The player exodus from University of Santo Tomas doesn’t faze Aldin Ayo.
Ayo, a champion coach in the NCAA with Letran and UAAP with La Salle before transferring to UST, isn’t worried at all despite the latest departure of Jordan Sta. Ana, who was a key cog for the Growling Tigers last year in the UAAP.
“Not really because we have new players filling in especially the rookies who are going to fit in with the program and system,” Ayo told INQUIRER.net when asked how big of a loss Sta. Ana is to the team.
Apart from Sta. Ana, Regie Boy Basibas, Justin Arana, Oliver de Guzman, Christian Garcia, Carlo Escalambre, MR Romero, Joco Macasaet and Ben Kwawukumey had also left the team.
Ayo believes UST is better off having new players who fit his system.
“It’s better for us to have a new set of players and we’ll try to make all of them fit into what we’re trying to do here,” he said.
“We don’t remove players but it’s the players themselves who wanted to leave,” he added.
Ayo said the players who left are just not up to the challenge of being a student-athlete at UST.
“They leave because they can’t do what they’re supposed to do even if what we’re asking them to do is very simple. Go to class and attend practice,” said Ayo.
“The players who left are those who couldn’t do it especially the academic part. They sensed that they’re going to have problems in their academics that’s why they opted to leave.”