'Humanitarian' reason behind Pumaren's abrupt return

MANILA, Philippines – Now its Franz Pumaren’s turn to air his side of the story. Criticized lately for leaving his coaching duties with the RP Youth team in the Fiba-Asia Junior men’s championship in Tehran, Iran last week, Pumaren finally broke his silence and explained his side of the story. "I don’t think I deserve this crap," a teary-eyed Pumaren said in front of reporters at the UAAP press center. "It’s unfair on my part. The reason why I went home was the dad of Jack (Santiago) was already hooked through a respirator. I went home so that coach Jack could spend more time with his dad and his family." La Salle assistant coach Santiago’s father, Sofronio, passed away at 6:15 p.m. after the Archers’ 62-59 win over the Far Eastern University Tamaraws on Thursday. "I am close to Jack’s family," Pumaren said, after learning of the older Santiago's dead. "I wanted him to spend the remaining days with his dad and leave the coaching duties to me. Now, I just learned that his father died. It’s really unfair. It’s hard to lose a dad." "This is a win that we can remember," he added. "We are happy that we won but sad because we lost someone. Maybe Jack’s dad interfered with Cawaling’s attempt that is why the shot did not go in." The younger Santiago took over Pumaren’s job for two games steering La Salle to consecutive wins against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, 81-79, and the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 84-79. Pumaren left Iran Friday last week with the RP Youth team having two games left in the tournament in order to make in time for La Salle’s final elimination round game against rival Ateneo Blue Eagles. His older brother and RP team consultant, Derrick, called the shots in Pumaren’s absence. Pumaren’s move was criticized by several sectors in the basketball community. "Now you know the other side of the story," he said. "What the real story is and the reason why I left. It (criticism) was uncalled for." Pumaren added even the players did not know his reason or assistant coach Santiago’s situation. "We don’t want the players to be distracted so we kept it to ourselves," he said. Team captain JV Casio said even he did not know this side of the story. "I respect coach Franz’s actions," Casio said. "The team did not know this. Maybe the reason why coach Franz did not tell us this story because he just wants us to focus on the game and not be distracted with coach Jack’s situation." – GMANews.TV