Summarize

News filtered through Nigeria’s basketball community at the start of last weekend that the Nigeria Basketball Federation, under the leadership of Musa Kida, had relieved Sam Vincent of his role as Head Coach of Nigeria’s national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress.

BballNaija’s Content Director of International Basketball, Ayotunde Onabolu, spoke to Coach Vincent in the United States about this development. The following is a transcript of their conversation:

It has been about two weeks that news broke that you had been relieved of your duties by the Musa Kida-led Nigeria Basketball Federation, and part of the reasons they gave was that you took your personal business above the interest of the team. What do you have to say about this?

I made it pretty clear in my statement that my commitment to Nigerian basketball development both on the men’s and women’s sides has always been a priority and a commitment as far as I am concerned, and this upcoming World Cup competition was no different. In the statement I released, one of the things that really made a big difference was when the Federation contacted me last summer to coach in Bamako, Mali (the 2017 Women’s Afrobasket), I made it clear that the training camp had to be in Orlando, and that was very important to me because my base is here (in Orlando); I’m connected with a lot of basketball-related institutes and organizations here, and I just knew that it would give me a chance to really focus on any personal matters I had and at the same time obviously train and develop the team.

Last summer the agreement was made and, as you know, we had training camp here (Orlando) and from here we went to Lagos for a short bit and then on to Mali. So, my assumption and understanding were that the training camp would again be based here in Orlando, so I had spent quite a bit of time just pulling logistics together—a lot of details—and getting things organized for the training camp here in Orlando. When the Federation decided just days before the camp was going to start that we would be relocated to Atlanta, that was a major shift for me because there were things that I already put in place here, so it was a little bit problematic. Really, a lot of everything that has transpired has been based on the decision to relocate training camp. Had the Federation brought us here as agreed in the first year, there wouldn’t have been any concerns, but once they made the change, there were a couple of things that required my attention in the Orlando area.

Your statement read that they told you 30 days prior to the shift that camp would be moved to Atlanta. Did they give you any reasons for the change in location and did you think the time frame was not enough for you to make plans for the transition from Orlando to Atlanta?

They definitely did not give me enough time. After we won the championship in Mali (2017 Afrobasket) last summer, I immediately explained to the President [of the NBBF] that we needed to begin focusing on preparation and planning for the World Cup as soon as possible so that everything could be in order, the women could get correspondence early, which would give us the best chance for success. I really spent a lot of time explaining that and asked them to start making those plans in February.

In February, I reached out but no one was willing to talk that early. In March I reached out; no one was willing to talk that early. In April I reached out. So we knew we had a World Cup—an important competition—coming up, but no one was really willing to talk until June, and so I felt like we were missing a major opportunity on planning and preparation by not communicating early enough to really put all these things down.

All that time, I was working on organizing things here in Orlando because again, the summer before, we were here in Orlando, we had our success and it worked out well, so I’m thinking we were returning to Orlando, and I had a lot of things I had put in place. I probably was informed at the end of June that we would be going to Atlanta in July, and so [for] a lot of these professional relationships that I had put in place, I needed to come back [to Orlando] and talk to some of these people to explain what was going on and walk through some situations that I said were going to happen. So that required me to get back to Orlando and I explained that.

Had we stayed with the plan, had we not changed at the last minute, I don’t think we would have run into the problems that developed, but because we made so many changes, we just were completely off track, and so, that is what I believe really started to create some of the tension and some of the problems that developed.


Do you think the issue between you and the Federation is something that started with preparations for the World Cup or do you think there must have been some developing bad blood over time, with the weekend’s events just a culmination?

I don’t think there were any bad feelings from the Federation because I never had any problems with Musa Kida. He became the President [of the Federation], he hired me and we took first place at the African championship, so how could there be a problem? I took the coaching job from him. [With Vice President] Babs [Ogunade] and Colonel Sam [Ahmedu], [I had] no issues.

The only person maybe, that had an issue was Mactabene Amachree (D’Tigress General Manager) because [she] has always had a view of how she wants things to operate and I always have a little different view from what she tries to do. A lot of the dynamics developed when they got rid of Mfon [Udoka] and brought in Mactabene. That’s really where some of the differences started because she was the one who moved the camp from Orlando to Atlanta and the biggest difficulty for me as a coach was trying to relocate training camp and all of the preparation I had put in here [in Orlando]. That, honestly, was the biggest challenge.

Speaking about Mactabene Amachree, you wrote in your statement that some of the players had difficulty working with her since she replaced Mfon Udoka as General Manager of the team. Could you shed more light on that?

