Why Coach Ayodele Bakare is a reasonable choice

SHEFFIELD (Júlio Chitunda’s African Message) - Last year, Nigeria head coach Ayodele Bakare made some challenging remarks, before, during and after the London Olympics, which cannot be ignored today.

Prior to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament staged in Caracas, Venezuela, he said this: "I can beat my chest and say confidently that Nigeria will rule the Africa scene from the next 2013 Afrobasket whether I'm in charge or not."

Now, after months of speculations about his future with Nigeria's men's national team, the country’s Basketball Federation (NBBF) has re-appointed him for the upcoming Afrobasket which is expected to take place in Abidjan.

The NBBF re-appointed assistant coaches Sani Ahmed and Ayinla Johnson. I am told that Dominic Okon is expected to join the coaching staff as the preparations move forward.

Despite Nigeria's modest showing (one win in five games) in London, Bakare is a reasonable choice to remain in charge of the D'Tigers, especially because he became highly-valued in Nigerian basketball circles, and very few could match his proficiency.

And if the idea of dominating African basketball is to be taken seriously, then Abidjan is Bakare's first challenge. He will have to turn a talented national team - which is yet to win a major African title - into a real dominant force.

This is a man who led Nigeria to a bronze medal two years ago after replacing former NBA coach John Lucas II who abruptly quit just two weeks prior to the 2011 Afrobasket.

Nigeria-based Bakare, helped his country to qualify for the 1998 World Championship held in Greece.  

His re-appointment indicates the NBBF's interest in giving national coaches a chance following spells of handing the reins to reputable American head coaches that included Sam Vincent, John Lucas II and more recently Tim Shea, who served as Bakare's assistant in London.

Earlier this year, NBBF Chairman Tijjani Umar told me there were a large number of international applicants eager to lead Nigeria.

Now Umar tells me why they have picked Bakare.

"We wanted to hold the success of the past two years. In order to maintain sustainability and solidify our men's team, we thought that changing our coaching staff at this moment could not help our goals," he explained.

"Yes, we had received applications from international coaches. We appreciate their interest and this does not mean we won't need help from international coaches. We might have some of them in other positions in our basketball programmes."

The positions Umar refers to may include youth teams' programmes.

Bakare has often insisted that in order to turn the D'Tigers into a world-class team they need both world-class coaches and players as well as world-class preparations.

Nevertheless, Bakare entered the Olympics basketball history as the head coach whose team conceded the largest defeat margin.

He later wrote an Olympic report and explained Nigeria's failure in London: "So, did we plan to lose by 83 points (against the USA)?"

"We most certainly did not.

"We played the game determined to give our best effort. However, we could not compete with the transition and perimeter play of the Americans, especially because we had lost our efficiency at the crucial point guard position.

"Ade Dagunduro had already stopped playing before this game and Tony Skinn was a mere shadow of himself as he limped to a 1 for 7 (14%) shooting performance for the period he was able to stay in the game before also succumbing to his injuries."

For Bakare, the 156-73 score line did not reflect the heart or the abilities of the Nigerian team.

"It was just one of those nights when we had insurmountable manpower deficiencies, and we played our worst game while they played their best," he added.

On Sunday, Nigeria started their preparations ahead of this summer's Afrobasket in Abuja with home-based players while foreign-based players are expected to join later on.  

Nigeria have been drawn in Group D of the tournament taking place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, along Cameroon, Republic of Congo and Mali.

This is my view on Bakare’s re-appointment. Now, I wonder what the Nigerian Olympians think of it.

Júlio Chitunda

FIBA

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