Wearing the official Team Pilipinas shirt, Tab Baldwin was introduced to the media for the first time as the new national coach and made clear his two immediate goals.
“I want to see Gilas Pilipinas in Rio (de Janeiro), I want to be in the Olympics,” Baldwin said. “I want [Fiba Asia] gold medals around our necks.”
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, through vice chair Ricky Vargas, last night formally announced the appointment of Baldwin not only as the new Gilas coach but also the man in charge of the national cage program.
“My greatest desire is to do justice to this great job,” Baldwin, who coached the national teams of his native New Zealand and Jordan in the past, said. “I would say that the Gilas job would be the leader of the pack (among my past national team stints).”
Baldwin takes over from Chot Reyes, who stepped down after the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, last October.
And it is exactly the gains made by the Gilas program under Reyes which Baldwin said would want to improve.
“It is a great honor and a great privilege to succeed Chot,” Baldwin said. “I am very excited about the opportunity. This team is in good shape, the program is in good shape. I want to improve on the gains that we have made (under Reyes).”
Baldwin said that he has worn the Pilipinas shirt so many times before, having been a consultant to Reyes for close to the last two years.
But “the shirt seems heavier now,” Baldwin said. “It’s an important job, as all of you know.”
PBA commissioner Chito Salud was also there during the brief press briefing and Salud again promised the all-out support of Asia’s pioneering professional league as far as the composition of the team is concerned.
In fact, the league had already adjusted its Season 40 calendar by a couple of weeks. From the initial Aug. 7 ending next year, the season could end as early as the third week of July.
“That will allow coach Tab 9-10 weeks of preparations. He can even play in the Jones Cup,” Salud said.
The Philippines will take part in the Fiba Asia Championship—the qualifying tournament for the lone Asian slot to the Olympics in Brazil in 2016—in September next year.
Of course, the long-term goal is for the Philippines to again play in the World Cup, which is slated in 2019. The country is also bidding to host that event.
Reyes was the man in charge of the Gilas program when the Philippines competed in the global stage and won for the first time in 40 years last September in Seville, Spain.