By Paolo Mariano

(September 19, 2022) – Wearing a white polo shirt, with his trademark clean-shaven head, his face hinting at a smile, with a white couch, a white wall, and the sunlight peering through the tall glass window and kissing a tree, everything looked immaculate for Tab Baldwin.

But it’s not.

Arguably the most wanted person—the good kind—in local basketball, Baldwin has found himself anew in the middle of all the hoopla and histrionics. He’s a reserved person who enjoys the quiet. But in the basketball-obsessed Philippines, there’s no such thing.

If you let Baldwin speak, he will speak. With articulateness and candor. But perhaps more pronounced this time, also with humility.

In an online interview with Noli Eala on Radyo5’s Power & Play, Baldwin looked like a man who has fully accepted his fate, regardless of its unfortunate unfolding. He kept silent after being eased out as coach of Gilas Pilipinas. Again. The first time in 2016 was perplexing. The second time last February was PERPLEXING. Both came on the heels of successful stints with the national team. So, understandably, the collective refrain was “HUH?”

While everyone was waiting for him to defend himself, Baldwin, 64, called for an isolation play for himself. Maybe he needed to heal. Maybe he had to sort out his emotions. Maybe he bided his time. Maybe it’s a cocktail of everything. But what’s clear now is, in retrospect, Baldwin knows that it was a bad call.

“I made a decision that I was going to keep myself quiet because I didn’t see that speaking out would help anything. (But) I think that’s wrong. My heart was in the right place by not wanting to go into the media and criticize anybody and inflame the situation. I thought that it would die down,” said Baldwin.

But in the basketball-crazy Philippines, nothing dies down.

In fact, it came alive even more. The hashtag #BringBackTab became almost a national battle cry, especially with how Gilas Pilipinas has anemically performed since his unceremonious exit. But the nation’s passion reared its ugly head during the game against Saudi Arabia in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers last August when Filipinos serenaded Chot Reyes, who replaced Baldwin again, with boos.

While it’s easy to think that it gave Baldwin a sense of vindication, a sort of I-told-you-so veneer, it was the exact opposite. He didn’t find merriment in someone’s misfortune.

“I was sad. I was disheartened. I guess many people would think I would be pleased to see some sort of act of the public to support me. But I wasn’t. It’s not good for the team,” said Baldwin. “You have to remember that those players are my friends. I want them to succeed. I don’t want to be any part of them failing.”

His players have always praised him for being a stern leader. They draw strength from the no-frills tactician, who has also coached in New Zealand, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. But during this latest tumult in his career, it was the other way around. Baldwin found motivation from the players.

“Dwight Ramos and Jordan Clarkson speaking out, I think that was the example I needed. Their courage gave me the courage that it took (to break my silence). Because I knew speaking out was going to be a big thing, and I wanted it to be a positive thing,” said Baldwin, who developed Ramos from being an unproven prospect to a do-it-all standout.

No amount of mystical clairvoyance or advanced analytics could’ve predicted how Gilas Pilipinas would fare following Baldwin’s shocking departure. But that doesn’t mean the hostility hurled at Reyes is without merit. He hasn’t had much success since the 2014 FIBA World Cup. The recent string of defeats, including relinquishing the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games, has become a tipping point.

But instead of calling for Reyes’ head, Baldwin said it should serve as fuel for the entire country to do better.

RELATED STORY: Baldwin admits being hurt but vows to continue supporting Gilas Pilipinas 

“Nobody foresaw the results that were going to come. I don’t have a crystal ball. I think it’s a conspiracy of circumstances in a way that things just got worse and worse and worse,” said Baldwin. “Despite what the fans feel, I want them to turn around and support the team. It doesn’t mean that coaches don’t deserve criticism. Coach Chot knows as well as I do, that’s part of being a coach. (But) it’s just gone too far.”

Baldwin sure knows how it feels to be on the hot seat. In 2020, he bruised not a few egos when he said on Tiebreaker Times’ Coaches Unfiltered podcast that local coaches are “tactically immature.” Baldwin, who was then the program director of Gilas Pilipinas and an assistant coach of TNT KaTropa, also said having a height limit for imports in the PBA is “a major flaw.” He got vilified by various camps. For his honesty, he was suspended for three games by the PBA and was fined P75,000.

He didn’t exactly endear himself to Filipinos, a widely familial and notoriously sensitive pack. He knew the issue affected the national team. But he eventually dusted it off and last year, in his return to the sidelines, steered an all-amateur Gilas Pilipinas to a 6-0 record in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, including two wins against South Korea, and impressive stints against Serbia and Dominican Republic in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

That’s why he knows any form of jeering won’t help the flag’s cause.

“Even if they (fans) say they’re just against Chot, I don’t think they realize the impact on the team of this level of criticism. It is hurting the team,” said Baldwin. “I’ve been in that position, not to this extent, but I know that players come in, they look at you, they feel sorry for you, they feel sorry for themselves. They only want to hear the cheers. They want to play hard for those cheers.”

For now, Baldwin, as he said previously, has refocused on the Ateneo Blue Eagles for the upcoming UAAP season. He wants to get their title back. He wants his fourth championship. But if there’s anything he also wants, it’s to help Gilas Pilipinas—in whatever capacity. He wishes to return to the FIBA World Cup, where he steered New Zealand to an unprecedented fourth-place finish in 2002—the highest by any Asia-Oceania country in tournament history.

Reyes has said he’s willing to work with Baldwin heading into the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Perhaps lost in all the discord is the fact that it was Reyes who recognized Baldwin’s genius and asked him to join Gilas Pilipinas in 2013 as a consultant. For now, it’s unclear if Baldwin will be given a specific role. He knows it’s out of his hands. He revealed he got a call from Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio last Friday, although he didn’t disclose further details. Panlilio recently made negative comments pointed at Baldwin.

“I don’t want to call it a healing process but obviously, the process of communication is underway. And I think it should be totally Chot’s decision. If I was in Chot’s shoes, I wouldn’t want anyone telling me who I should have on my staff. And Chot has to make that decision, not just based on whether am I a good coach. He has to think about that decision—if he’s even thinking of that decision—based on would my inclusion be a positive for the team. That’s a complex question and a complex answer,” said Baldwin.

Because in the basketball-bewitched Philippines, nothing is simple.

“I don’t want to impose any pressure on Chot. But from my position, I’m trying to help, and if this is the sum-total of the help that I could give, that’s fine,” added Baldwin. “I think we all have to commit to being the greatest sixth man in the history of the sport for this team, for World Cup 2023.”