On the slow coach to nowhere?

MOROKA Swallows caretaker coach Fani Madida is not the first to express publicly a desire to become a head coach in the Absa Premiership, and he certainly won’t be the last.

Many of them want to progress in their coaching careers, but very few get a chance to prove themselves in the hot seat. The pressure to succeed nowadays means owners are less willing to take a gamble on an inexperienced coach.

PSL clubs typically are on the lookout for the usual suspects who hop from one coaching job to the next, which rules out assistant coaches, such as Madida, who can only sit in the hot seat as interim coaches.

Assistants such as Doctor Khumalo, Teboho Moloi and Eric Tinkler have been in that position for years now and it does not seem as though they will take on permanent head coaching jobs any time soon. It could be a reluctance from club bosses to elevate assistant coaches, or that some of them lack ambition.

“We tend to underestimate the coaches we have,” Chippa United chairman Chippa Mpengesi said.

“We as clubs put ourselves under pressure sometimes to please people, so we end up hiring coaches who don’t understand the culture.”

Chippa are riding high in the league right now thanks to interim coach Roger Sikhakhane. They have won four matches and drawn once under Sikhakhane’s guidance. But there is reluctance to hire him despite the team’s impressive form.

That’s nothing compared to Allan Freese, who was given a contract only after he won his second trophy with Platinum Stars last season.

“He (Sikhakhane) has done well, but we don’t want him to be bigheaded. We can’t commit because we don’t want him to relax. We want to reach 25 points by the halfway mark. If we win two or three more games then we will give him a contract,” Mpengesi said.

Pitso Mosimane has not looked back since Supersport United gave him a chance as head coach 13 years ago. He’s gone on to coach Bafana Bafana and recently became the first black coach to win the league title — with Mamelodi Sundowns.

Mosimane says assistant coaches need to work harder than the head coach, and must be patient.

“Assistants must get their hands dirty. They must analyse matches of other teams and analyse their own team’s matches. They have to be close to the performance analysts and the video guys and present footage to the coach,” Mosimane said.

“Some are happy to provide assistance because it’s a big club and it’s good for them financially. They might leave the club to be a head coach somewhere, but they might not get the same money and they are not sure if they will last.

“Sometimes people use their profiles. They feel because they played football they should get jobs. You must get qualifications.”

Kwanele Kopo, who was assistant to Mosimane at Supersport, says clubs need to have a long-term plan for their assistant coaches.

“Either they are being groomed to become a head coach or they are responsible for integrating the youth into the senior team,” said Kopo, who wants to be a technical director. DOCTOR KHUMALO: Assistant coach at Kaizer Chiefs