CHICAGO - Call it the calm before the storm.
With Season 88 of the UAAP just a full week away, Ateneo and head coach Tab Baldwin have quietly begun discussions for a contract extension, multiple sources at the Jesuit school told SPIN.ph.
After years of sustained excellence since arriving at Katipunan in 2015, Baldwin propagated a dynasty that saw the Blue Eagles win titles in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 until the glorious run ended in a disastrous Season 87 campaign.
ATENEO UAAP 88 PREVIEW: Welcome to the Blue Eagles as darkhorse era
Fractured by the departures of Mason Amos, Kai Balunggay and Joseph Obasa, Baldwin was left with an inexperienced crew that finished with a dismal 4-10 record and failed to enter the Final Four.
While Baldwin continued to enjoy the support of the alumni, the decline from championship thoroughbreds to middling contenders displeased the bosses in a way where he was given the marching orders of "win or be fired."
With his contract expiring at the end of December, the New Zealander from the US, inarguably the best tactician the UAAP has seen, was reduced into a lame duck coach
BACK TO MIGHTY.
Baldwin couldn't be reached for comment for this piece but he told me in a prior interview over brunch at a Hyatt in Chicago last year that even without a contract extension in sight, he will continue to do his job the best way he knows how.
And that's exactly what he did.
A tenacious recruiter, Baldwin - with the aid of team manager Epok Quimpo whose basketball tentacles reach beyond the borders of US and Canada - retooled the Blue Eagles.
By adding Divine Adili and Kymani Ladi to reinforce Jared Bahay and the other holdovers, the Blue Eagles suddenly have more weapons than North Korea, turning from meek to mighty in a minute.
The initial signs of the team's transformation first morphed last June during Ateneo's trip to Madrid where the Blue Eagles whipped some pretty good teams in a series of friendlies.
THE DECISION-MAKERS TOOK NOTICE.
Still, nothing is imminent. Haste isn't in the vocabulary of the bosses, not when Baldwin has a live contract for another 110 days.
But that wait-and-see approach has its pitfalls. I know of at least two potential employers hoping and praying that Baldwin becomes a free agent.
Meanwhile, a team insider told me that Baldwin continues to preside over Ateneo's nightly practices.
Teaching, cajoling and spewing the fire many thought he lost after the forgettable Season 87.
It's easy to fire a coach but who do you replace a giant like Tab Baldwin with?
Nobody.
Which is why keeping him makes the most sense.
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