MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel guard Alex Cabagnot took the "next step" in his basketball career as he joined the coaching staff of the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons.

Cabagnot was at the UP bench when the Fighting Maroons opened their campaign in the UAAP Season 79 men's basketball tournament with an 85-104 loss to the Adamson University Falcons on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Cabagnot revealed that he asked UP head coach Bo Perasol ahead of the season if he can "help out UP in any way possible," and was thus assigned to help the team's guards with their skills.

"I'm just part of the staff," he said. "I don't have a label, either, but I just try to support, try to do my best."

For Cabagnot, joining a coaching staff is the next logical step in his basketball career that already involves a coaching academy in the United States.

"I've been wanting to do this," he revealed. "I have a sports academy back in the United States that's been running for the last eight years… we've been teaching young kids from ages 10 all the way to 17, so it's just another progression in my career."

(READ: Ahanmisi torches UP as Adamson gets off to a hot start)

Cabagnot, who said he shows up to UP practice at least twice a week, shared that his participation in the Fighting Maroons' coaching staff is the first step towards hopefully becoming a head coach one day.

"That's why I've been learning from Coach Bo," he explained. "I played under Coach Bo with Coke (in 2009), and I knew how patient he was, how understanding, and how diligent."

"He's a great coach to learn from," Cabagnot said of Perasol. "I've had a lot of coaches as a player, but as a beginning coach in the UAAP, it will be great to learn from him. It's been great – he's been teaching me a lot."

Though UP lost its first game, Cabagnot is optimistic of the team's potential and believes they can perform much better than they did against Adamson.

"They've improved a lot," Cabagnot said of UP. "I don't want to say that the score indicates our progression, but they've improved a lot."

"We faced a really good Adamson team today. They shot the ball well, they shot the ball 68% from the three-point line," he pointed out. "We did our best, and I'm happy with the assertiveness of the guards."

"The guards and the big men, they played well, and hopefully, we can bounce back from this defeat."

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