ANOTHER year, another coach for the mighty National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs.
Pending an official announcement, the Lady Bulldogs will have a new mentor in Regine Diego starting in the 2025 Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Preseason Unity Cup this month, then the UAAP Season 88 early next year.
Ms. Diego, whose last head coaching stint was with the defunct F2 in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL), will take over from Sherwin Meneses, who steered NU to the UAAP Season 87 championship for the team’s third title in four seasons.
Serving as the constant in those NU championships and coaching changes was Mhicaela “Bella” Belen, whose jersey No. 4 was set to be retired by the Lady Bulldogs in their UAAP Season 88 pep rally at the Mall of Asia on Wednesday night.
Considered as the greatest Lady Bulldog ever, Ms. Belen won eight championships and five MVPs in an incomparable UAAP career from high school to college before becoming the No. 1 pick of Capital1 in this year’s PVL Rookie Draft.
Without Ms. Belen and her partner Alyssa Solomon, NU won the SSL National Invitationals Davao Leg last month before Mr. Meneses, a 10-time champion with Creamline in the PVL, and NU parted ways in good terms, according to the grizzled mentor’s wife after the expiration of the one-year deal he signed last season.
“Just to set the record straight, he only signed a one-year contract with NU, which has now concluded. There is no issue or conflict with the NU management. He holds the institution and its leadership in the highest regard.”
Ms. Diego, for her part, served as the team’s assistant manager in last season’s championship conquest before inheriting the coaching duties this year in her NU return after coaching the NU-Nazareth School in the UAAP juniors in 2019.
She’s the fourth NU mentor in five seasons after Carl Dimaculangan ended a 65-year drought in 2022 and had a runner-up finish the following season.
Norman Miguel, also a former NU coach, then reclaimed the crown for the Lady Bulldogs in 2024 before the collegiate breakthrough of multi-titled PVL tactician Mr. Meneses this year.
The volleyball coaching change in NU women’s volleyball came just a month after reigning champion NU women’s basketball mentor Aris Dimaunahan stepped from his post with long-time DA Olan as his replacement. — John Bryan Ulanday