Pocholo "Cholo" Iñigo Villanueva (born November 24, 1982) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and head coach for the Batangas City Embassy Chill of the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines. History Manny Pacquiao launched the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League on August 29, 2017, starting off as a semi-professional lea ...

(MPBL) and the

De La Salle Lady Archers The De La Salle Green Archers (also known simply as the Green Archers) are the men's varsity teams representing De La Salle University in the Philippines. The women's varsity teams are generally referred to as the De La Salle Lady Archers. The s ...

of the

University Athletic Association of the Philippines The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univers ...

(UAAP). Villanueva also serves as the assistant coach for the

Bay Area Dragons The Bay Area Dragons is a basketball team in the East Asia Super League. Based in Hong Kong, the team is meant to represent Greater China. History The Dragons were originally formed as the Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes as a franchise team for the E ...

of the

East Asia Super League The East Asia Super League (Simplified Chinese:东亚超级联赛; Traditional Chinese: 東亞超級聯賽; Korean: 동아시아 슈퍼리그; Japanese: 東アジアスーパーリーグ), abbreviated as EASL, is a basketball league featuring cl ...

(EASL). He was drafted with the thirteenth overall pick of the 2008 PBA draft by the

Air21 Express The Air21 Express were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) that debuted in the 2011–12 season. The team debuted as the Shopinas.com Clickers during the 2011–12 PBA Philippine Cup. In 2014, the fra ...

. From 2001 to 2007, he played for the

De La Salle Green Archers The De La Salle Green Archers (also known simply as the Green Archers) are the men's varsity teams representing De La Salle University in the Philippines. The women's varsity teams are generally referred to as the De La Salle Lady Archers. The s ...

in the UAAP where he won a championship in 2007 and was named co-Finals MVP with

JVee Casio Joseph Evans "JVee" D. Casio (born September 1, 1986) is a Filipino basketball player for the Blackwater Bossing of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was drafted first overall by the Powerade Tigers in 2011 PBA draft. Early life a ...

Professional career

Barangay Ginebra traded

Paul Artadi Paul Anthony Dy Artadi (born May 5, 1981) is a Filipino politician, basketball coach, and former professional player. On his eleven-year career in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), he played the point guard position and was a three-tim ...

Rafi Reavis Rafael Reavis (born July 27, 1977) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Professional career Reavis first played for the San Juan Knights in the Metropol ...

, and the rights to 2009 PBA draft 8th pick overall

Chris Timberlake Chris Timberlake (born April 28, 1985) is a Filipino-American former basketball player who last played for the Blackwater Elite of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was selected 7th overall in the 2009 PBA draft by the Barangay Gin ...

for

Enrico Villanueva Jose Enrico Pascual Villanueva (born June 23, 1980) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He last played for the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Amateur career Villanueva first played for the A ...

Rich Alvarez Richard Alvarez (born October 30, 1980) is a Japanese-born Filipino former professional basketball player and coach. He last played for the Kia Picanto of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was the first overall pick of 2004 PBA D ...

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, and

Paolo Bugia Ramon Paolo Vlajar Bugia (born January 19, 1981) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and executive who currently serves as the team manager for the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). H ...

of Purefoods. Burger King acted as the conduit team, trading Villanueva to Ginebra and acquiring the rights to 2009 Rookie draft eighteenth pick Orlando Daroya and future picks. However, he chose to retire and pursue a career in coaching.

Coaching career

On 2011, Villanueva joined his former coach in La Salle,

Franz Pumaren Franz Santos Pumaren (born December 5, 1963) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and coach. He played college ball for De La Salle University before playing professional basketball in the Philippine Basketball Association. He is ...

as the assistant coach in then newly formed PBA team, Shopinas.com Clickers. The team was later renamed as Air21 Express. He stayed as assistant coach and team manager until the team was bought by NLEX Road Warriors in July 2014. In March 2014, he joined the coaching staff of

JRU Heavy Bombers The JRU Heavy Bombers (also as José Rizal University Heavy Bombers) are the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball team of the Jose Rizal University. The other senior varsity teams may also be referred to as the Heavy Bombers. The ...

under the leadership of

Vergel Meneses Vergel Corpuz Meneses (born January 14, 1969) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player and a politician, serving as mayor of the municipality of Bulakan, Bulacan. He previously played in the Philippine Basketball Association and ser ...

. He helped them get into the Final Four of the NCAA once again. In 2018, Villanueva joined the Makati Skyscrapers (later the Makati Super Crunch) of the

(MPBL), leading Makati to a 21–4 record in the 2018–19 MPBL season, and up to a 20–4 record in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

before resigning in December 2019, citing Makati's management "has a different direction" for the team. In 2021, Villanueva returned to the MPBL to coach the

Manila Stars The Manila City Stars (also spelled as Manila CityStars) are a professional basketball team in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and the Pilipinas Super League (PSL). The team is owned by the Local City Government of Manila, Phi ...

for the

2021 MPBL Invitational The 2021 MPBL Invitational, officially known as the Chooks-to-Go MPBL Invitational powered by TM for sponsorship reasons, was an invitational tournament that serves as the prelude to the 2022–23 MPBL season. It commenced on December 11, 2021 an ...

. After his stint in Manila, in February 2022, Villanueva was confirmed as the head coach for

Batangas City Batangas City, officially the City of Batangas ( fil, Lungsod ng Batangas), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 351,437 people. Batangas City i ...

of the MPBL and

Filbasket The Filipino Basketball League, also known as Filbasket, is a professional basketball league founded in 2021 in the Philippines. Its first season was launched on October 28, 2021, featured eleven teams and ran for a period of 26 days. AICC Man ...

(where it competes as the Tanduay Rum Masters), bringing over the core of the old Makati team that he handled from 2018 to 2019. In 2022, Villanueva was named as assistant coach of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

-based team

As program director

In 2022, Villanueva became the program director of the

La Salle Greenies The La Salle Greenies (officially the CSB–LSGH Greenies in the NCAA, although sometimes incorrectly called the La Salle Green Hills Junior Blazers, or the La Salle Green Hills Junior Archers) is the varsity team representing La Salle Green Hil ...

, the high school team of his college alma mater. He hired his former teammate

Renren Ritualo Florendo R. "Renren" Ritualo Jr. (born June 14, 1979) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and current assistant coach. He last played for the Shopinas.com Clickers of the Philippine Basketball Association and is currently an assi ...

, to be its head coach.

Personal life

Villanueva married his college sweetheart, former DLSU courtside reporter, Agnes Tapia in a ceremony at Santuario de San Antonio Parish on December 12, 2012. Reception followed at the

Filoil Flying V Arena The Filoil EcoOil Centre, formerly Filoil Flying V Centre, Filoil Flying V Arena and The Arena in San Juan, also known as the Entertainment and Recreational Arena of the People (initials taken after former mayor and president Joseph Estrada's nic ...

, which was transformed from a basketball court to a formal red carpet event.

References

External links

Player profile at asiabasket.com
1981 births Living people Filipino men's basketball players Basketball players from Manila De La Salle Green Archers basketball players Barako Bull Energy players Filipino men's basketball coaches Air21 Express coaches Shooting guards Barako Bull Energy draft picks JRU Heavy Bombers basketball coaches NorthPort Batang Pier coaches {{Philippines-basketball-bio-stub