MANILA, 30 November — This could well be what the doctors have prescribed to cure the Filipinos’ chronic obsession to win the elusive basketball gold medal in the Asian Games: Another American coach in Ron Jacobs.

The man the Chinese have loved to hate in the 80s has been named by the Philippine Basketball Association as head coach of the PBA-backed national team to the prestigious Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea, next year.

“It’s none other than Ron Jacobs,” said PBA Commissioner Jun Bernardino as he announced his choice of the veteran mentor after a consultation with the members of the PBA board.

Jacobs, a many-time national coach who boasts of an unbeaten record against the mighty Chinese, will be facing a Herculean task to bring the Asian basketball gold back to the Philippines which last won it in 1962.

Bernardino said Jacobs is armed with experience, expertise and impressive credentials, particularly against the Chinese — and, at the same time, blessed with the technical know-how needed to help the country reclaim the Asian basketball supremacy.

The PBA has also considered Jacobs’ dedication and motivation in naming him as coach of the national squad, which could well be the best-ever, most-talented roster to be formed with an abundance of farm-fresh talent in the league, particularly the Fil-Am players.

Foremost in the American’s long list of achievements in competitions abroad include the Philippines’ title romp in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championships in 1986, and in the Asian Youth Basketball Championships in 1982.

So China, better watch out — Jacobs is back in the Philippine national team.

Maybe, the Chinese are cowering in fear by now, although there is still no independent confirmation on this.

But, surely, the mere mention of his name as the man who would call the shots for the Philippine team yet gain is enough to haunt the Chinese as it evokes bitter memories of their traumatic defeats at the hands of the Jacobs-mentored Philippine team in the 80s.

This time, the Chinese may be aware that the return of the indefatigable Jacobs to the Philippine quintet may spell doom for them and eventually mean the beginning of the end of their basketball dynasty in the region.

Since 1986, the Chinese have become almost unbeatable in the region particularly in the Asian Games where they held the crown for more than two decades now.

The PBA think Jacobs will do the same black magic for the national team despite being an old hand in regional cage wars like the Asiad.

“I always believe that Ron has what it takes to prepare a team for the Asian Games, and I had a chance to talk and work with him many times,” said Bernardino.

He said Jacobs commands respect from the players and he’s capable of instilling in the players’ minds that they will be playing for flag and country.

“He has given me enough reason for us to choose him for the position. I’ve seen lessons learned in past Asian Games. This time, we hope to whip up a more competitive team with Jacobs around and give our opponents a tougher time,” he quipped.

And so, the gargantuan task of reclaiming the regional throne in a sport the Filipinos passionately regard as a virtual religion now rests in the magical hands of the multi-titled Jacobs.

He will lead the Philippines’ most ambitious campaign ever in its quest for the Asian Games gold medal, which has long eluded the country since the PBA was established in 1975.

For the record, the last time the Philippines won the basketball gold in the Asian Games was in 1962 in Jakarta.

Interestingly, the country holds the distinction as the first champion in the Asian Games, which was inaugurated in 1951 in New Delhi. It also won the crowns in 1956 in Manila, and in 1958 in Tokyo.

The Philippines last beat China, the perennial powerhouse in the region, in the ABC Championships in Kuala Lumpur in January 1986 with a team coached by Jacobs.

Bernardino officially picked the 58-year-old Jacobs as head coach of the Philippine team bound for the quadrennial games slated Sept. 28-Oct. 14, 2002.

“The board has accepted the fact that the matter of choosing the coach is entirely in the commissioner’s hands and the final lineup that will represent the country in the Asian Games is the final call of the coach,” said Bernardino.

Indeed, his decision to name Jacobs for the job hardly met any opposition from the representatives of the 10 PBA ball clubs.

Jacobs holds a reputation as one of the most feared bench taskmasters in the pro league in years owing to his career record here and in the international arena.

Truly, coaching was never the same again when Jacobs came into the scene in the 80s. He has won a merry mix of titles for the Philippines in various international competitions, and — until now — nobody can surpass, or at least duplicate those rare achievements.

The former Los Angeles Morningside High School mentor has revolutionized local coaching styles when he piloted the national team to the crown in the 1981 Southeast Asian Games held in Manila.

He won for the country the Asian Youth title in 1982 to go with the 1985 ABC crown in Ipoh, Malaysia, with a team beefed up by naturalized Filipinos Jeff Moore, Chip Engelland and Dennis Still.

He further proved the stuff he’s made of when the Philippines, carrying the colors of Northern Consolidated, stunned a highly-fancied United States side, represented by standouts from then NCAA champion Villanova University, for the 1985 Jones Cup crown in Taiwan.

He coached several highly successful teams, and developed players like Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim, Hector Calma and Yves Dignadice to becoming among the all-time greats in the pro league.

Jacobs is wildly recognized as one of the reasons why Philippine basketball stands where it is now.

He has a longstanding relationship with the San Miguel franchise since he was brought into the country in the early 80s by then basketball godfather Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco precisely to take over the national team.

He was invited by Cojuangco to visit the Philippines and try his hand at coaching the national team.

Since then, not only has Jacobs reaped honors for the country, but he has also produced other coaches — like Jong Uichico, the Pumaren brothers — Derreck and Franz — Tonichi Yturri, Eric Altamirano and Caidic — to follow in his footsteps.

This year, Jacobs is celebrating his 20th anniversary in Philippine basketball, and is currently the coaching consultant of San Miguel Corp for both the San Miguel team and Ginebra.

In 1999, San Miguel won two out of three conferences, even if on paper Jacobs was not the coach of the Beermen. Everybody knows San Miguel is Ron Jacobs, and Ron Jacobs is San Miguel.

