Dolreich “Bo” Perasol packed his bags and left South Cotabato to pursue his dream of earning a college degree through basketball at University of the Philippines.
Little did he know that decades later, he would emerge to become the chief of the sports program of the biggest and most prestigious state university in the country.
Perasol has been formally appointed as director of the Office for Athletics and Sports Development just a month before the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 86 opens in September.
Credited as the architect of the Fighting Maroons’ first UAAP title since 1986 for being the men’s basketball program director, Perasol is the perfect choice for the position.
After all, it was his hands that wrote the fairytale story of the Fighting Maroons rise from being the whipping boys into one of the country’s best college basketball squads.
So, the school puts its faith in Perasol to replicate his success on a much larger scale.
But taking over the sports program of the entire UP system is something the 52-year-old grizzled basketball tactician never expected would come his way.
“It never crossed my mind that I’ll be in this position because I was really busy trying to build our basketball program in the last few years,” Perasol told Daily Tribune in an interview.
“In fact, when I was coaching, all that was in my head was how to build a championship program. In the end, I became the program director.”
“So I was already satisfied with how things are going and how we are trying to get the synergy of everybody from the alumni, administration, management, the players and coaching to have a program that’s going to make the community proud. I was just thinking purely about basketball.”
Perasol, however, welcomes the challenge of being a catalyst for change and cultivating a winning culture for the entire UP system sports program.
“But then again when this opportunity came, the challenge really was because it was really going to be a full-time job and then from about 24 student-athletes (in basketball) it will balloon to around a thousand student-athletes of the University of the Philippines and that would also include the other sports programs of other constituent units of UP around the country,” Perasol added.
“It’s a huge responsibility. I thought hard about it. The office was just created so I thought what way to help this but be at the start of this endeavor.”
“The flip side of this is that you will be able to contribute and help a bigger number of student-athletes. That was really the point that turned around my decision to agree on taking the job.”
Choosing Perasol as captain of UP systems sports programs is a no-brainer.
He willingly took over the reins of a struggling men’s basketball team that before his arrival in 2016 only had a total of 13 wins in eight seasons.
Perasol was there to guide the Fighting Maroons out of their dark days.
UP slowly worked its way up as a legitimate title contender in his four-year tenure where Perasol recorded a decent 28-28 win-loss record.
He then stepped down as mentor and was replaced by Goldwin Monteverde in 2021 to accept the basketball program director job.
In just a year, Perasol’s hard work, including bringing in talents such as Carl Tamayo, Zavier Lucero, Malick Diouf and JD Cagulangan into the fold, paid dividends.
In the league’s return after a two-year pandemic hiatus in Season 84, the Fighting Maroons toppled the dynastic rule of Ateneo de Manila University in an exciting series that was decided in the buzzer-beating trey by Cagulangan in overtime in Game 3.
Although UP came up short of a repeat months after, Perasol’s miracle cemented his fate of becoming a beacon of hope for the entire UP sports program.
“The way I see it is that they were able to see the development of the basketball program of UP from where it came from — from a struggling program and then slowly we were able to build it up with the cooperation of everyone,” Perasol said.
“Maybe the administrators, the administration, the chancellor, the UP president, they thought if we could be able to replicate (what we did in basketball) to other varsity programs of UP. But then again, it needs everybody’s cooperation.”
Being a student-athlete — Perasol played for UP in five seasons and was team captain of the Fighting Maroons in his final two years — mentor and sports program head himself, he understands the concerns and needs of coaches and varsity players.
“It does help that I was able to experience how it was to be able to convince the alumni to help and contribute to a program (basketball),” he said.
Perasol acknowledges though that his work in the OASD office will be far different from what he’s used to.
“The difference between now and before, is that before we were operating on the resources of private corporations and individuals with their contributions. We hope to do this also in the OASD but then again this is a government office so it will be governed now by the rules and regulations of the government,” Perasol said, hoping alumni and sponsors will continue backing the UP varsity program.
“You can’t just allot funds because you will be subject to audit. That’s why we’re really hoping that the alumni or any corporate entity would be able to see the needs of the office and contribute to the cause.”
Perasol also admitted that he’s now working on a very hectic schedule and there is so much work to do.
Aside from a seat on the UAAP’s Board of Managing Directors alongside Diliman Chancellor Edgardo Carlo Vistan as school representatives, Perasol is also tasked to lead the recruitment of both players and coaches, take time to connect with alumni to gather whatever support they can offer, and take care of student-athletes’ academics, health and nutrition, and overall future.
“The last two weeks were really hectic. I need to talk to different teams. They have issues and concerns and you have to address them right away. As simple as the need for dormitories, need for food, need for allowances, need for enrollment, the need for acceptance to the university. These things before do not fall on my responsibilities but now because it’s already part of the office you need to address that,” he said.
“That includes the representations in the UAAP Board then next year UP will be the host so it’s gonna be a pretty big job.”
“I think in due time I’ll need to make a balance between my work and life outside work. I think it’s just an adjustment period to be able to get a glimpse of how I will be able to make adjustments.”
True enough, Perasol had come so far since leaving South Cotabato to chase his dream at UP.
All he wanted was to have a good education. Yet, his hard work, perseverance, vision and dedication had elevated him to a spot he had never seen even in his wildest dream.