Rivals’ offseason moves not bothering Ateneo’s Baldwin

Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin isn’t losing sleep over some of the moves that other schools have been making in their buildup for the next UAAP season when the Blue Eagles shoot for a fourth straight crown.

But he admits looking forward to a tough challenge from rival La Salle, which reeled in Derrick Pumaren, who steered the Archers to their first title in the 1990s, to take over its coaching chores.

University of the East also acquired a new mentor in Jack Santiago while National U promoted the multititled Goldwyn Monteverde from the juniors ranks to take charge of the Bulldogs. University of the Philippines has also been busy with its recruitment, getting commitments from high school star RC Calimag and Filipino-Canadian Anton Eusebio just before the enhanced community quarantine was imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t think the coaching changes are anything extraordinary because they happen and I think that coaches are not unknown to us,” Baldwin told the Inquirer.

“It’s not that hard to do some background checking with their coaching style. It’s not something I get too worked up about or overly dramatic about.” But Baldwin expects a Pumaren-coached La Salle squad will definitely give his team a sterner test.

“We always looked forward to playing La Salle and with coach Derrick coming in, he has a lot of history with the program and he knows he’s going to get more talent and that is going to be a challenge for us,” Baldwin added.

What concerns Baldwin more is his team missing plenty of practice time with the lockdown. The Eagles were supposed to train in Serbia and Australia and participate in the William Jones Cup this year as part of their buildup for UAAP Season 83.

“We can’t make any plans or come up with a timetable until the break is over,” he said. “What we can do now is just monitor the players and make sure they work out at home.” INQ