Cone’s success tied to positive attitude

MANILA, Philippines - San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone wouldn’t be as successful if not for his competitive nature, spirituality, ability to communicate as a teacher, searching mind and genuine desire to build championship basketball teams by molding disciplined players with a positive attitude. That’s how his wife of 23 years Cristina explained what makes him tick. Since breaking into the PBA as Alaska head coach in 1989, Cone has won a record 18 titles and two Grand Slams. Cone, 56, is the longest running active coach with an uninterrupted career in the pro league today.

Last week, Cone piloted the Mixers to their fourth consecutive crown, dating back to the Governors Cup the previous season, and clinched a Grand Slam this campaign. No other PBA coach has captured two Grand Slams with Baby Dalupan, Tommy Manotoc and Norman Black claiming one each. Cone took his first Grand Slam with Alaska in 1996.

“Tim is naturally driven,” Cristina told The Star the other day. “With his positive attitude, he’s the type who sees a glass half-full not half-empty. He’s a great motivator who believes in taking no short-cuts to winning. He’s a big picture person. He wants to win the right way and doesn’t subscribe to winning at all costs. He loves teaching and looks forward to every practice. It’s very gratifying for him to see the growth of his players and he’s particularly excited to work with young players. He loves to build championship teams. He’s challenged by it. I never thought his coaching career would last this long but I’ve always known he has the mind of a good teacher.”

Cristina said Cone is influenced by management and leadership expert John Maxwell, an evangelical Christian who has authored over 60 books including “Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn.” “Tim is spiritually strong,” she said. “His late mother Doodie was a deacon at Union Church and Tim goes to Sunday service at CCF (Christ’s Commission Fellowship) with pastor Joby Soriano. We raised our three children as Catholics so he joins us for mass on special occasions like Easter and Christmas and about once a month so we go as a family. As for me, before every game, I pray the rosary, novenas and offer masses. I get very nervous during games and half the time, my eyes are closed and I figure out what’s going on by the cheers of the crowd. His father Earl converted to Catholicism late in life. He misses both his parents so much because they used to watch every game that he coached when they were alive.”

Through the years, Cristina said Cone has become more tempered and much calmer. “He’s still intense about basketball and after a loss, he’s very quiet and a bit irritable,” she said. “But with what he has learned from Maxwell and other life coaches, he’s good at putting it away, not worrying about things he has no control of and moving on. He applies life’s lessons to the game and tries to inspire people with his philosophy. He believes in planning and appreciates the trust that his team owner places in him. Without a plan, other team owners get impatient and put a lot of pressure on coaches to win right away. Tim believes it’s important to communicate with owners and players what he has in mind for the team as a plan.”

While Cone’s life revolves around basketball, it’s not the only thing that consumes him. “Tim gets up early every morning to play tennis at the Alabang Hills courts with Buboy Garovillo, Randy Villanueva, the Tinio brothers and others,” she said. “That’s two hours of doubles starting 6:30. Once a week or once in two weeks, he plays golf. We love to watch movies and at home, we enjoy series like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Game of Thrones.’ We slept at 5 a.m. the morning after winning Game 5 but Tim was on the tennis court at 8.”

Cristina said the recently concluded Governors Cup was a gruelling grind. “It was like packing three conferences into one,” she said. “The team went 29 straight days with a day off, that’s a month without rest. It was exhausting for everyone. On the day of Game 5, we were all very quiet at home, even the helpers were like zombies. It was down to one final game. We could sense the tension but Tim always tries very hard not to bring the stress home.”

At the moment, Cone is in Las Vegas watching the NBA Summer League. He’ll spend 10 days reconnecting with NBA contacts like Miami coach Erik Spoelstra and Dallas Mavericks scout Jim Kelly, a former PBA coaching consultant and TV analyst. Cristina left Manila last night and will join Cone in the US with their children Nikki, 22, Kevin, 18 and Trevor, 8. They’ll visit Nikki in Washington, D. C. where she is a sophomore law student at American University. Kevin, a former Brent varsity cager, will enrol at Santa Clara University in California this schoolyear.

“Tim is Filipino by heart,” said Cristina. “He was born in the US but came here when he was eight or nine with his parents. He went to a public elementary school in Quezon where his father worked then to high school in Manila. Tim finished at Georgetown University with an economics major and a literature minor. He worked for a bank in San Francisco after graduation then came back to Manila to write a novel. For a while, he did marketing work in a meat business. He’s always been passionate about sports and he likes to analyze statistics. He became friends with Fred (Uytengsu) and started to share some basketball ideas with him. Fred would pass on the ideas to his Alaska coaches and they worked. Eventually, Tim was invited to coach Alaska and that was it. Today, Tim is able to read Filipino and talks to his players in Taglish. Some players talk to him in Filipino and he understands. The Philippines is his home and it’s where he has spent the best years of his life.”