Foreign Coaches Who Got Tangled with the BCAP

Tab Baldwin may have already apologized for what he thinks was an "unfiltered" comment but that didn't stop him from getting suspended for three games by the Philippine Basketball Association and a 75,000 Peso fine. Not to mention the amount of fury that is coming from the local coaches who said were insulted. And then, the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines (BCAP), has hit out on the Ateneo head coach for his recent statement and even added that Baldwin "has done nothing to help improve the level of coaching in the Philippines" 

For most Filipino basketball fans, Tab Baldwin isn't the first foreign coach who earned the ire of BCAP as well as the local coaches. And we can be sure that the three-time University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) champion coach isn't going to be the last one either. As a matter of fact, this wasn't the first time that Tab Baldwin got tangled with the BCAP as his appointment as head coach of the Blue Eagles back in 2015 was a subject of debates.

One of the foreign coaches who stepped into Philippine basketball, was also the first one to lose a head coaching job in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) due to him being a foreigner. That happens to be the legendary Ron Jacobs- an American coach who came to the Philippines upon receiving an invitation from Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco.

Jacobs helped in revolutionizing the way basketball was played and that helped our national team regained dominance and in fact, it was Jacobs who came up with an idea to naturalize collegiate players in the United States as Filipino citizens for them to be able to suit up for our national team and that proved to work the wonders for the national team program as the Ron Jacobs-coached Northern Cement basketball team won multiple championships in the international scene as well as the 1985 Reinforced Conference championship in the PBA which saw Jacob's team scoring a 138-106 win against Manila Beer in Game Four of the PBA Finals finishing what considered by many as the most lopsided championship series in the history of the PBA.

 Unfortunately, Ron Jacobs' stint in the PBA didn't last, and in 1998, then BCAP President Chito Narvasa wrote a petition to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) stating that Ron Jacobs had no right to coach a PBA team because he was first and foremost a foreigner. DOLE agreed with the BCAP and that made Jacobs go down from a head coach to being a team consultant as he handed the reins over to one of his proteges: Jong Uichico. Initially, the PBA was considering hiring Jacobs to coach the national team for the 1998 Asian Games but BCAP opposed and Tim Cone was made head coach of the team that took home the bronze medal from Thailand.

And while names like Todd Purves, Rajko Toroman and other foreign coaches may sound familiar to PBA fans of today, it's hard to believe that BCAP was almost set to wage war with the Shell Turbochargers who named John Moran as their head coach in 2004 in time for the PBA Fiesta Cup. The Turbochargers, who won the 1999 All-Filipino championship under Coach Perry Ronquillo, were still in the middle of the three-year deal with Ronquillo when Moran was named. Another irony in this case: then BCAP President Narvasa also served as the head coach of Shell, said back then that "Filipino coaches are just as able as these foreign coaches" In the end, BCAP withdrew its opposition to Moran's appointment as head coach of a PBA team owing to the agreement Shell made with the league that it would help PBA's program for local coaches. 

Remember the coach who called the PBA a "San Miguel league"? That was Bill Bayno who is now serving as an assistant coach of the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bayno actually coached the Talk N Text team, then known as the Phone Pals, for two conferences in 2002. And yes, BCAP opposed Bayno's appointment as head coach but as short as that stint was, Bayno being at the helm for two conferences allowed the team to finally become a championship-contender and in the 2003 All-Filipino Cup, TNT finally won a title with Joel Banal as the coach. 

Another controversial foreign coach who stepped into the PBA was Todd Purves who served as a team consultant of the San Miguel franchise from 2013 to 2014. And as dominant as the San Miguel Beermen are right now, they also had almost the same core when Purves came aboard with the addition of Chris Lutz. Still, that team failed to win a thing as the team was hit by internal drama which included the infamous "Petronovela". The only difference why BCAP didn't oppose Todd Purves' appointment back then was because he was being named as the team consultant. Had he was named head coach, things would have been different. 

If there's one common denominator in the hiring of foreign coaches as head coaches or even team consultants of any basketball team in the country, it's that those teams would go on to become successful even after the said foreigners' stints are done. Then again, the law clearly states: a foreigner cannot be named head coach in the Philippines. 

Tm Cone and Norman Black? That's a different story. 

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