MANILA -- Jong Uichico, a nine-time PBA champion coach, is joining the NLEX Road Warriors' coaching staff.

The team announced on Sunday that Uichico will be the team's first assistant coach, effective immediately. He is expected to aid head coach Frankie Lim and lead the team's cast of assistant coaches as NLEX continues to search for its first-ever franchise title.

"There's so much value in having a seasoned coach like Jong Uichico joining the Road Warriors," said NLEX governor Ronald Dulatre. "He's a two-time PBA Coach of the Year and is one of the finest coaches the country has ever produced."

Uichico is tied with Chot Reyes and Leo Austria as the third winningest coach in PBA history. He entered the PBA in 1993 as an assistant coach with San Miguel Beer, where he would win six championships. He won two more titles as the head coach of Ginebra.

He had a consultant stint with Meralco and was briefly an assistant coach in TNT before he was promoted to head coach and helped the franchise win the 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Uichico is also the head of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Coaches’ Academy and has been a long-time coach in the Gilas Pilipinas program. He was on the bench when the team recaptured the Southeast Asian Games gold medal earlier this year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and again when they won a historic gold in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

"I'm thankful to the NLEX organization for trusting me with this role," said Uichico. "I'm looking forward to working with coach Frankie, the rest of the coaching staff, and the players and I’m excited to once again be a part of the PBA as a coach."

Uichico will be on the NLEX bench when the Road Warriors face the Blackwater Bossing on December 22 at the Araneta Coliseum.

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