As Jacobs reassessed his future, an invitation to visit Manila fell on his lap. Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. was appointed project director for basketball by Ferdinand Marcos. Having effectively sidelined then FIBA and BAP President Gonzalo "Lito" Puyat, Cojuangco sent BAP secretary-general Honesto Mayoralgo to the US to look for an American coach who could reinvigorate the sport in the Philippines. Mayoralgo was an Ateneo graduate who tapped his contacts in Jesuit schools to seek recommendations and was pointed at Jacobs' direction.