Ariel Vanguardia

Ariel Vanguardia is a Filipino professional basketball coach who currently serves as the head coach for the Manila Batang Sampaloc of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.

Coaching career

Assistant

Vanguardia formerly served as an assistant coach for Benilde Blazers under Bong Go.
He served as an assistant coach for Talk 'N Text Phone Pals, and served as an interim when Joel Banal was coaching Ateneo. Vanguardia's tenure as interim marred of playing controversy, including players of the Phone Pals who intentionally playing or not scoring points.

JRU Heavy Bombers

He served as head coach of JRU Heavy Bombers, and led them into a finals appearance in 2008. But due to a final four fail in 2009, he was replaced by Vergel Meneses.
After coaching Bombers, he served as an assistant for Barako Bull from 2009 to 2010.

Westports Malaysia Dragons

He previously coached the Westports Malaysia Dragons in the Asean Basketball League, where he won the team's first championship in 2016. On May 31, 2016, it was announced that he was appointed to his first PBA head coaching job as coach of the PBA team Phoenix Fuel Masters, replacing Koy Banal.

Blu Detergent Dragons

He also took over as team consultant of Blu Star Detergent Dragons, a team composed of the players of the Dragons in the 2016 PBA D-League Foundation Cup.

Blackwater Bossing

In 2021, he was hired by Blackwater Bossing as their head coach, replacing Nash Racela but for interim basis. He was replaced by Jefferey Cariaso in 2023.