FORMER Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin admitted he still longs to be part of the national team, months since focusing on Ateneo for the UAAP Season 84.
Speaking to Radyo5's Power and Play with Noli Eala on Saturday, the Blue Eagles mentor shared that he still pines to fight for the country's glory, although what he misses the most is developing the young players he had in his pool.
"Yeah, I do. I miss those players," Baldwin said. "There's always dreams and aspirations that you have as a coach, and even though I'm an old guy and I've been around for a long time, I had dreams and aspirations related to Gilas.
"But what I really miss are the Carl Tamayos, the Justine Baltazars, the RJ Abarrientoses, Allyn Bulanadi, Rey Suerte, I can go on. Special guys that I spent a lot of time with. We did some special things and I miss them."
Baldwin left his post as the Gilas head coach back in January, a little over three weeks before the February window of the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers, saying he wants to focus on Ateneo's campaign for UAAP Season 84.
Chot Reyes took over his post and drew mixed results against India and New Zealand that led to the fans being vocal in their call for a Baldwin reinstatement.
Tab focused on Ateneo
Not one to cry over spilt milk, Baldwin is hopeful that his move to turn his attention to Katipunan would be a beneficial one, saying, "I would hope so. Certainly even if I stayed with Gilas, I would have divided loyalties, divided attention."
"For certain periods, I still would have focused on Ateneo because that's actually my job. But putting my entire focus on Ateneo, I would hope that they would have benefited from that. If they haven't, I might have a hard time holding on to this job as well."
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