OCTOBER 5, 2019: Ateneo Coach Tab Baldwin. INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon
MANILA, Philippines–Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin’s tirades directed at the PBA and scathing comments on local coaches created a firestorm on Friday, which could see the multititled Ateneo coach fined and suspended by the league.
But more than that, Baldwin could find himself needing to mend bridges with local coaches, especially with those who have handled the national team, and a league that has been supportive of the national program.
“We take pride in our work. That’s why coach Tab has to be specific on what he’s talking about,” said NLEX coach Yeng Guiao, who has coached Gilas Pilipinas in the past. “I would also want to know what is his intention because if he wants to uplift coaching in the country, there is a forum to do it without offending anyone. A lot of us coaches are humble enough to accept things.”
Baldwin will do more than just smooth things over with the PBA.
‘Tactically immature’
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial described Baldwin’s comments on officiating and the league’s current format as “detrimental to the league” and said there are proper forums to air such grievances. The commissioner’s office has fined coaches and players in the past for incendiary comments on officiating and Baldwin isn’t expected to be spared.
PBA governor Alfrancis Chua of Barangay Ginebra, a former coach, took offense at remarks that Filipino coaches are “tactically immature.”
Chua also questioned the timing of Baldwin’s tirades made during the “Coaches’ Unfiltered” podcast last Thursday.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to make comments like that at a time like this when there’s a pandemic and the PBA is trying its best to resume the season,” Chua told the Inquirer over the phone.
Baldwin, the Ateneo coach who has led the Blue Eagles to three straight titles so far, said the one-import format of the PBA stunts the growth of the game in the country, especially with “the rules latitude that the imports are given here by the referees and by the administration of the PBA.”
Among Tab Baldwin’s criticisms centered on the PBA’s insistence on a one-import format. —PHOTOS BY SHERWIN VARDELEON
Proper channels
Marcial said Baldwin should have taken all those concerns to TNT governor Ricky Vargas, who is also chair of PBA Board, and not to the media.
“The league is always welcoming with comments and suggestions as long as it’s done through the proper channels,” Marcial said. “His comments cast the league in a bad light. It’s detrimental to the PBA.”
Chua said it is unfair for Baldwin to cast doubts on the officiating in the PBA when he has been coaching in another league in the UAAP for the past five years.
“How can he just say that the standards of refereeing are favoring imports when they (imports) are the ones who actually complain all the time,” Chua said.
“There’s no double standard in the league.”
Guiao, meanwhile, said Baldwin would need to clarify his comments because saying that coaches in the country are tactically immature is too vague.
“I never actually expected it from him because I have a lot of respect for coach Tab, but we have to stand up if we Filipino coaches are put down,” Guiao said.
Baldwin, who led New Zealand to a bronze medal in the World Cup in 2002, said he was surprised that local coaches are “significantly unaware of the tactical advancements and the systemic advancements of coaching systems coming out of Europe in particular, which you know, are built on the backs of player development.”
“I think as a coach, you never stop learning and gaining wisdom through experience,” Guiao said.
“He says that the coaches here are tactically immature, but the gesture he made is actually the one that’s immature,” Chua said.
Chua said Baldwin’s comments also come as a surprise because of his position as project director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the PBA’s support of the national program.
“I think it’s also unfair because the league has been helping the Gilas program,” Chua said. “It’s easy to say that the players are not improving, but the PBA has made some sacrifices for the program and he can ask [Meralco] governor Al Panlilio that.”