Basketball: Turkey coaching job lures Tall Black mentor

Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin announces his acceptance of a job as coach of a club team in Turkey. Picture / Martin Sykes

Tab Baldwin's desire to coach on a more regular basis has seen him accept a job in the Turkish national league.

However, the move does not affect his position as the Tall Blacks coach and will not prevent him from applying for the Breakers job if he wishes to pursue it.

For a long time Baldwin has wanted to return to coaching on a day-to-day basis.

"I miss the team environment. Coaching the Tall Blacks is like coaching an All Star team with an immense amount of pride attached to it," he said.

"But you don't get the day to day development, you don't get to evolve the team, you don't get in a league and get the challenge of being in a league and trying to get to first place. I haven't given up on being first at the Olympics or the World Champs ... but it is tough."

Baldwin said he had not actively been looking for a job. He was alerted to the position in Turkey by Mark Dickel's agent (also based in Turkey).

The first division side Banvitspor are at the bottom of the table midway through the competition. Baldwin has been charged with turning the club around and is contracted until the end of the season, which could be May or June depending on whether they make the playoffs.

The move has meant Baldwin has had to resign from his job as Basketball New Zealand's high-performance head coach - something he found tough.

So much so that he was meant to have been in Turkey yesterday but told his new club that he was committed to a basketball camp with young players and he was not prepared to leave them in the lurch. He will instead leave tomorrow.

"I have been sitting around waiting for this opportunity and hoping it would come and then when it came I thought, 'Great this is exciting' and then I thought about the ramifications of the decision and you can't help but feel like you are letting a lot of people down.

"But you have to keep telling yourself that it is part of the evolution of you as a human being. I am not going from New Zealand basketball by any stretch. I'll be back."

While the move is expected to benefit Baldwin and the Tall Blacks in the long run, there is still an overwhelming desire by many to see Baldwin at the helm of the Breakers, who are likely to dismiss coach Frank Arsego at season end.

After guiding the Tall Blacks to a semifinal spot at the 2002 world championships and 10th place in last year's Olympics, Baldwin is seen as almost the saviour of New Zealand Basketball.

Baldwin said yesterday that if the Breakers were to approach him he would probably consider it.

A lot would depend on what the job involved and whether he had the blessing of Basketball New Zealand.

"I don't know what coaching the Breakers means. Someone has to come and sit down and say these are the parameters of the job.

"My role at Basketball New Zealand over the last few years has been a lot more than just coaching a basketball team. I like to go to an organisation and really work for the betterment of the organisation. If that is what the Breakers job is, and that is a big if, then I'd probably be interested."

Basketball New Zealand chief executive David Crocker said the organisation supported Baldwin's move to Turkey but he couldn't say whether they would support a move to the Breakers or another team in the Australian league.

"It is case by case situation. For us it is really about what is good for him but also what is good for us. If it is something that could work for the programme we wouldn't dismiss it but it has to be good for all the parties involved."

The Tall Blacks' next assignment is the world championship qualifiers against Australia in August.

Baldwin will rely on his assistant Nenad Vucinic to keep an eye on the players throughout the domestic competition after which a squad will be invited to take part in a training camp.

Tab file

Thomas Anthony Baldwin (TAB)

BORN: Florida, USA

MOVED: To New Zealand in the late 1980s to coach Otago in the national second division.

Career highlights



* From 1995-2000, he guided Auckland to five NBL titles, winning three Coach of the Year awards

* Coached the NZ U20 team, including current internationals Pero Cameron, Phill Jones and Mark Dickel to the Australian national final.

* Became the national coach in 2001. He took the Tall Blacks to the 2002 world championship semifinals and subsequently won his second Coach of the Year title at the Halberg Awards.

* Led the Kiwis to the 2004 Athens Olympics, where they finished 10th.