Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Thomas Anthony Baldwin made New Zealand his home. He had a successful basketball coaching career down under and highlighted his achievements with the New Zealand national team, wherein he received the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2003.
Baldwin had also club coaching stints in Turkey, Greece and Romania. He then coached the Lebanese and Jordanian national basketball teams before crash landing on the Philippines at the end of 2014. He officially became Gilas Pilipinas head coach at the start of 2015. The following year, Chot Reyes was reappointed as head coach with Baldwin remaining with Gilas as consultant.
Ateneo de Manila University hired him as coach of the Blue Eagles on December 2015 but because of the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines’ objection, he was instead appointed as team consultant. Given his coaching reins, Baldwin piloted the Blue Eagles to three consecutive UAAP titles, winning over De La Salle University Green Archers in 2017, University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons in 2018 and University of Sto. Tomas Growling Tigers in 2019.
With his international coaching experiences, it is automatic for someone like Baldwin to gain superior basketball knowledge over local coaches who had minimal overseas exposure. It’s not only about talent, but also on how and what techniques are to be used in developing and improving talents. And from there, the controversy begins.
There are two ways to handle criticisms – positively and confrontationally. When somebody pulls me aside and privately tells me that my articles suck and there’s a need to change my way of writing, I would be grateful because at least someone reads them. But when the same critique, delivered in a different way and made available for public consumption, then that’s another story. You are rubbing salt to an already wounded ego.
We are a proud, aggressive and yet gentle race. We are clannish, and there is that tendency to resist change and the occasional challenges to authority. The COVID situation is a case in point. When someone, especially a foreigner, decides to have things his way in a not suitable manner, most definitely it gets an equally unsuitable reaction. Remember Lapu-Lapu and Magellan?
When supposed flaws in the handling of the pro league and the “tactical immaturity” of coaches were broadcasted by Baldwin, people concerned went hyper ballistic, and who would not? He could have good intentions when he said that, but it was just not the proper forum. Yup, he said his comments were taken out of context.
His statements were mostly legit and maybe it’s about time, not only for the pro league but as well as commercial leagues and national sports associations, to consider upgrading or improving systems. We have capable coaches and sports leaders who, if given the right training and exposure plus proper funding, results in better product quality. There’s too much politicking around that it has stunted the growth of sports in the country, including pro basketball.
Coaching in the UAAP is an insult to Baldwin’s credentials and one way to prove his “superiority” over local coaches is to let him handle TnT Ka Tropa or a lower-tiered PBA team for one conference and see if he can do wonders. Maybe the coach who last piloted Gilas Pilipinas to 32nd place will become a big believer of him.
From being honored in New Zealand for his contribution to basketball, Baldwin now is penalized by the PBA for his comments “detrimental” to basketball, Philippine style./PN
