Australia’s football coaching stocks have probably never been higher.
Ange Postecoglou’s successes in Japan and now at Celtic in Scotland have put Australia on the map. Alen Stajcic’s recent success at the Philippines and his long-time tenure with the Matildas also caught the eye of other nations.
The likes of Kevin Muscat (Yokohama), Joe Montemurro (Juventus), David Zdrilic (Genoa) and Aaron D’Antino (Arsenal) are all Aussie coaches doing well abroad.
But there is still a school of thought that we need to re-engineer the way coaches are developed in Australia. While FFA attempts to fast track ex-players into coaching talent pools, many feel this is not necessarily the right approach.
So where do we find the best coaches and how do we develop them?
There is a strong argument that school teachers would be ideal candidates to step into coaching, considering a coach’s role is to educate, just like a teacher.
The challenge is that coaching at the highest level is a full-time occupation, which makes it harder for a person to juggle being a school teacher as well. But it isn’t impossible.
We should look for school teachers, not just ex-players, and help them transition into a new career.
Former Galaxy United VPLW coach Robert Casha believes the idea has merit.
“Coaches need to be looked at more as teachers,” says Casha. “A good coach needs to be selfless if he’s to coach youth, you get no thanks for it. Often you get ridiculed.
“But with results-driven Australia, we’ll never develop another decent batch of kids.”
There are some famous names in the world of football that started out as school teachers. Champions League, La Liga and Bundesliga winner Louis Van Gaal had a modest career as a footballer but took up PE teaching before sitting in the dugout of the world’s biggest clubs.
Louis van Gaal (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Legendary Dutch coach Rinus Michels was a PE teacher at a special needs school before winning four Dutch Eredivise titles, a European Cup and a La Liga title. At international level, he took Holland to the 1974 World Cup final and guided them to the 1988 European Championships crown.
The likes of Roy Hodgson, Jose Mourinho and Gérard Houllier were also in the classroom before taking charge at some of the biggest stadiums in the world.
Closer to home, Stajcic himself was a school teacher at Hills Sports High before taking up coaching full-time. Sydney FC A-League Women premiership-winning coach Ante Juric taught at Trinity Grammar for five years. Current Young Matildas coach Leah Blayney is also a teacher at the prestigious Westfield Sports High, an example of someone juggling both professions.
Former Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink was a PE teacher at a school for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. Hiddink guided the Socceroos to their first World Cup in 32 years in 2006 and prior to that took Holland and South Korea to World Cup semi-finals.
“I think Hiddink did a good job,” says Casha. “The players liked him everywhere he went.”
If we think other sports, the legendary John Wooden, considered by many to be the greatest basketball coach of all time, was an English and PE teacher long before he won ten college championships with UCLA and coached future NBA Hall of Famers such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton.
In Australia, Carlton’s 1987 AFL premiership coach Robert Walls was a high-school teacher, as were legendary Hawthorn coaches Alastair Clarkson and John Kennedy, who have seven flags between them.
English rugby coach Eddie Jones was a teacher and a principal before coaching in the 2003 and 2019 World Cup finals.
“It is an interesting theory and one that is definitely worthwhile considering,” says veteran Sydney high school teacher and former junior soccer coach, Roshan Seneviratne. “Australian coaches tend to be ex-players who are pushed through the coaching system.
“A few become coaches within a few years of retiring. Logically this doesn’t make sense. Coaching is an art, not a transition.
“Logically it would take a coach years to learn their craft and understand the difference between playing and coaching.”
Some of the things a school teacher does would resonate with coaching. Discipline, using different styles, understanding your charges and their specific needs, session plans, research and the ability to transfer knowledge in a way that works for the person receiving that knowledge, are all key attributes to teaching.
While many coaches may be brilliant tactically or technically, the ability to make an impact on each individual in a large team is perhaps the greatest challenge.
“At the elite level, most players don’t need basic training on technique,” continues Seneviratne. “They need to know and understand how to get the best out of themselves and what role they need to play in their team.
“This is very much like a teacher in a busy classroom. How can he or she help their student hone and develop their talent, while ensuring they are part of a cohesive class?
“In football there are numerous egos at play. A bit like the kid who is a know-it-all. Then we have those who would much less train and prefer to party, sounds like the naughty kid in class. Then we have the talented player who is too quiet in the dressing room, a bit like the smart kid in class who is very shy. We have those who can influence their teammates, much like the cool kid in school with the big image.
“How does a coach manage all of them at the same time?”
Coaching at the grassroots and NPL levels comes under scrutiny, with FFA’s curriculum almost dictating how someone should coach. But a school teacher, who knows how to balance a curriculum and cater for individual and wider group needs, would perhaps be ideal to develop the next generation of footballers.
Joshua Makepeace
Roar Rookie
Good article. An opinion which was expressed clearly and logically, teachers being good coaches does make sense. :thumbup:
Redcap
Roar Guru
Interesting article, Janakan. As others have pointed out, there are plenty of other examples to bolster your point. Stan Gilchrist's another. Keep up the good work. :thumbup:
chris
Guest
Yes. Give no respect and gets the same in return but that's their fault.
