TAB Baldwin is a gem Ateneo just can’t let go of.
It’s because he doesn’t just win games and titles. He builds stars, too, and lets them spread their wings to the fullest wherever life after college hoops takes them.
Now a centurion in the UAAP, Baldwin refused to take any credit in picking up a hundred victories at the helm of the heralded Blue Eagles basketball program.
He chooses to see it as a mere formality and all the chatter surrounding such a milestone as sweet nothings on his end.
“I haven't won 100 games. Ateneo has won 100 games when I've been labeled the head coach. It isn't humility. It isn't anything else. It's just the truth,” said Baldwin following his 101st win on Wednesday.
READ: Ateneo wins second straight nail-biter this time against UE
“I don't have a win-loss record. We’ll just leave it at that. I'm proud to have been at Ateneo long enough to coach 135 games or whatever it is, And that's the real positive for me.”
If Baldwin was to ever gauge his own success calling the shots at Katipunan, it’ll solely be characterized by how his players make the most of their opportunities and spread their wings far from when they leave the blue-and-white nest.
This, coming from somebody who’s big on putting the players at the forefront even at times when the limelight gets shone on shot-callers instead.
“It's whatever they want, you know. If they want to be engineers, I hope that we give them the opportunity to study, and we support them in that,” Baldwin answered when asked by SPIN.ph on what exactly he considers to be a success for each and every one of his players.
“If they want to be international basketball players, I hope that we develop them to the extent that they can do that. If they want to play in the MPBL, God bless them.
“We want to help them develop themselves to a standard where they can achieve their goals. I don't set their goals for them.”
One Big Fight-ing rebuild
For the next three years that Ateneo will still have Baldwin manning the Blue Eagles’ flight, his goal is plain and simple.
It’s to restore Ateneo’s lost luster in college basketball and remind the rest of the field of the proud program that is the league's winningest in this millenium.
“Ateneo has been a very good program before I got there. I inherited a young team, but a team that had a lot of chemistry, had a lot of talent, and had a lot of determination to be successful, and they were,” Baldwin said.
“We suffered through the pandemic, and now we're just kind of rebuilding what we lost during the pandemic.
“I want all of our players to achieve their opportunities and continue to win as many games as we can for the alumni and for our bosses that really relish that, cherish that.”
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