Former College of Saint Benilde head coach TY Tang is proud to see his good friend and former assistant Charles Tiu do well in his coaching career.
Tang, who will serve as part of Tiu’s high-profile coaching staff at Strong Group in the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Championship, said he is happy to see Tiu do wonders for the Blazers in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The former De La Salle University playmaker served as Saint Benilde mentor from 2016 to 2021 with Tiu as his top deputy.
When Tiu took over, he led the Blazers to the best-of-three finals of Season 98 before advancing to the Final Four of Season 99.
“I’m happy for the whole Saint Benilde community because of what Charles and other members of his coaching staff and players are doing. I hope it continues up to Season 100 and they make it even more memorable by getting into the finals and winning the championship,” said Tang, who has deep ties with the Tiu family being the best friend of Chris Tiu back in high school at Xavier School.
At Strong Group, Tang will be sitting beside Olympic silver medalist Brian Goorjian of Australia and newly-crowned University Athletic Association of the Philippines champion Topex Robinson of De La Salle University.
Former National Basketball Association superstar Dwight Howard will be their man at the middle together with Andray Blatche, Andre Roberson and McKenzie Moore.
But Tang doesn’t mind.
“That’s part of our coaching journey. Me and Charles would always pick the brains of the best coaches, especially now that we have Coach Brian (Goorjian) and Coach Topex (Robinson), who just won a UAAP championship,” he said.
“Definitely, we will learn a lot from these coaches and hope we get better as coaches.”
Aside from the former NBA stars, Strong Group will also parade current Saint Benilde players in Justine Sanchez, Tony Ynot and Allen Liwag as well as La Salle stars Francis Escandor and UAAP Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao with JD Cagulangan and Justin Baltazar as part of the support crew.
Strong Group is seeking to bounce back from its quarterfinals finish in the prestigious event set from 19 to 28 January in Dubai.
