FORMER Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin is a stern tactician, but his ex-charges have a soft spot in his heart.
Baldwin admitted he longs for the players he handled in his second stint at the helm of Gilas and had a vision for them.
“I do. I miss those players. You know, I… there’s always dreams and aspirations that you have as a coach, and even though I’m an old guy and I’ve been around for a long time,” Baldwin said last Saturday on Radyo5 92.3 News FM’s Power and Play program hosted by former PBA Commissioner Noli Eala.
“I have dreams and aspirations related to Gilas,” he added.
The Ateneo strategist said what he misses the most is toughening up the cagers projected as the future of the Philippine five because they did “some special things.”
“But what I really miss are the Carl Tamayos, the Justine Baltazars, the RJ Abarrientos’, the Allyn Bulanadis, the Rey Suertes… I can go on, special guys that I spent a lot of time with,” Baldwin said. “We did some special things, and, you know, I miss them.”
Baldwin, 63, “stepped aside” last month in lieu of Chot Reyes in a development criticized by armchair pundits since Baldwin had been successful in steering the wheel for the Nationals.
An all-amateur Gilas quintet proved its worth in the third window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark where the team completed an emphatic 3-0 sweep and 6-0 record overall last year.
Gilas also saw action in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.
Baldwin opted to focus on his task of guiding the reigning three-time champions Blue Eagles to a four-peat in the 84th UAAP basketball tournament that kicked off last Saturday behind closed doors.
He hopes his decision to concentrate on Ateneo will be worth it.
“I would hope so. Certainly, even if I had stayed with Gilas, I would have had divided loyalties, divided attention. For certain periods, I still would have focused on Ateneo because that’s actually my job,” he said.
“But putting my entire focus on Ateneo, I would hope that they have benefited from that. If they haven’t, I might have a hard time holding on to this job as well.”
