Coaching

What makes a great coach? The six nations has ended and Ireland have been gloriously crowned as grand slam champions after sixty one long years. What made Declan Kidney take a group of players that have been around for ten years and so often disappointed, champions. The players are the same the support staff are the same, only the head coach is different. Has the coach made this much of a difference?


It seems appropriate to be talking about coaching as a film about Brian Clough has just been released. Brian Clough as a manager did the unthinkable by taking two small provincial town sides in Derby County and Nottingham Forest to the absolute pinnacle of the game of football. In the age of the premiership and the dominance of Manchester United et al, this seems almost fantastical. Nobody could quite understand Clough's genius as a manager. He rarely saw his players on a weekly basis but performed miracles.


The concept of the personality of the coach came from America. In the rest of the world the coach was the guy who picked up the kit at the end of the game. In fact in Britain it was considered unsporting to have a coach in case you gave yourself an advantage. Vince Lombardi was the first great coach. Originally a highly successful college basketball coach in a men's catholic college he became the great head coach of the Green Bay Packers. In English football the first great managers were all from the industrial heart of Scotland. Busby, Stein and Shankly all these men created a legacy and great clubs in Manchester United, Celtic and Liverpool. All these clubs were built on the force of these mens coaching personalties. What made all these people great coaches


There is no common thread between all these men, all these managers or coaches. The best place to look really is the players who play under them and that is where the link is formed. Every player who has played under what they consider to be a great coach or manager has respect for these coaches. Also if any of thee coaches loses the respect of these players they are cut off quickly and without sympathy. Witness David Beckham and Alex Ferguson at Manchester United as soon as he became bigger than the club he was out.


The point of this blog is too say no coach has any kind of monopoly on the skills of coach. Different coaches work well with different people. The true test of a great coach is building a legacy and long periods of success as well as passing that legacy on to the next generation of coaches.