Questions raised over coach’s rank
IN the South African corporate and professional landscape, qualifications are supposed to be the meal ticket to a comfortable life.
That should be the case in cricket, but Mark Boucher’s appointment as Titans head coach last week without coaching qualifications raised eyebrows, regardless of his international playing experience.
The 39-year-old former national wicketkeeper amassed 147 test and 295 ODI caps from 1998 until 2012.
In an environment where most franchise and affiliate coaches have Cricket SA’s (CSA) Level Three and Level Four coaching, it seems like sand has been kicked in their teeth.
CSA cricket manager Corrie van Zyl said they didn’t give a mandate to franchises to hire qualified coaches, but a qualified mentor is recommended rather than required.
“We can’t force the franchises to appoint a specific person, but we always try to tell them there are coaches within the system who are going through these levels and the message sent to them is not a positive one,” Van Zyl said.
“At the same time, we also have to acknowledge that a person who has played first-class cricket at a high level who has something to offer needs to be put on a qualification as soon as possible.
“Coaching has technical and tactical parts to it that most first-class cricketers would have ample knowledge of, but when it comes to the man-management and the other softer coaching skills, those are the facets from where we implore that coaches have to attend Level Three and Level Four coaching courses.”
Makhaya Ntini’s recent appointment as Zimbabwe interim coach also had the lingering question mark of experience trumping qualification, but Van Zyl said teams had their own prerogative in selecting coaches.
He said they may need to look at their current model in terms of how they factor playing experience into their coaching.
“There are coaches with Level Three and Four qualifications and at times, you can’t even apply for a job because you don’t have first-class experience. Some of us have had to go through those levels. I don’t think Makhaya has a qualification, but there was something Zimbabwe cricket saw in him and maybe he spoke to some of the qualities that they needed. He brings something as an international player because of experience, but that’s not applicable to our system,” Van Zyl said.
“As things stand, regardless of your playing experience, you can only enter the coaching pipeline at Level Two. If you’ve played first-class cricket, you can enter at Level Two and if you’ve played international cricket, you can enter at Level Three, but that’s something we need to look at. Entrance starts at Level Two.”