PBA: Magnolia appoints LA Tenorio as new head coach

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

There will be a new sheriff in town.

On July 28, 2025, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) sports director Alfrancis Chua announced that LA Tenorio will become the new chief tactician of the Magnolia Hotshots Chicken Timplados once the next PBA conference kicks off later this year.

Tenorio, who proved that he can still play with the big boys after putting up a clutch performance that helped Barangay Ginebra force a Game 7 against the San Miguel Beermen in the semifinals, quickly transitioned to a head coaching role despite lacking experience in manning the sidelines in the PBA.

However, Chua addressed that the whole SMC management fully trusts Tenorio’s intelligence and feel for the game, the reason why they didn’t hesitate in putting him as the new architect at Magnolia.

Tenorio replaced Chito Victolero, the man who helped Magnolia bag the 2018 PBA Governor’s Cup and steered the franchise to consecutive Playoff appearances.

However, in the past three years, the Hotshots hit rock bottom and entered a grand finals drought under Victolero’s leadership.

With Tenorio now calling the shots for the Chicken Timplados, Chua and the rest of the SMC management are hoping to turn things around and continue their bid for another PBA title.

Although the PBA veteran is still a rookie coach in the PBA, he already proved his tactical prowess on the international scene when he led the Gilas Pilipinas Youth national basketball team to a gold medal in the FIBA Under-16 Asia Cup last May.

Tenorio also boosted his coaching knowledge when he was named as one of the assistants during Gilas Pilipinas’ gold medal campaign at the 2023 Asian Games.

During that massive run, the tandem of Tenorio and Cone helped Gilas end a 61-year gold medal drought in the Asian Games, beating Jordan in the grand finals matchup, 70-60.

Aside from his national team duties, Tenorio also served as an assistant coach to Bonnie Tan at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran for four years in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.