Ricardo Brown pays tribute to Ron Jacobs

The Philippine basketball world is left grieving after word came out that former national team and San Miguel Beer head coach Ron Jacobs had passed away last December 24.

Jacobs was last active in the basketball scene in 2001. Per a report from the Manila Bulletin’s Waylon Galvez yesterday, Jacobs was preparing as head coach for the national team for the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea until a stroke prevented him from calling the shots. Disciple Joseph “Jong” Uichico was eventually named to succeed Jacobs.

Former players paid tribute to the fallen mentor when word of his passing came out. But one player who perhaps best knows Jacobs is PBA Legend Ricardo Brown.

After yours truly was tagged on social media Facebook, the Quick Brown Fox shared his sadness on the untimely passing of the legendary mentor.

Brown shared how he came to know Jacobs, perhaps the person who has known him the longest before Jacobs drew attention in the Philippines.

“Ron coached at Loyola Marymount University, I played at Pepperdine University — long time arch rivals in the NCAA Division I West Coast Athletic Conference, so by the time we came to The Philippines, we were quite familiar with one another,” says Brown on Facebook.

Brown stressed that it was Jacobs’ coaching philosophy, practice routines and “attention to detail” that he was most familiar with since he did play under Jacbos’ mentor, Jim Harrick.

He also set the records straight on what “Ron Jacobs’ basketball” was truly about.

“Our first option was to get a stop, rebound, outlet, and GO! Ball in the middle, lanes filled wide, trailer left, trailer right. If the break wasn’t there, we immediately moved into our offensive sets with plenty of picks, motion, passing, and the opportunity to be creative while at the same time playing disciplined basketball. THAT was Ron Jacobs basketball – not slow down, walk it up, milk the clock, etc.”

Brown also gave his piece on what made Jacobs a good coach.

“One of Ron’s greatest attributes as a coach was his ability and willingness to put players in a position to do what they do best. He used to tell me often at the end of a timeout late in the game if we were in a close contest, “bring us home, Daddy-O”. That was juice to my engine and he knew it, plus nothing was more important to him than winning,” says Brown towards the end of the post.