After about two months of courting, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas finally disclosed the reason on why they\u2019re bringing in a foreign coach to take over from long-time national women\u2019s team mentor Patrick Aquino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SBP president Ricky Vargas in a Whatsapp message, gave the rationale behind the acquisition of Burke Toews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe started courting him seriously about two months ago,\u201d wrote Vargas, also the chairman of the Philippine Basketball Association board of governors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen, ED (executive director) Erika Dy went to talk to him in personally when she went to Japan. We are fortunate to have Burke, who will give us a fresh perspective. I am confident he will help bring women\u2019s basketball to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That next level Vargas was referring to could be the Olympic berth or a stint at the FIBA World Cup for women\u2019s, something which had eluded our Philippine cagebelles from the time we competed in the international basketball circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toews has a rich international winning pedigree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For two seasons, he led his team, the Fujitsu Red Wave, to back-to-back championships in the Women\u2019s Japan Basketball League. He also steered his team in winning the Empress Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When his contract with the Red Wave ended last year, he waited for the right opportunity until he got a call from the SBP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toews is going to take over the role as head coach of Gilas Pilipinas women\u2019s squad, replacing Aquino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aquino should be credited to carrying Philippine basketball to new heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under his tutelage, the Filipinas moved up to their best ever ranking in world basketball (30th<\/sup>), which was even better than their male counterparts composed mostly of PBA and professional players from different leagues in Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gilas Pilipinas, which is being handled by coach Tim Cone of Barangay Ginebra, is currently ranked 36th<\/sup> in the world. The Filipinas were also \u00a0ranked sixth in the Asian zone, while our cagers were a rack lower (seventh).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aquino, who led the National University Lady Bulldogs to six straight championships in the UAAP and a record winning streak of 96 straight victories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The man was also the only coach to catapult our cagebelles to gold medal finishes in the Southeast Asian Games \u2013 a gold apiece in the 2019 edition (3×3 and five-on-five), 2021 in Hanoi and 2025 in Bangkok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aquino is now head of the Gilas Pilipinas women\u2019s talent identification program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After about two months of courting, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas finally disclosed the reason on why they\u2019re bringing in a foreign coach to take over from long-time national women\u2019s team mentor Patrick Aquino. SBP president Ricky Vargas in a Whatsapp message, gave the rationale behind the acquisition of Burke Toews. \u201cWe started courting him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-4536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hoops-basketball","tag-gilas-pilipinas-women"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t