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Now that he’s on the sidelines, Magnolia Hotshots’ LA Tenorio admits he may have underestimated the challenge of being a head coach in the PBA.
LA Tenorio will always remember the date: October 5, 2025.
It was opening night of the 2025-26 PBA season, and the league decided to open with a bang: a Manila Clasico match-up right out of the gates. It was Barangay Ginebra vs. Magnolia in the latest installment of the PBA’s longest-running rivalry.
But this time, there was a twist: Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone would be going up against his former point guard in the coaching battle. Tenorio had been appointed head coach of the Hotshots a few months earlier, and now his baptism of fire would come against his former coach and mentor.
To the surprise of just about everyone, the student outcoached the master as the Hotshots grabbed an 80-73 victory and LA Tenorio won his PBA coaching debut.
He wouldn’t have been faulted if that win – against the most successful coach in league history – gave him a false sense of superiority. And sure enough, he soon found out that there was more to this job than just beating your former coach.
“It was a rollercoaster ride, rollercoaster feeling,” Tenorio told The GAME in an exclusive interview. “At first, I thought na hindi ako mahihirapan sa transition from being a player to a coach. Akala ko, ma-apply ko lang dito sa mga players ang mga gusto kong ipagawa, but it wasn’t that easy. There’s a lot of stress because you have to make sure that the team or the players, you want them to get better every day.”
The Hotshots went 5-5 the rest of the way in the Philippine Cup and eventually fell in the quarterfinals to extend their championship drought to seven years. Their youth, along with the always tough getting-to-know-you phase, caught up with them in crucial games.
Tenorio, though, is taking a long-term approach. He knows they have to get better first before they can dream of championships.
“I think for me, my thing now, and I told this to the players, it’s not all about winning and losing. It’s not all about winning. What’s really important right now is for us to get better every day and for us to get to that level.
“Kasi we’re still a team na nag-a-adjust. One of the youngest teams in the PBA, yung lineup namin. I have a lot of young players. I’m a young coach. I’m still learning, they’re learning. So, I think kanya ko sinabi na mahirap because the team is learning and I’m learning at the same time.”
The Hotshots were also hit with injuries at one point in the Philippine Cup, forcing Tenorio play the dual role of playing coach for a couple of games. It was an experience that made him appreciate all the more what a certain PBA legend accomplished.
“It wasn’t easy to play. Kanya bilib ako kay ex-coach Sonny Jaworski. Hindi ko alam kung paano niya nagawa yan for years. Nag-champion pa siya. So, playing, practicing with the team, and then coaching. It wasn’t easy at all.”
Learning on the job
LA Tenorio never planned to be a coach. But now that he’s here, as the second-youngest PBA head coach for this season, he’s determined to approach his new job the same way he carved out a legendary playing career: by continuously seeking ways to improve.
“People see me as a coach in the court. But, again, sabi ko nga sa ibang mga kaibigan ko, you’re a good basketball player and a good point guard or a great point guard…that doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good coach.
“So, yan pa rin ang mentality ko. Yan pa rin ang nasa isip ko. Kanya ako patuloy ako na I don’t stop learning. I watch a lot. I read. Because this is already probably the next chapter of my life. So might as well learn it to the best of my ability.”
His first lesson: be patient, and teach these kids. Tenorio said sometimes he gets frustrated by the current generation of players and their lack of respect for the fundamentals of the game.
“Players nowadays, they’re skillful, they’re talented. A lot of one-on-one basketball. My philosophy on the team is just being fundamentally sound. That’s it. Defensively and offensively.
“Because we started fundamentally sound. At this time kasi mga players, they started seeing a lot of players right away who are on top. And they’re trying to do it right away, but they didn’t do it on the base. We started early on the base, zero.”
Luckily for Tenorio, he learned from the best. So when his players do something that makes him shake his head and wonder why they can’t follow his instructions, he just goes back to when he was developing under Tim Cone.
“You just have to be patient. You just have to continue to teach them. What I’ve learned from Coach Tim is you gotta teach them. You gotta have repetition, repetition, repetition. It’s like you’re coaching at the same time you’re teaching. So yun yung kailangan ng mentality ko.
“And I have to be patient about it because they’re still learning. Nobody gets it done and be perfect right away in a week or two. Just like me learning the triangle. Until I retired, I was still learning the triangle. Until my last playing day in PBA, I’m still learning the triangle. It just has to be out of repetition, repetition, repetition.”
Put simply, LA Tenorio’s basketball philosophy can be summed up this way.
“I want them to learn how to play basketball.”
Banner images from Sid Ventura