final series against UST, before losing the second game by 14 points and then the deciding game by a single point. He repeated this feat in the next season, as La Salle again beat UST in the first game of the Finals, only to lose the second game by four points and the third game by three points to finish runner-up for the third season running.

Alongside his collegiate coaching duties, Villavicencio was assistant coach of the Triple-V team in the Philippine Basketball League, helping them to championships in the 1991 and 1992 seasons. In 1995 he coached the Philippine youth national basketball team at the 13th Asian Youth Basket Ball Championship.

After this, Villavicencio moved on to the Philippine Basketball Association, where he was assistant coach of Talk 'N Text (then known as the Phone Pals) as they won the 2003 All-Filipino Cup. The team continued to perform well, finishing third in the transitional 2004 conference and reaching the Finals of the 2004-05 Philippine Cup only to lose 4-2 to Barangay Ginebra Kings. Villavicencio left the coaching staff in 2005 but returned to Talk 'N Text as part of the management team in 2008.