The Gilas coach conundrum

THERE is an ongoing quest for the head coach of Gilas Pilipinas.

The composition of the local players is always in flux, and while we have a broad talent pool, it will be severely limited by injuries and corporate politics.

Now, we also have a coaching dilemma.

The foreign coach brouhaha

If there is one thing that should not weigh us down anymore, it is the nationality of the head coach. This has been a bane on Philippine basketball, especially now that the rest of the world is opening its doors (Corona virus notwithstanding).

Here we are, celebrating every step of having a homegrown Filipino in the NBA and taking pride in having a Filipino- American NBA champion coach, voraciously trying to shut the door on the possibility of having a foreign head coach.

We haven’t closed our doors to outright invasion and we have lost nautical miles and square kilometers of territory, but hiring a foreign national coach is simply unpatriotic.

To be clear, I am not advocating for any foreign coach, not even the principle of hiring foreign coaches as better than choosing from our own homegrown stable. My position is that we should take the best man (or woman) for the job. If that man (or woman) is Filipino, American, Serbian, Lithuanian, Nigerian or Martian, if he (or she) is our best bet to take our players’ talents and mold them in into a team that is greater than the sum of its parts, then go ahead and let them coach.

We applaud when Filipinos make it big abroad, we watch our countrymen in contests like American Idol, X-Factor and The Voice all over the world and we want them to succeed. On the other hand, when we felt that Marcelito Pomoy was not given a fair shake in America’s Got Talent, we get upset at how the Filipino was discriminated.

Hey, we even heavily resent the “Hagop rule” in FIBA which restricted our Fil- foreigners from playing for our flag. We feel that they are taking away an opportunity to field a better team because of the rules on defining nationality.

Yet here we are, limiting our choices on coaching because of nationality. The Hagop rule does not apply to coaches, and this is why some Filipino coaches have had the opportunity of coaching other countries— because they were the best men for the job.

We are applying our own Hagop rule (we could name it after someone) against ourselves. In general, we are already at a disadvantage in height, natural athleticism and the fact that our professionals do not play FIBA rules. We do not need any more handicaps, or in local parlance—“partida.”

We need to send the best players, the best head coach SBP can afford, regardless of nationality.

The best coach for the job

The argument that we already have a foreigner being the head of the program, then we should keep the coach local, is simply lame. Tab Baldwin, in my opinion, is the best man for the job. He brought the best out of Gilas and Ateneo. If I had it my way, he’d still be the head coach.

However, he noted that it is not part of the plan. If he is the one who refused, I think it is further proof of his wisdom. Handling the development program and coaching the team may be spreading himself too thin. But I believe Baldwin should choose the next coach, and he should not be restricted.

This is not a knock on our local coaches. We have great coaches at all levels, and we may even end up with one for Gilas. But it has to be someone fit for the program and its mission. It’s not all about credentials.

For example, Rudy Gobert is the Defensive Player of the Year, why won’t the Utah Jazz assign him to guard Steph Curry and chase him around the threepoint line? Simply because he’s not the best person in the team for this task.

Let Tab get a free hand. Our best handiwork was never done with handcuffs.