By becoming the third American to be given the chance to call the shots for the national team, Jacobs is expected to form a team built around formidable Fil-Am players from the PBA.

This will mark his return to his old job as national coach 16 years after he won for the Philippines the ABC crown, which turned out to be the basketball-crazy country’s last major crown in international competition.

Many observers, however, believe that the selection of Jacobs as coach of the Fil-Am-reinforced team will be met with tough resistance from the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines (BCAP).

Bernardino thinks, otherwise.

He is hopeful that Jacobs’ appointment would also get a nod of approval from the BCAP.

In 1998, Jacobs, then still the San Miguel coach, was chosen by the PBA to handle the Centennial Team to the Bangkok Asian Games, but opted to give way to Alaska’s Tim Cone — who is married to a Filipina — after he came under fire from the BCAP.

Jacobs personally pulled his name out of the candidates’ list to quell the protest of the coaches’ group.

This time, Bernardino is hoping the BCAP won’t raise a howl over Jacobs’ appointment.

The BCAP feels that Filipino coaches like Perry Ronquillo of Shell, Uichico of San Miguel, and even Yeng Guiao of Red Bull are as qualified to handle the national team, especially with Fil-foreign players suiting up.

“We don’t foresee any protests from BCAP, but we will face them,” said Bernardino. “Making the choice of the coach you have to take everything into consideration. At the end of the day, you will have to reckon with yourself.

And you will have to just tell yourself that whoever you choose will probably not be acceptable to everybody.

“But then again at the end of the day, you’ll have to be able to tell yourself that you made the right choice because I was given the task and the responsibility of naming that coach,” Bernardino said.

The announcement of Jacobs’ selection ended weeks of speculations as to who would coach the national team that is soon to be formed. It also left Jacobs with a task of forming the official lineup to be culled from a series of tryouts starting in January.

In the last three editions of the Asian Games, the PBA has sent the best players, and coaching staff, to fulfill its golden mission — to no avail, though. And again, the PBA is pulling no stops in preparing and sending the best possible team to Pusan.

Four years since the last Asian Games in 1998, the Philippines will embark on a mission yet again to virtually scale China’s Great Wall with the help of tall, hefty and talented Fil-Ams.

Known as Asia’s first play-for-pay league, the PBA has been tasked by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) to again represent the country in the Asia Games, marking this the fourth time since the coming of open basketball that a PBA team, or a selection, will wear the national tri-colors in the Games.

The country bagged the silver medal in 1990 when an all-PBA team first saw action. After that, the country finished fourth in 1994 and settled for bronze in 1998.

Robert Jaworski was the first coach of a PBA selection that played in the Asian Games, as a team made up of the finest talent in the league in 1990 finished a strong second to powerhouse China in Beijing.

Norman Black took the nucleus of San Miguel to Hiroshima only to finish out of the medal tally in 1994, before Tim Cone called the shots for the Centennial Team in the 1998 edition in Bangkok, Thailand, and went home with the bronze.

And this year, many see the country to have the best chance of regaining Asian glory with the presence of so many Fil-Am talent that can surely size up against the bigger Chinese and the equally dangerous Koreans — and, of course, the presence of Jacobs.

Among those Fil-Ams expected to join the national team are Paul Asi Taulava, Eric Menk and Danny Seigle.

Buildup for the gold

Likewise, the board approved Bernardino’s proposed program for next season that is geared to give the national team its best shot for the Asiad gold with only slight revisions.

The Asiad buildup will be more extensive than the previous ones. But apparently, the board is against the open tryouts Jacobs and the league want to hold in January as well as the handicapping system that will be applied next season on ball clubs that will lose players to the RP team.

Under Bernardino’s plan, any team that will lose one player or none to the national team will be allowed to recruit an import of unlimited height.

Teams that lose two or more players will be allowed two imports with a combined height of 13 feet.

That is now bound to be changed before the league opens its 2002 season with two import-laced conferences.

Bernardino had earlier presented the Asiad scheme where the PBA will conduct an open tryouts starting Jan. 3.

After the aspirants were pruned down to 24, they will be divided into two teams and compete in the Commissioner’s Cup slated Feb. 10 to May 31 next year.

From the two training squads, the coaching staff will select the 12 cagers who will play in the all-star break on June 9 against either a selection from the Asian Basketball Confederation or a team made up of imports.

The PBA-backed squad will then strut its wares in the 2nd Conference (Governor’s Cup) before going to the Asian Games probably on Sept. 25 or 26.

Jacobs will be put in charge of the fourth selection the league will form for the Asiad — and one deemed to have the best material to work with, thanks to a horde of Fil-foreign players that invaded the league over the past four years. The final composition of the Asian Games team will be known before the Commissioner’s Cup.

In 1990, the Jaworski-coached national team that wound up second was a selection, while a team made up of the core of San Miguel and mentored by Black finished fourth in 1994. The 1998 Centennial Team was also a selection whose 10-month preparations included a barnstorming tour of the United States. This time, the preparations would be purely kept within the country, specifically within the PBA, and the team’s final composition would not necessarily be made up of players from the league.

Aspirants from such leagues as the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) and Philippine Basketball League (PBL) and even Fil-foreigners not already playing are all invited to the initial tryouts starting on Jan. 3.

Jacobs is expected to name San Miguel Beer coach Jong Uichico, as his deputy, while he waits for the amateur coach whom the BAP will recommend.

Likewise, he is likely to invite Centennial coach Tim Cone to help in handling the Asian Games team because of his experience in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok where the Philippines won the bronze.