NBBF Vows to Retain Brown as D'Tigers' Head Coach
● Blames Tokyo 2020 poor run on NOC
The Caretaker Chairman of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) Ahmadu Musa Kida, has insisted that Mike Brown will remain in charge as the Head Coach of the national basketball team, D'Tigers for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifying window, which begins from November 22to 23, 2021.
Nigeria slumped under Brown's watch by virtue of the setback at Tokyo Olympics Games and the recent Afrobasket Championship in Kigali, Rwanda.
Kida, who fielded questions from reporters, described the American as one of the best coaches in the world, while also touting his credentials as impeccable.
"I don't think his credentials are in doubt. NBBF is proud to have him as the Head Coach of the national team. There is no comparing him to people who have expressed the desire to be coaches of the Nigerian national team.
"The NBBF and I as the President have a lot of confidence in Mike Brown's ability. We are happy to have him as our Head Coach. He has all my confidence and the intention is to keep him," Kida said.
Kida was also quick to jump in defence of Brown for the poor outings in Tokyo and Kigali by holding the International Olympic Committee (IOC) liable for the team's Olympic meltdown.
He ascribed the federation's inability to bring together top players because of club commitments to the poor outing in Rwanda.
Kida accused IOC of tactically sabotaging the efforts of the federation by passing the wrong information to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) on the number of officials to be allowed on the Nigerian bench
He noted the inability of the team to have full complement of officials, with vital role to play, affected both the male and female national teams.
"We were always entitled to a full complement of our officials. We normally have eight different of coaches plus officials and trainers who sit on the bench. Those people contribute to each game and every practice.
"I was really sad at the Olympics to understand that the IOC had instructed the NOC they only allowed three officials. While we were allowed only 12 players and three officials, others had full delegation of 21 to 25 in their contingent. This immensely and cost us the first two games and demoralised the players as they could not have their coaches that could be giving them the needed technical talks.
"We interrogated FIBA, which actually claimed ignorance on why such an instruction came from the IOC at the Olympics. And seeing the situation on ground, the Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, rallied round to see that there was increase in the number of our officials for the teams, Kida said".
On the forthcoming national sports federations election, Kida said he was ready to serve in any capacity if the Nigerian basketball stakeholders decided he should serve another term.
He said he has been part of the structure that has made basketball a sport in Nigeria in the past four years to the extent that everybody expects Nigeria to go out and win without excuses.
"For me that tells me that we are on good path and for me what will be important going into the election is to be able to make this programme sustainable, " Kida said.