Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
University of Santo Tomas coach Aldin Ayo clarified that it was the management’s decision to prohibit Renzo Subido from further suiting up for Marinerong Pilipino in the ongoing 2018 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup.
Reacting to the news of Subido’s departure from the Skippers which broke on Wednesday, the fiery mentor also said that there wasn’t any ulterior motive behind Growling Tigers’ move to call the 22-year-old guard back to España.
“The management has been telling Renzo even before the start of the D-League conference to no longer pursue playing there. Other players were also told because the management wanted for us to be complete in our practices,” he said.
Ayo shared that attendance has been one of the problems for UST since he took over, and that was exactly what the management wanted to address as it wanted the Growling Tigers to be focused in their preseason preparations.
“We’re in the process of establishing our system and the first step there is for us to have a complete attendance. We can’t implement that if we always miss a lot of players in our practices,” he said.
“We consider our players’ time, not just with the team but also their academics. And (IPEA director) Fr. Jannel Abogado is very hands on with the team and he can see those problems with our attendance, so he said that the players should make sacrifices and let go of their extra-curricular activities.”
Subido has been with Marinerong Pilipino since the 2017 PBA D-League Foundation Cup, but truly made his mark this conference when he became the team’s the starting point guard and averaged 10.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 18 minutes this conference.
Though Ayo understood where Marinerong Pilipino is coming from, he said that he has no choice but to follow the management’s orders.
“I feel for coach Koy, especially that they’re in the semifinals. And it’s hard to not have a player like Renzo. But my hands are tied because it was really management’s decision,” he said.