Head Coach Charles Tiu from the College of Saint Benilde kept it real with reporters during the postgame interview last December 7 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum after his team got eliminated in the NCAA Season 101 semifinals at the hands of San Beda University.
Uncertain Future But His Heart is with the CSB Blazers
The 4th Year Head Coach of CSB became honest with the media that despite wanting to stay with Benilde, he admits that there are days it is just exhausting for him when asked what his future would be with the collegiate team.
“That’s tough to be honest I still wanted to stay with Benilde. Obviously, job’s not done for us. But if I’m being completely honest, it’s always a grind for me. There are days wherein you’re like, ‘man do I still wanna do this?’ it’s tiring also [since] it’s a long season.”
The 36 year old head coach then proceeded to tell reporters that it wouldn’t be an easy decision to commit and stay with the team and be part of Season 102 since he has been receiving offers to take his talents elsewhere.
“We’ll have to see. I’ll have to discuss with my family, there’s also pressure to discuss with the business side, there’s also been some other teams from other leagues calling and opportunities there but obviously my heart is with Benilde. One of my goals is to leave Benilde with a championship, obviously this is another season that came up short but we’ll have to see.”
Wanting to Have a Mental Break First
More than anything, Coach Charles Tiu emphasized that his priority is to take a mental break first from coaching and revealed that he technically has 1 more year left in his contract.
“But technically we still have one more year under contract with Benilde, I believe. So we’ll see. I leave it up to God, I leave it up with the school. If they want me, we can always come back but it’s something you know, I always wanted to take a break. It’s [been] mentally draining and it’s a bit tiring also for this whole year.”
Discussion with the Graduating Students in Season 102
In connection with his future coaching stint with CSB, Charles also wanted to reaffirm first that his key players, who would be graduating next season, would still want to play for the team.
“I still feel that I wanna help these players and I just don’t want, if we leave, that the players will not be prepared for it financially or whatever it may be. I mean the goal is always been to help these guys. We’ll have to discuss also with guys like Allen [Liwag], Justine [Sanchez], Ian Torres, if they still wanna come back next year and play for the school.”
“This Whole Season Has Been a Bit of a Struggle for Us”
After getting swept in the NCAA Season 100 Finals by the hands of Mapúa University, CSB was placed in Group B, or the so-called ‘Group of Death’, this Season 101.
When asked by Rebanse how he would describe his 4th season with the team, he told us that:
“Well its a challenge, the second time we made the finals, [or] the year after the finals, seems to be a down year or a bit of a struggle. But this whole season has been a bit of a struggle for us. I mean, to be honest it didn’t seem like, we played to a level that we wanted to play and we were just kind of like grinding it out just trying to find ways to win every game.”
Throughout this season, there has been ups and downs for the green and white, yet they still got to be the number two team behind San Beda with an identical record of 9 wins and 4 losses after the elimination round.
Coach Charles then added:
“Again I told the team, that’s on me, it’s my fault that you know I have to get you guys to be a bit better collectively as a win and we just fell short so. It’s tough, again it was a challenging year, and things happened. From injuries, to sicknesses, to in-house fights or whatever it is but we’ve been through a lot.”
They earned a twice-to-beat advantage come the quarterfinals but the Mapúa Cardinals forced a do or die game in which the Blazers did manage to survive.
Now in the semifinals, after losing Game 1, San Beda’s Agjanti Miller sat out Game 2 due to a right knee contusion injury in which CSB capitalized as they won with the help of the game-winning buzzer beater of Ian Torres.
“I mean that’s basketball you know. This [game] wasn’t meant for us to win but we fought and I think that’s really what matters to us right now.”
Still Not Liking the New NCAA Format
Another question that Rebanse asked during the postgame interview was if Coach Charles likes this new format of the NCAA, considering how things went for his squad.
And safe to say after ending their season in the semis, he still doesn’t like it.
“Well I’ve never been a fan of it. I’ve said it from the start mainly because I wanted to play 18 games because to do that, I mean you’ve prepared a whole year and you wanna play more games with your team. You waited one year pretty much for this season to start and then the games are shortened.”
NCAA Men’s Committee from Jose Rizal University, Paul Supan, back then, said that this new format was needed for the league’s “innovation.”
“In the end, we got lucky because this best of three [series] gave us a chance to play this game today. We still had to go through San Beda anyways to win a championship and they beat us now, it wouldn’t have mattered if they beat us in the finals.”
