Does Reputation Means More Than Results?

It must be very hard for cricket teams to appoint the right coaches. 

With so many ex-players now going into coaching and ever-increasing roles to be filled, there is sometimes a tendency for too few quality coaches but a large number of first-timers, chasing too many coaching jobs. The names go round and round sometimes, often without a deeper probing into whether the name concerned is actually suitable for that role.

On the one side there are the cricket authorities and teams who are dazzled somewhat by a reputation. On the other side there are coaches, many recently retired, who played but may not understand what the day to day role involves in developing talented players.

If I hold a specific coaching badge it doesn't mean I am the right choice. It should be about seniority of coaching, experience... and dare I say it... good old fashioned results. If you are going to work in the sub continent, it might help to have experience of expectations, boards, fans and players so you are not surprised. Equally, those appointing coaches to teams should have a deeper insight into who they appoint rather than a cursory glance at a CV - or where a coach comes from.

If you are a coach from Australia your stock has been very much elevated during the past 10 years. The green and gold passport carries a premium - particularly for the IPL, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh coaching assignments. Rightly or wrongly "all that glitters is green & gold" and the methodology of Cricket Australia is being widely exported around certain parts of the globe almost exclusively. It looks unlikely to change sometime soon.

But world-best practice involves taking things from different areas and blending them into something greater than a sum of its parts. It requires an understanding that there is always something better and always something to be made a higher quality. "Don't let success get in the way of improvement" and when you stop learning, you cease being an educator yourself.

The hardest thing to define is how a coach man-manages and understands the technical aspects of his chosen skill. If you are able to handle people from a variety of different backgrounds and then are adept at developing their skill levels, you have all the assets you'll ever need as a coach. Get that wrong and your CV will be quickly filled with either unsuccessful long stays or if the team is good, moderately successful short ones.

People often confuse experience with results, and reputation with ability. And that, is also likely to continue. 

Message to boards and team owners: delve deeper than a CV, passport and playing record

Message to coaches: keep open to new ideas, developing your skills and the possibility of getting an Aussie passport