Pumaren backs Pinoy Gilas coach

MANILA, Philippines — La Salle head coach Derick Pumaren echoed the other day former Gilas coach Chot Reyes’ sentiment that there are enough competent Filipino coaches to choose from in taking over the reins of the national team, looking forward to the 2023 FIBA World Cup where the Philippines is the lead host in a consortium with Japan and Indonesia.

Reyes recently said “the Filipino coach is able to capture the heart of the Filipino,” adding that he’s not against tapping foreign experts to bolster the coaching staff but his preference is a Filipino head coach. Gilas program director Tab Baldwin said the key factor to consider is who’s the best fit to coach the national team, not nationality. “You can’t be insular in your thinking,” said Baldwin. “I think great players recognize good coaching and that’s what they want.”

While Pumaren agreed with Reyes, he admitted that a foreign coach Ron Jacobs revolutionized Philippine basketball when he arrived here in 1980. Jacobs was the last Philippine team coach to win a FIBA Asia championship for the country in 1985-86. Jacobs also won two Jones Cup titles and the Asian Youth crown for the Philippines. “Coach Ron opened our eyes to new things,” he said during a Blackwater-sponsored coaching webinar organized by Ariel Vanguardia last Thursday. “He introduced motion offense and I remember one of his rules was making five passes before taking a shot regardless if you were open to attempt. Coach Ron influenced me to be a defensive coach. He taught the principles of pressure defense, trapping, double teaming, rotating to cover the open man.”

Pumaren said another foreign coach Norman Black was an influencer. He was in Black’s coaching staff when San Miguel Beer captured a PBA Grand Slam in 1989. “Coach Norman’s specialty is offense, more of a set-up guy,” he said. “One of his best attributes is his openness. He’s a good listener, he accepts suggestions, he’s very open, he talks to the players.” Still another foreign coach whom Pumaren respects highly is Tim Cone. “I’ve had battles with coach Tim, maybe in five or six PBA Finals,” said Pumaren. In 1995, Pumaren won two straight conference titles with Sunkist at Cone’s expense but it was Cone who led Alaska to the Governors Cup crown that year, foiling the Concepcion franchise’s bid for a Grand Slam. Two other mentors who influenced Pumaren’s career were his father Pilo and newly-hired Greece national team coach Rick Pitino, both defensive specialists.

Pumaren, 60, said while he cherishes the memory of coaching six PBA teams, it’s more fun working with collegiate players. And now that he’s back full circle with La Salle, Pumaren said it’s time to repay the school and the challenge is to crash the Final Four in the UAAP after back-to-back fifth place finishes. “It won’t be a walk in the park and the expectation is high,” he said. “We don’t know when the UAAP season will begin. Whenever it starts, we want to be ready. During this lockdown, we’ve been doing online training starting 8 a.m. Monday to Friday for about 1 1/2 hours. Even our players who are stranded abroad participate. We do dribbling drills, some yoga, conditioning exercises. We view clips of plays. We try to be innovative to keep our team motivated and in high spirits. We plan to invite our managers and former players to speak to our team, to share their insights. When this lockdown is over, we don’t want to start from zero. We want to be ready to go out there and play.”