There are only two types of coaches the old saying goes, ‘those who have been sacked, and those who will be sacked.’ While a career in coaching can be a dream come true, it can also take a terrible toll on your health, family, pride and reputation.
In 2014 alone, we saw Steve Price (Dragons), Mick Potter (Tigers), Matthew Elliott (Warriors), John Cartwright (Titans) and Anthony Griffin (Broncos) all go. None resigned.
Nine coaches turned over in the three years prior.
Contracts are no more certain for coaches than players. Neil Henry was sacked six weeks after signing a one-year extension. John Cartwright departed with two years remaining on his contract.
Few roles are as exposed. When St George struggled in 2014, it was Steve Price who paid, and not CEO Peter Doust.
Each year, careers rise and fall. Some factors are under a coach’s control, but others are not. Was the season cruelled by injuries? By inherited salary cap challenges? Did a marquee player stay one season too long? Did someone backflip on a contract? Have players bought into the club’s culture? Are senior players positive role models? Does a director of coaching help or hinder?
Here we look at three perspectives on the coach’s dilemma. How can they exit the game they love on their own terms?
Study 1: Peter Sterling
Is the wisest personal decision to not coach in the first place?
In a stellar career, Peter played for Parramatta, NSW and Australia, and the NRL named him among the game’s 100 best players of all time.
He shifted into the media on retirement, starting with guest spots with Channel 10 and radio stints with 2WS, and published his autobiography in 1989.
His media career was always conducted on his terms. After a long and successful run with Paul Vautin on The Footy Show from 1994 to 2006, he opted to leave after the first show in 2007. When he returned to TV it was often with The Sunday Footy Show and more recently Sterlo on Fox Sports. He signed with MMM radio in 2010.
Although he’s now one of the game’s most respected commentators, he very nearly made the switch to coaching. In a 2014 interview with Peter Badel he shared what might have been:
“I was very close on a number of occasions. I pretty much said yes to the Illawarra Steelers. It was virtually a handshake deal but it just didn’t get there in the end…
“It was just before they went into the joint venture with St George, around the late 1990s. I know Bob Millward (former Steelers boss) was involved. We didn’t quite shake hands but in my mind I was going to ring the next day and say, ‘Yep, I’m on board’.
“Then the next day came and I said, ‘Oh, I need another 24 hours’ and they moved on.”
As he’s seen the toll coaching takes on his peers, he’s only felt better and better about the decision. He notes that he’s been in the commentary box for far longer than he was on the field, saying, “I have the best job in the world, and have had since I retired. I still go to the games. I go down to the sheds, I smell the liniment, I’m around the players and I go home and wake up the next day and the body isn’t sore. I could never give up commentary.”
To that end, Sterling said he had accepted that the window has closed on his coaching career:
“Absolutely. It’s gone. To be honest, I wouldn’t do it to my family. I don’t know how they (coaches) do it. It’s a 24/7 job, 11 months of the year. I would be one of those people lying in bed waking up at 3am with a notepad next to me writing something down. I would find it all-consuming.”
For Peter the coach’s dilemma was simple. Declining coaching roles lengthened his engagement with the game, and provided a relaxed Central Coast lifestyle that would have been impossible as coach.
In Part 2, we’ll look at Craig Bellamy’s decision to leave Melbourne on his own terms, and the coach’s dilemma now facing Manly’s Geoff Toovey.
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