Pinoy tapped to handle UC Riverside Highlanders

MANILA, Philippines — Another Filipino blazed a trail overseas as Mike Magpayo became the newest head coach of University of California Riverside in US college basketball.

Magpayo is the first Filipino or of Asian roots to coach a Division 1 team in US college basketball, marking a monumental chapter for Philippine basketball.

The basketball tactician from UC Sta. Barbara will replace David Patrick, who has accepted an associate coaching job at the University of Arkansas, according to the Highlanders’ official announcement.

“I haven’t had time (to process it),” said Magpayo after the appointment.

“I’m excited but I was sad, very sad, when Patrick told us the news. Coach Patrick is just a great human being and I’m feeling it and I was feeling it last night when he told us. I feel great, to be honest,” he said.

“We wish coach Patrick and his family all the best at Arkansas and I am fully confident coach Magpayo will keep this team on the upward trajectory it is on,” said UC Riverside director of Inter-collegiate Athletics Tamica Smith Jones in a statement.

Prior to his rise as the chief tactician of Big West Conference-based UC Riverside, Magpayo served as the team’s defensive coordinator and associate coach. Under his watch, the Highlanders’ defense made it to the top 10 nationwide and evened the school’s D-1 record for wins with 17 in the last season.

Magpayo is also the founder and president of the Asian Coaches Association, a unified organization for the development of Asian coaches in different basketball ranks around the word.

With solid stints at University of San Francisco, Campbell University and Columbia, Magpayo was included in the Silver Waves Media’s “Top 50 Most Impactful Low Major Coaches.”

With the San Francisco Dons, Magpayo recorded 22 wins in the West Coast Conference, including big wins over top-ranked teams Nevada and St. Mary’s.

Magpayo is the latest Pinoy to create ripples abroad even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, joining Kai Sotto, Thirdy Ravena, Ken Tuffin and Jack Animam, who have decided to bring their acts outside the country.

Sotto last month became the first-ever NBA G League international signee, Ravena as the first Japanese B. League Asian import, Tuffin as a Pinoy standout in the New Zealand-National Basketball League (NZ-NBL) and Animam as a foreign student-athlete (import) in Taiwan’s University Basketball Association (UBA).

Before chasing his dream of coaching at the college level, Magpayo was CEO and founder of a multi-million dollar real estate firm in Southern California. He is also the founder and president of the Asian Coaches Association.