Jacobs was named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year for piloting the Loyola Marymount's basketball varsity to the NCAA Tournament in 1980.

Jacobs became an overnight hero at the Loyola Marymount campus in Los Angeles and there emerged a popular clamor for him to take over as athletic director.

Jacobs allegedly threw negative statements behind Lindsey's back and he eventually earned Cojuangco's job for the coveted and lucrative position.

Jacobs formed his first team in 1981; it had eight American players (Steve Schall, Steve Lingerfelter, Bruce Webster, Willie Polk, Eddie Joe Chavez, Jeff Moore, Dennis Still and Michael Antoine), two Filipino-Americans (Willie Pearson and Ricky Brown) and two local players (both from San Beda - JB Yango and Frankie Lim).

The starting unit for that team included the 7'0 Steve Schall, the 6'8 Dennis Still, the 6'3 Jeff Moore, the 6'1 Eddie Joe Chavez and the 6'0 Ricky Brown.

This 1981 team was made up mostly of MICAA and National Seniors players like Ricky Relosa, Bokyo Lauchengco, Itoy Esguerra, Ed Cordero, among others.

The gold medal was won with President Marcos himself watching at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, witnessing the near brawl from the solid kick made by Itoy Esguerra in the face of a Malaysian opponent in the finals.

The 1980 team included players like Zaldy Latoza, Elpidio Villamin, Bay Cristobal, Rey Lazaro among others and handled by Turo Valenzona.

The only deserving players in Jacobs' list, as far as Philippine basketball leaders then were concerned, were Hector Calma of Adamson University, Louie Brill and Elmer Reyes of San Beda College.

It was contended that the team Jacobs formed was weak since dominant collegiate players like Joey Loyzaga, Terry Saldaña and Sonny Cabatu were left out.

In the finals, the Philippine side featured Alfie Almario's timely sniping from the outside, Hector Calma's masterful quarterbacking, and Teddy Alfarero's matching up well against China's star forward Wang Libin.

During the awarding ceremony, Imelda Marcos went to Calma and Almario and gave both players a hug with kisses on both sides of cheeks that drew an emotional applause from the crowd.

The team didn't qualify for the quarterfinals and ended up in the classification round, where they beat the remaining rivals convincingly despite playing only their 9 Filipino players.

Ron Jacobs later admitted that he did not instill in his players' minds to give their best for the World Cup for Champion Clubs, as they treated the tournament as just part of their preparation for the coming Asian Basketball Confederation Championships.

But Jacobs' boys pulled off one surprise after another as Moore worked like a horse, Engelland was at his pinpoint accuracy best, Calma was at his prime handling the court generalship role, and the tandem of Samboy Lim and Allan Caidic doing wonders both inside and outside.

In the finals, the team found itself to be in a dilemma, as center Dennis Still was hobbled by a bum knee while Jeff Moore encountered some back problems.

But showing true guts and courage, the two players overcame the odds, and, with Engelland sniping away from the outside with 42 points and Lim, Caidic and Franz Pumaren doing equal damage from the arc, the SMB team won against the Americans overtime of the final, 108-100.

In one semifinals tiff held at the ULTRA, Jacobs' went up against Robert Jaworski's Ginebra San Miguel in what may be considered as one of the best PBA games of all time.

Ginebra lost Robert Jaworski via a busted lip midway in the second quarter on account of a wayward elbow from Moore that forced him to rush to the emergency room of the nearby Medical City in Pasig.

Similarly, Jacobs had difficulty finding an antidote to Michael Hackett, unlike Manila Beer's Francois Wise who Still can dominate one-on-one.

The team finally regained its ABC Championship, last won in 1973 when the tournament was in Manila, on January 5, 1986, with Samboy Lim and Allan Caidic leading in the scoring end.

In the 1994 Asian Games held in Hiroshima, the Philippine national team was composed mainly of players from the 1994 PBA All-Filipino champions San Miguel Beer.

Coach Norman Black backstopped a team featuring Allan Caidic, Ato Agustin, Dong Polistico, Alvin Teng, Hector Calma plus three players from Purefoods (Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codinera, Rey Evangelista), 1 player from Alaska (Johnny Abarrientos) and 2 topnotch amateurs (Marlou Aquino and Kenneth Duremdes).

In that only season as head coach, Jacobs piloted SMB to two third-place finishes - an outstanding feat especially considering the lineup that the Beermen possessed.

A few weeks after, Jacobs was being contemplated upon by then PBA Commissioner Jun Bernardino to handle the 1998 Centennial team that was tasked to win the gold at the 1998 Asian Games in Thailand.