Campbell Ross
Roar Rookie
Teachers don't bark orders at kids. Teachers can get frustrated when children refuse to solve a problem despite being taught how to.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Looking forward to a wrap up of the women’s grand final next week from yourself. Got my tickets last week and I am really looking forward to the game. I assumed your question marks related to my indication of teachers being ready to jump ship if offered a chance – they would, but what a high pressured and short term career coaching can be. The long lasting coaches are obviously brilliant operators.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Sorry I didn’t mean to have so many question marks next to my comment hahaha I appreciate your kind words :)!
Grem
Roar Rookie
In my pre football days I followed Newtown. My favourite winger was Bruce Pickett, who went to The Roosters - he was an absolute flyer. I'm assuming there's a connection with your title.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I'm guessing the police and teachers didn't like at least 2 types of people, too! NoMates and...
Grem
Roar Rookie
I was serious with my praise. I love reading The Roar ( football) and I love gleaning any football from wherever I can. Others probably already know but Box2Box is a great weekly podcast that discusses all football. Janakan and anyone else - What other "secret" football podcasts, online blogs, magazines, etc are there?
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Can see why you give yourself that nickname :laughing:
NoMates
Roar Rookie
When i was young there was two type of people didn't like, Teachers and Cops and not exactly in that order. I think the last thing kids want is a teacher barking orders at them on the football field when being in a class room with them is enough.
Pickett
Roar Rookie
Roy Masters, Warren Ryan, Tim Sheens, Des Hasler from the NRL. Vince Lombardi from the NFL. All school teachers.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Yep well said
Campbell Ross
Roar Rookie
At a Junior level, the ability to reduce complicated (multi-step) actions into simple steps, taught one step at a time, is crucial. First Touch is a good example to 'think through' - What is the first action required for a good first touch? Is it to do with a part of the body or the body position? Teachers routinely teach from the base up (think counting to ten forwards and backwards and how that leads into addition and subtraction). At a Senior level, the experience of playing at a professional level can be invaluable. However, the problem-solving required is something teachers can draw upon.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Funny thing, believe it or not I used to teach accounting at uni for a number of years. Then when i worked as an accountant and ran training sessions, I was able to utilise a lot of skills and experiences from uni to the office. I has to make the adjustment of course that at work you are dealing with colleagues not students so you had to be respectful of that and make the adjustment so you don’t treat your work mates like they were your students hahah Similarly teachers need to remember when coaching adults they need to adjust from children to adults. If you treat adults like children it won’t work. But a good coach will make that adjustment.
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Thanks JB I love reading your posts, I find them so educating and learn a lot. Fascinating story that
Janakan Seemampillai
Roar Guru
Thanks Grem I always appreciate your positive comments ????????
jbinnie
Guest
Janakan- Don\t know how long you have had an interest in our game but let me take you back to 1974 when a man arrived in Australia, a man burdened by the job of "coaching coaches", (note the slight difference). He was here ,not to coach players, but to coach coaches, or to be more correct, potential coaches. The man, Eric Worthington, was an extremely well credentialed school teacher, having taught at the prestigious Loughborough College.an institution set up with the main aim of studying and applying improvements in sport and it's career paths. Worthington's salary was being paid by the cigarette company Rorhmans and he started away by announcing that he would have 7 day coaching clinics all around the country. I was lucky enough to attend one of these live- in clinics at Tallebudgera where I spent some time in discussion with this man. He told me that the men he was hoping to attract to Australia were in fact school teachers who had a more than passing interest in football, and.as these men knew the fineries of teaching adults, it was his aim to have every state having such a person to plan ,organise ,and lead the education of coaches. To ensure success he started to bring people from England to take up these positions but as usual in Australian football, fate was to take a hand and with the government of the day banning cigarette advertising this man's salary disappeared, and so too did Worthington's plans for the future. Add to that the in-game sniping that was going on in high places saw Worthington and his "men" branded as "the Pommy Mafia" (assuming their only fault was that they spoke a common language( by men who should have known better. Worthington disappeared quietly from the scene and it was not until 2007, yes some 33 year later, that questions started to arise when an expensive "curriculum" was forced into our game and surprise ,surprise. the basics of this curriculum were based on the results of the "Loughborough College" coaching examination all those years before. Janakan ,the history of our game is not the most pleasant place to investigate in, Worthington, much later, was inducted into the football Hall of Fame for services to the game but to us who knew him we were left to wonder, A sad tale. Cheers jb.
Waz
Roar Rookie
School Teachers make excellent coaches. My club has several teachers coaching at multiple age levels from juniors to Open football and how they handle children and adults is different to “normal” people. This is definitely a good route to draw coaches from but they must still have a passion for the game of football and not just be good teachers.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Another interesting article. The variety in your writing is wonderful and it's great to read about different aspects of our game. Before football became my favourite sport to follow I followed NRL and, being a teacher myself, it always amazed me how many teachers coached first grade teams - Warren Ryan, Ted Glossop, etc. Teaching was also a career where there were quite a few people who were very good at various sports. There has been overlap between teaching and playing/coaching sport for many years. We certainly need more young footballers being developed and if FA or individual clubs could create more in school programs I'm sure there would be a few teachers jumping at the chance to be a part of it.