Bo Perasol

Career

Bo Perasol was a former player and team captain of the UP Fighting Maroons in the UAAP from the year 1990-1994. He is among the few athletes of the university who actually passed the UP College Admission Test, a rigorous entrance examination given to high school students in the Philippines. He graduated with a degree in Mass Communications in the year 1994 in the same university. After his stint at the university, he became the coach for the UP Fighting Maroons Juniors, which became his training ground as a coach, before making his PBA coaching debut with Air21 in the 2005-06 PBA season.

Air21 Express head coach

In the 2005-06 season, Perasol replaced Bong Ramos as head coach of the Air21 Express, previously named as the FedEx Express. Many expected Air21 to drop as low as last place in the season and had a bulky yet untested import Shawn Daniels for the Fiesta Conference.

In the 2005-06 PBA Fiesta Conference, Perasol and the Express became the surprise team of the tournament. Air21 finished fifth in the classification phase but pulled huge upsets over the San Miguel Beermen and the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals in the Wild-Card and Quarterfinal rounds, respectively. The Express lost in six games to the Purefoods Chunkee Giants in the semifinals, but won a one-game match for third-place over the Barangay Ginebra Kings, their best finish in franchise history.

Despite Air21's poor finish in the 2006 PBA Philippine Cup, the Express were able to finish off strong in the classification phase after star player Ren-Ren Ritualo was traded to Talk 'N Text.

Perasol's system follow the same philosophy of the Air21 management, relying on a 12-man rotation and a run-and-gun type of basketball system.

In 2009, he resigned as Air21 head coach despite leading Air21 to runner-up finish.

Coca-Cola Tigers basketball operations manager

He was named Kenneth Duremdes' assistant coach and director of basketball operations for the Coca-Cola Tigers. He took over as head coach on November 2009 when Duremdes filed his candidacy for a local position in Marbel, South Cotabato.

UP Fighting Maroons head coach

6 months after his resignation as the coach of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, Perasol was appointed as the new head coach of the UP Fighting Maroons, replacing Renzy Bajar, who spent only one season as the Maroons' head mentor. The appointment of Perasol was announced on May 2, 2016, days before the start of the campaign in the 2016 Filoil Flying V Preseason Hanes Cup against UPHSD Altas.

Controversies

Following a heated sports rivalry between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the De La Salle Green Archers during the UAAP 76, he was given a one-game suspension after a near altercation with a De La Salle fan after the Blue Eagles lost the game. However, he was again penalized and was given a second suspension after violating the league by attending the game against the UE Red Warriors instead of serving his suspension. In the rulebook set by the board of the UAAP, suspended coaches are prohibited at the sports venue while serving suspension.

During UAAP 78, a lot of people had bashed him due to the eagles' losses in the 1st round. Such as the Blue Eagles' blowout 64-88 to the FEU Tamaraws in their opening game. In their game vs the UST Growling Tigers, they were leading as much 15 but a 15-point lead was erased by Kevin Ferrer through his 3 three pointers in the 4th quarter with the Eagles losing 58-68. What turned even worsed was the loss to their arch-rivals the De La Salle Green Archers as they were leading as much as 15 but their lead was erased in the 3rd Quarter such as 2 Three- pointers from Josh Torralba and Thomas Torres. Jason Perkins had also taken the lead for the Archers by his three pointer in the 3rd Quarter. The Eagles lost to the green archers 76-80.