The nation has been celebrating the genius of Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin after the national team went 6-0 in the recently-concluded 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Netizens have been clamoring for the American-Kiwi head coach to be the team’s full-time chief tactician until the 2023 FIBA World Cup and maybe even beyond that.
Baldwin, 63, hears those pleas but says that the program that he is building cannot be run by pure emotion.
“I think the fans understand that this program cannot be driven by the emotions and wishes of fans. It’s their right to express their feelings and thoughts and we encourage that but we have, being the supposed experts, to do what we think is best for the program,” he told The Chasedown on Saturday.
“There’s a lot of consultations that go on constantly and that’s the way it is supposed to be. We have to approach this professionally. That’s the way I intend for things to work for as long as I am the director.”
For Baldwin, the 6-0 record of Gilas was the culmination of hard work by a lot of coaches and players.
Back in the first window of the Qualifiers, it was then-TNT consultant Mark Dickel who called the shots with assistant coaches like Alex Compton and Topex Robinson.
Then in the Manama window, it was Jong Uichico who was the team’s chief tactician. The likes of Boyet Fernandez, Sandy Arespacochaga, Caloy Garcia, and Norman Black were called in to assist him.
In Clark, it was Baldwin who had his turn to be the team’s think-tank.
It was a collective effort by the country’s brightest basketball minds.
That is why after the Belgrade Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Baldwin along with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will re-assess once more who will be the head coach of the team for the rest of the year. The next tournaments are the Asia Cup proper, the World Cup Qualifiers, and the Southeast Asian Games.
Yes, even with his long list of accomplishments, Baldwin, who is also the program director of the Men’s 5-on-5 program, does not want to have that feeling of job security as it might make him complacent.
“Of course this is a program and it is fluid. There will be an ongoing discussion on what we believe, the SBP and I, is best for the program. Nothing is set in stone and nobody has a permanent right to any of these positions.
“It is a privilege to take part for as long as we can contribute to the best of our ability. And I know that all sounds cliche-ish but in this instance, it is exactly the way we need to conduct ourselves. Everybody should know that at any point in time — if somebody better comes along, they are going to have the spot that you are sitting in today. I think that helps us to perform better every day,” he said.
