I had this great article on a blog forwarded on to me from a former assistant - Stu Riddle, who is now the head soccer coach at Western Michigan University.
A native of New Zealand, Riddle found this interesting comparison between Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson - regarded as the most successful manager in English football - with
Wayne Bennett, his rugby league equivalent in Australia.
Bennett was appointed coach of the
Brisbane Broncos in 1988, and built them into one of the greatest rugby teams in the world, winning six championships prior to leaving at the end of last season for a new challenge at St. George Illawara Dragons.
Bennett has also coached the national team of Australia, and was an integral part of the coaching staff as New Zealand pulled off a sensational victory at last year's World Cup.
The similarities between Bennett and Ferguson were illustrated in the blog of Paul Fletcher, and outlines the key components to having success-
Putting the team ahead of the individual - "the one underlying thing that has always got me across the line is doing what is right - doing the right thing by the team. It is a difference between the successful and the unsuccessful coaches."
Knowing when to re-create the nucleus of your team with younger players - "I liken myself to a headmaster at school. They might be with you four or five years but a time comes when they have to move on. There is a kid in grade eight and he or she wants the opportunity you gave the other person."
"I had to acknowledge how to sustain this, how to stay ultra competitive," he says. "I studied other clubs and saw how they made mistakes; they had been great but held on to players for too long."
"You have a 20-year-old who is not as good as your 30-year-old pro but you know that he is going to be, he has got all the right attributes, so you take a short-term loss for a long-term gain," said Bennett.
Trust and honesty - "You cannot deal with men and you cannot lead if you cannot be honest - it just doesn't work."
Fletcher's blog provided some keen insight into both Bennett, and the unique key components that both of them share. It certainly appears that expectations and demands placed on them seem to be key.
"The other common denominator for us all in long-term jobs is that you still have to be winning," said Bennett, a former Australian winger.
"You can have all the persona and everything else but you are still expected to get results - it might not be about winning the Premiership every year but you are still expected to be up there."
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