BY MICHAEL JUGADO and ABBY TORALBA
HANDED the reins of a young Converge squad aching to redeem itself from the horror of its campaign last season, FiberXers interim coach Franco Atienza, who replaced Aldin Ayo a little over two weeks before the season-opening PBA Governors’ Cup, vowed to soldier on.
“Biglaan talaga but we choose to move forward, and we have enough guys, we have enough good guys, we have a system in place, just a matter of continuing it,” Atienza said during the pro league’s Media Day at the Le Parc Event Hall in Pasay. “Maybe fine tuning it and from the management to the coaches, to the players, the instruction is to move forward and compete in this conference.
“Of course, no one is expecting that, but it is what it is, and it happens. I mean, in our industry hindi naman iba iyong ganito but we always look at the next phase, the next play, the next quarter, the next game, iyon ang gagawin namin this conference,” he added.
Atienza, a member of the defunct Alaska franchise’s brain thrust for 13 years before Converge bought it two years ago, said he was surprised at the sudden coaching change.
“It was so sudden and kumbaga in our industry coaches are hired to be fired so it’s out of our control and professional naman,” Atienza said. “We are professional and whatever transpired in that meeting, I don’t wanna speculate, your guess is just as good as mine, so I leave it to that.
“I don’t think so (bad blood). Nandoon naman sa press release natin, it’s amicable.”
Atienza will have as deputies Danny Ildefonso, Willie Miller, and Karl Santos, and will be ably boosted by the addition of active consultant Rajko Toroman and assistant tactician Charles Tiu.
Learning from Toroman, a former Gilas Pilipinas and Iran strategist, excites Atienza.
“I think he has a lot of things to offer and is on my side. I’m excited to learn from him also. Napakadami rin niyang idea. He’s been around. He’s been coaching for a long time and then mga successful iyong mga na-co-coach niyang club teams,” he said. “So, if we don’t take advantage of that wealth of knowledge that he has, we’re short-changing the game. So, I mean, he could be coaching by committee.
“There’s a lot of resources on that bench, in our bench, on my bench and I plan to utilize all those resources. At the end of the day, the PBA’s a different animal.”
While the jury is still out on Atienza, having a formidable staff would certainly come in handy in his baptism of fire.
