OPINION: Is the ‘co-coaching pandemic’ sweeping across SA good?
South African football never ceases to amaze its consumers. So rampant are the innovations in our local game that one cannot keep pace. It boggles the educated mind and suppresses the genuine interest in the game.
There was a period of introducing technical directors, whose sole mandate was to be coaches in waiting. That technical director methodology subsided a bit, and slowly, more clubs changed the approach to suit their malicious agenda.
Recently, a new disease has surfaced. This sporadic and chronic malice is viciously attacking the coaching process. Its modus operandi is unknown. Yet, it exhibits an apparent intention to undermine the coaching career of the technical community. Although strange and robust, its DNA seems to be drafted by those uncertain and foreign to the coaching profession.
This local disease is called Co-Coaches syndrome. Kaizer Chiefs started this trend earlier. Chiefs entrusted legends Doctor Khumalo and Ace Khuse to steer the ship after sacking Muhsin Ertugral. The move was aimed at steering the wobbly ship and finishing the season. Whether it worked or not, both were later replaced.
Again, with the departure of Pitso Mosimane to join Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns opted for a dual coaching appointment, in which Manqoba Mngqithi and Rulani Mokoena shared the responsibility. To their credit, the Sundowns leadership clarified the impending disease.
Mngqithi was declared the decision-maker when deadlock erupted. Sundowns have been ferocious and magnificent, at least in the DSTV Premiership. Bar a few sprinkles of media reports about fights between Mngqithi and Mokoena; the results have supported this co-coaching approach.
When Jozef Zinnbauer left Orlando Pirates last year, Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids took over. Only God knows who is the leading man in that arrangement? Similar patterns have been witnessed at Golden Arrows, where the sacking of Lehlohonolo Seema led to the elevation of the duo of Vusumuzi Vilakazi and Mabhuti Khanyeza as the coaching leadership.
What this arrangement will bring can only be determined in the turn of results and maybe, the technical-tactical improvement of the players and Arrows as an enterprising outfit. But again, this crazy phenomenon reared its ugly head at Sekhukhune United.
The team announced the arrival of Owen da Gama (ODG) as the co-coach to Macdonald Makhubedu. This time, a team in its maiden season was bitten by the co-coaching virus. The bug carries with it confusion and uncertainty. No one cared to explain the plan behind this sudden pandemic.
Does the head coach, Makhubedu need extra eyes and ears on the bench? Does the team concede that its technical team needs experience? What will be the new role of Thabo Senong? Are the playing philosophies of ODG and Makhubedu compatible?
Who will make final decisions in case of tactical deadlocks? All these questions and many more points to a shocking scenario taking SA football by surprise. It highlights confusion among the team owners and board. It is confirming a brutal wave of co-coaching disease. It is proving a co-coaching pandemic sweeping across our game.
Co-coaching is rifer in the PSL than anywhere in the world. This disease illustrates panic, lack of trust and confusion among club owners and the Boards. Coaches and the coaching profession are in dire need of a vaccine to cure this co-coaching dilemma. Can anyone who cares or the powers that be, save the coaching fraternity from destruction by a self-made disease prevalent in the PSL?
