Former University of the Philippines (UP) men’s basketball team head coach Ricky Dandan has passed away on Wednesday, reportedly due to a lingering illness. He was 61.

Dandan was the head coach of the Fighting Maroons from 2011 to 2013, when the then minnow team was bannered by Mikee Reyes and Jett Manuel. In those three UAAP seasons, Dandan only had three wins and resigned in the middle of Season 76.

However, Dandan was best remembered as the lead assistant coach of Bo Perasol, when the former Powerade/Air21 coaching tandem in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) took over the coaching reins from Rensy Bajar in 2016.

In Season 80, Perasol and Dandan steered the Fighting Maroons to its first Final Four appearance in twenty years, marked by Paul Desiderio’s buzzer-beating game winner against the University of Santo Tomas dubbed as “Atin ‘To.”

Dandan was the one who plotted the game winner during the timeout.

The Fighting Maroons then returned to the finals in 2018–their first since 1986–and placed second behind Ateneo de Manila.

Current head coach Goldwyn Monterverde took over after the pandemic break starting in Season 84 and sustained the Maroons’ resurgence as UP finally won the men’s basketball championship last won in ’86.

“Wala ata akong mahahanap na picture natin, kasi mostly nagsisigawan at nagaaway tayo,” wrote former UP ace point guard Mikee Reyes, now a broadcaster for TV5. “Mahal kita, coach. Ricky Dandan.”

“Rest in peace coach Ricky Dandan thank you for everything,” posted ex-Maroon and national team playmaker Jaydee Tungcab of Talk ‘n Text.

“Thank you for the tough love, Coach Ricky Dandan! Wouldn’t be where I am without you,” wrote another ace Maroon playmaker Diego Dario of the Meralco Bolts.

Dandan was a former Maroon cager, who last played on the eve of the Maroons’ second championship in 1985.

He first coached for the Manila Metrostars in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association in 1998, when he steered the Alex Compton-led squad to the Northern Conference finals.

Being a long-time assistant with the Air21 and Powerade in the PBA, experiencing two finals appearances, Dandan was head coach for Columbian Dyip in the 2017-18 PBA season.

His last coaching stint was for the Bataan Risers in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball Association where he had a quarterfinals finish.