Cricket Australia may hire a foreign coach: Pat Howard
Pat Howard said Australia never had a foreign coach and its time to bring in a fresh perspective to the search
By CricketCountry Staff
Melbourne: Oct 14, 2011
Cricket Australia have hinted that they may appointing a foreigner as the coach of the national team.
The newly appointed general manager Pat Howard will play a key part in handpicking Tim Nielsen’s replacement.
Australia’s cricket team have never had a foreign head coach and Howard said he would convey a fresh perspective to the search.
“I see myself having a very strong role in that,” he said.
“I have done a lot of coach recruitment – ACT Brumbies, the Reds in Queensland, who won the Super 15 this year, and Australia. I have a fairly strong history, albeit in another sport.
“I recruited Robbie Deans. That was a fairly unique time. It was what was required in the game at the time and we went through a fairly rigorous process in being able to deal with that. You’ve got to recruit the best person for the job.
“That factors in things like culture, it factors in where the team is at, and you don’t take in any pre-conceived ideas. A big thing for me is that it’s not about the names, it’s about getting the capabilities that the game needs right now to complement the other people who are there.”
Howard said the new coach would simply be the best candidate for the Australia cricket.
“He’s got to be complementary and work with the captain,” Howard said.
“You can’t have antagonism working from day one – that’s never going to work. So the ability to have effectively what is the spine of cricket, the coach and captain, has got to work really well together. Those considerations have absolutely got to be part of how you fit that jigsaw puzzle together.”