A coaching matchup that dates back more than thirty years will take place as Chot Reyes and Yeng Guiao compete on the sidelines of the 49th Season Philippine Cup for the third consecutive semifinal and fourth consecutive overall. 

The first meeting between the two coaches took place soon after Reyes was appointed head coach by the Purefoods franchise in 1993, which is 32 years ago. At that time, Guiao was already playing in the PBA with the RFM franchise.

According to a study conducted by PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon, before Game 1 of the 49th Season Philippine Cup semifinals between Rain or Shine and TNT, Reyes and Guiao had faced off in 104 games total—including elimination round, playoffs, and finals—with Reyes winning 62 and Guiao winning 42.

With Reyes also serving as a coach at Coke, Sta., the matchup has taken place across many squads. The RFM franchise’s Lucia, Pop Cola/Swift/Sunkist, and Guiao are associated with Red Bull, Burger King, Air21, and NLEX.

Both Guiao and Reyes ended up in roles outside of the PBA coaching circle between now and 1993, when they first faced off on the bench.

While Guiao served as a commissioner of the Philippine Basketball League in the late 1990s, Reyes briefly served as executive director of the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA).

However, at some point during the PBA, their paths would intersect again. Following their stints in the MBA and PBL, the two rejoined the league in 2000 when Reyes took over Pop Cola, a team from the RFM franchise where Guiao began his PBA coaching career, and Guiao coached expansion team Red Bull.

The fact that both coaches were formerly members of the Gilas Pilipinas national team is another similarity between their coaching histories. Guiao took Reyes’ place after he resigned in 2018, following a confrontation between Australia and the Philippines during the July FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers.

In addition to their separate stints with the RFM team, Reyes and Guiao joined the MVP Group as members of a single conglomerate when Guiao was appointed coach of NLEX from 2016 to 2022.

Despite their frequent encounters, the Reyes-Guiao coaching duo only faced off in one finals match, with Guiao emerging victorious when he led Swift to the Commissioner’s Cup finals versus Purefoods in 1993. Despite their consistent success, the Reyes vs. Guiao matchup may have been underappreciated because they have only faced each other once in the finals.

That is nothing compared to Reyes’ recent encounter with Tim Cone, the coach of Barangay Ginebra, whom he has met eight times in the championship game.

When Guiao’s ROS teams advanced to the finals versus TNT in the 2010s, they faced either Norman Black or Jong Uichico, and Guiao lost.

However, given the performances of TNT and Rain or Shine in the previous conferences, it’s possible that Reyes and Guiao will face off as bench tacticians in the finals sooner rather than later.