PBA: Having Tiu, Toroman on Converge bench a ‘privilege’ for new coach

MANILA, Philippines—Questions started to rise when coach Charles Tiu was seen on Converge’s bench in the FiberXers’ win over Terrafirma in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at Araneta Coliseum.

Converge’s newly-appointed interim head coach Franco Atienza feels Tiu’s sighting coupled with Toroman’s presence on the FiberXers’ sidelines is a luxury that the team has and maximizes.

“Coach Charles (Tiu) is part of the coaching staff as a first assistant and coach Rajko’s (Toroman) there as a consultant,” said Atienza after Converge’s 127-95 drubbing of Terrafirma.

“These two guys have one mind and they’re aligned. It’s just a privilege to have them on the bench. If you have weapons why not use them.”

Working together is nothing new for Tiu and Toroman, who recently steered Strong Group Athletics to a gold medal finish in the 43rd William Jones Cup in Taiwan.

The two are also part of College of St. Benilde with Tiu as head coach and Toroman as consultant.

Atienza, who replaced Aldin Ayo at the helm, doesn’t see it as a problem whatsoever.

“The level of play here in the PBA here is high, how much more in the coaching? In the same way you build your players, it’s the same way you build your coaching staff. We just try to strengthen and compete with other coaching staff.”

“We do this as a team. Same way we do [other] things as a team.”