Christmas came early for San Miguel Beer head coach Leo Austria.

The newly reinstalled head coach revealed that he was only informed of his new post during the San Miguel Corporation Christmas party just a day before their Beermen’s game against the Terrafirma Dyip on Friday, Dec. 13.

A nine-time PBA champion, Austria came in ready anyway.

“Last night we had a Christmas party at the San Miguel Corporation. Lahat ng employee and I was invited, usually all the players lang yon, but I was called up to go upstairs with the management and that was the time they asked me if I can coach,” revealed Austria.

“Di ako nakatulog because there’s a lot of pressure. In the PBA, you cannot take the teams lightly. Lahat competitive eh. You'll never know what will happen just like itong Terrafirma they played Meralco and they only lost in the last possession. I’m so happy to be back and win my first game after a long years on the sideline,” he added.

The 66-year-old tactician may have not held the coaching board for two years, but his return turned out seamless as the Beermen scored a smashing 106-88 over the Dyip to snap the two-game slide.

And just like the old times, Austria relied on a short rotation with June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross with new import Torren Jones, CJ Perez and Juami Tiongson also getting the huge chunk of the minutes.

“I’m very happy with the players because it seems a very smooth yung transition but I understand the players that want playing time but it will not happen because there’s no equal opportunity for me in basketball,” said Austria.

“If you are good you have long playing time, if you want to have a long playing time you have to earn your slot. It's a healthy competition, it's not a rivalry,” he added.