Good teams have a good chemistry and good chemistry is everybody getting along well, the communication is good, everybody has the same goal and target, and roles and responsibilities are clearly outlined so everybody knows who is doing what and nobody has to question who is responsible for this or that because it is clearly stated so everybody can know. I think this summer, with the change from Mfon and Mactabene taking a different role, nobody knowing exactly what all that was. If the role isn’t clear for everybody to understand, then there can be some misunderstandings. With some of the ladies, she really got off to a little bit of a difficult start because some of the communication around what was going on was not always clearly explained in a way the ladies knew what was going on.

I have it on good authority that a member of the Federation alleged that the whole issue started when Mfon Udoka was dropped from the team, and there was a gang up to ensure that things did not work well, so that the narrative would be that she would have done better if she was still with the team. Is there any truth to this statement?

Let me be honest with you, Ayo. We were 8-0 in Mali—that’s a fact. Now, on that team, maybe there were four players to replace to make the team stronger—maybe we could get stronger in the post, maybe we could add one more wing player. Those things would have made the team stronger. So, my idea was to identify players that would make the team stronger and keep it a really tight camp so that we can just focus on what we did well in Mali, add a few players, continue our system and program and get stronger for [the World Cup in] Spain. That made the most sense to me.

Mactabene wanted to invite 28 players and bring a lot of college players and a lot of new players and I disagreed because I felt like when you’re preparing for the World Cup, it’s time for focus—focus on what you did well and try to get stronger to be better. It’s not time to bring all the players and have an open trial camp and start from scratch.

We had different philosophies on how to prepare for the World Cup and I felt like because I have won championships as a coach and as a player, my position should be the one that took the lead, not someone that has never coached a team, has never played in a championship team and has never won a championship.

I felt like we were not listening to the right direction in terms of preparing for this World Cup—a World Cup that everybody agreed we weren’t just going there to play; we were going there to be on the medals stand. We wanted to be first, second or third. The only way to do that is to have an extremely clear focus on what you’re doing. You can’t move in front of Turkey or Australia and all these countries if you’re not clear and precise on your training and your development plan, and I felt by adding players and doing multiple camps, it pulled [us] away from the focus of maybe 14 players really bonding and developing on a strategy to go and win. So we had different philosophies.

But in the end, Mactabene’s philosophy won because she was the one that was able to convince the President that her plan was the best. 

Coach, it is also said that while you were away, you were still in constant communication with the players and there was a time the players had their own training under the leadership of the captain, Ezinne Kalu, and allegedly shut out the assistant coaches. Is there any truth to this?

That is true. That is something they (the players) explained to me that they did, but that was not something I instigated. The players were upset because they were asking questions from Mactabene but were not getting answers. They were upset because last year, they got one hundred dollars ($100) per day for per diem, and this year—because it was World Cup—they were expecting one hundred and fifty dollars ($150), but it was reduced from one hundred dollars to fifty dollars ($50).

There were lots of questions the players had and they were looking for answers and nobody could give them answers, and so, they were frustrated and they took a decision that they were not going to training or practice, but that decision was not a decision coming from me. That was a decision coming from them because they could not get the answers they were hoping to get.

Coach, I know you developed a good relationship with some of the players. Do you think the fact that you are no longer with the team could affect team spirit and their performances at the World Cup which is pretty much around six weeks from now?

I think these ladies are professional players and we have a strong group of ladies. I already told them they need to move on and focus and work hard, and I think they’re doing that. So I don’t think that my departure emotionally is going to affect them that way.

On the question of preparation and execution, if the new coach has some international coaching experience and has some understanding of how international basketball works or he has an understanding of how to make adjustments, then he’s going to be fine.

But I don’t think the girls are going to suffer from me being away. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.


I’ll take it that you don’t know the new coach, Otis Hughely, personally.

No, I don’t know him personally.

So what’s next for you after the Nigerian women’s national team?

I will stay involved with basketball, doing a variety of different development projects. I’m currently working on something in Nigeria. As an ex-national team coach, I still feel like there are camps and clinics and different projects I that I do to support the growth of basketball in Nigeria. I may not be working with the NBBF anymore, but there’s a lot of academies, sponsors and other people in Nigeria who work on basketball growth, so I will stick with basketball in Nigeria. 

Finally, coach, after to listening to everything that has been said, reading the statement the Federation has put out, and what different stakeholders have said to say, do you feel like there’s a much better way the Federation could have handled this issue?

Absolutely! I’ve been with the NBBF since 2002. I have come and I’ve worked at the last minute with just a phone call, and I’ve always worked very hard with the men and the women, so I really feel like in the end, it was just really no respect to just call me and explain how you felt or the fact that you wanted to make a change. I understand that—no problem. But I feel like I’ve put a lot of work in and there’s been a lot of success and I felt that wasn’t recognized. 

Thank you so much, Coach Sam, for your time. 

No problem, Ayo. Keep well.



Comments

  1. David Deborah

    All have been said sir, please i will love to get in contact with Coach Sam.

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