Coach Sergio Molina, who made Borregos Hidalgo triple champions in Mexican college basketball, is the new manager of Mexico’s national basketball team.
Molina coaches the Borregos (Rams) from the Tec’s Hidalgo campus, who last year won the Student Basketball Association (ABE) Big 8 championship, as they had done in 2014 and 2017 too.
The Mexican Basketball Sports Association (ADEMEBA) announced the appointment before the coach was officially presented to the press.
“We want to restore Mexico to its rightful place,” said Molina at the official press conference.
“I’m taking up the gauntlet with responsibility, commitment, and humility,” he said, prior to the announcement of his appointment.
“We want to restore Mexico to its rightful place.”
TWO FORMER PLAYERS AND ONE CURRENT PLAYER FROM THE TEC ON THE TEAM
Molina will manage the Mexican team for the pre-qualifiers of the 2021 FIBA AmeriCup, the most important tournament on the continent.
Today, he presented the players who’ll be on the Mexican team for the first 2 games against the Bahamas on February 20 and 23.
On the list are professional former Borregos players from the Tec Israel Gutiérrez (Hidalgo) and Omar de Haro (Guadalajara), as well as current member of the Hidalgo Rams Josué Andriassi, MVP for the most recent college finals.
Also of note are players such as former NBA player Jorge Gutiérrez; Francisco Cruz, who’s already been on the Mexican team and plays in Lithuania; and Moisés Andriassi, the player from Capitanes CDMX in the NBA G League (and Josué’s brother).
There are also players from teams that are currently competing in the finals of the Mexican Professional Basketball League, Lucas Martínez and Daniel Amigo, from Soles de Mexicali, and Joshua Ibarra, from Fuerza Regia.
COACH SERGIO MOLINA’S CAREER
Molina hails from Spain, but has also made his mark in Mexico, not only with the Rams, but also having managed the Fuerza Regia team in the Champions League Americas, as well as already having been assistant coach for the Mexican team.
“Molina, who’s lived in Mexico for the past 10 years, has distinguished himself in recent years due to his efforts (...) managing the team from the Hidalgo campus of Tecnológico de Monterrey and winning the championship three times...” said the ADEMEBA in its announcement.
These championship wins, added the institution, earned him “the call to the national team as part of its technical staff for the June/July 2018 window.
“(In that period) Mexico defeated the United States at Juan de la Barrera and at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla in that same year.”
YOU’LL SURELY WANT TO READ THIS TOO: