Coach Tab and His Contribution to Ateneo's Winning Tradition

Even prior to the arrival of Tab Baldwin to Katipunan Avenue, the Ateneo Blue Eagles were already an established powerhouse in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) as the Norman Black-coached Ateneo team won five straight UAAP championships from 2008 to 2012. And while the blue and white squad already has a long winning tradition, Tab Baldwin's arrival has transformed that tradition into a culture and he did it systematically that it made fans thought that last year's Ateneo team, who swept the entire UAAP season on their way to a three-peat, were playing as if they were robots. But as Epok Quimpo said it last night in the second episode of "Bully By the Horn" by Benny Benitez,"It was challenging"

In last night's podcast of PinoyligaTV, Benny Benitez was joined in by Jude Tucuarto, Vince Juico, San Beda Red Lions Team Manager Jude Roque, Ateneo Team Manager Epok Quimpo and, former San Beda star Robert Bolick and among those that were discussed is the importance of having a great coach to a successful basketball program and as Quimpo said it, "It's important for a basketball program to have a great coach"

Being an Olympic-caliber coach who already handled multiple national teams including our very own Gilas Pilipinas, Thomas Anthony Baldwin, or simply Tab Baldwin, has the accolades that makes him a great coach but what makes him greater is the way he is able to infuse the right attitude to his players since he took over from Bo Perasol whose Ateneo stint didn't produce any championships despite having talented players. 

Epok Quimpo, a member of the 2002 Ateneo champion team, even shared asking himself upon the arrival Baldwin to the collegiate ranks: What else in basketball they haven't experienced yet? The answer lies in the team's first overseas with Baldwin at the helm when they flew to Greece to play against European teams and that was where Quimpo mentioned that Tab Baldwin knows about the science in everything that is basketball and that, the team, as a whole, saw that there are more things that can be done and can be achieved. This made the players buy into the mentality that "it can be done" and true enough, nobody thought that a 16-0 finish would be possible in the UAAP and yet, look what the Tab Baldwin-coached Blue Eagles accomplished last year. And Tab Baldwin didn't care about the awards or even the highlights. He just wants two things from his players: efficiency and hard work. 

Aldin Ayo, coach of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers the same Aldin Ayo who faced Tab Baldwin in the UAAP Finals in three of the last four years, said last year that Coach Tab Baldwin is a blessing to Philippine basketball but for Epok Quimpo, Tab Baldwin is a blessing from the Heaven and that, things that Ateneeo achieved in the past four seasons wouldn't have been possible if Tab Baldwin wasn't around. 

Photo is from Head Topics