Tab Baldwin has officially resigned as head coach of Ateneo Blue Eagles, one week after the death of foreign student-athlete Divine Adili and rookie Rene Baterbonia during a team-building activity.
Photo: Ateneo de Manila University/Facebook
On June 15, Ateneo president Fr. Roberto Yap announced that the university has accepted Tab’s resignation as investigations are currently in place. Aside from Tab, Blue Eagles team manager Epok Quimpo has also stepped down from his position.
A week prior to their resignation, Divine, 21, and Rene, 18, drowned during the team’s team-building in a beach resort in Dipaculao, Aurora.
However, the basketball coach only broke his silence about the incident in a recorded video message days after their deaths. In an eight-minute pre-recorded video posted by the university on its social media accounts, he emphasized that he had “failed” as a leader and a friend to both student-athletes.
“As a coach, I’m entrusted by you, the parents and the families, with first and foremost, their well-being. In this, I feel I’ve failed. I’m sorry, to the depth of my being, I’m sorry,” he said.
“In that moment, I experienced the descent into the darkest place imaginable. And yet I knew at the same time that good people, people that had done an amazing job raising these two young men, were going to be in an even darker, more horrible place. At that moment, I felt I had failed,” he added. “I failed as a leader. I felt I had failed as a coach. I certainly felt like I had failed as a friend to Divine and Rene.”
In 2015, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) announced that Tab would serve as the head coach of its collegiate men’s varsity basketball team. During his post, the Blue Eagles have won four championships in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
Fact-finding investigation regarding the deaths of Divine and Rene will continue to proceed following the resignation of Ateneo Blue Eagles’ head coach and team manager.
ALSO READ: Ateneo Recruit Rene Baterbonia, Student-Athlete Divine Adili Pass Away
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