FOURTEEN years since he last roamed the sidelines for Mapua, Chito Victolero is back in his old stomping grounds, hopeful for better returns this time out.
"I'm very excited. Of course, maraming trabaho because I need to rebuild this team. But I'm very positive about the formation of my team," said the returning Cardinals coach after their 87-66 win over Lyceum in the 19th Filoil Ecooil Preseason Cup on Sunday.
Indeed, a lot has changed since Victolero was in the collegiate level.
When he was in Intramuros from 2009-12, the farthest he got to take Mapua was to the first level of the stepladder back in 2010.
Fast forward to now and he inherits a Cardinals team which is two years removed from a crown yet is grasping for identity following the dissolution of that same crew.
"We have a lot of new guys, a lot of rookies, so maraming kailangang gawin," he said, taking note of the core which has holdovers like MC Cuenco, Yam Concepcion, and Andrei Igliane, but is welcoming a slew of greenhorns in Jamal Diaz, Froilan Reyes, and Lance Nitura.
"It's a rebuilding process and with the talent that I have, talagang kailangan ko tutukan."
Victolero himself is a different coach in his own right, being in the pros for the past decade and even owning a title by leading Magnolia to the 2018 PBA Governors' Cup crown.
Victolero's student-athletes
But what he insists won't be different is how he wants his players to juggle the responsibilities of being a student-athlete.
"I want to develop players just like what I did before. I want them to develop not only on the skills of being a basketball player, but as a whole, yung pagiging student-athlete nila, their education. I want them to finish their studies, get a degree," he said.
"Yan nga yung ginawa ko before, mostly 80-percent of my players got their degrees. So I think, kung mapagtapos mo yung players mo at maging successful sila not only in basketball, but in life, magiging successful yung profile mo as a coach."
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