Big Movers in Coaching – Nov 29
Each week Coach’s Companion brings you 10 big moves from around the world of sports coaching:
- Baseball’s New York Mets this week hired Jeremy Hefner as their new pitching coach. The observation was made that, at 33 years old, he is young enough to be the grandson of outgoing pitching coach Phil Regan. Regan looks likely to remain part of the organisation in a different role.
- Canadian Football League outfit the Edmonton Eskimos (cracker of a name, hey) fired coach Jason Maas after a four-year tenure. Described as a “hot-tempered, heart-on-his sleeve head coach”, Maas departs with a 39-33 record during his reign, but failed to convince those of influence that there was adequate progression.
- Welsh rugby union outfit Ospreys are after a new head coach after Allen Clarke stepped aside. The former Ireland coach follows backs coach Matt Sherratt, who is also leaving. A glut of injuries and representative commitments have contributed to a horror start to the 2019-20 season.
- Tony Sanchez has been dismissed after five season as UNLV (University of Nevada, Los Vegas) American football coach. Sanchez had a win-loss record of 19-40 over the course of his duration. Despite limited on-field success, he was instrumental in off-field manoeuvring that led to a new US$34 million stadium.
- After a succession of controversies, Shane Flanagan has re-emerged in the National Rugby League as an assistant coach to the St George-Illawarra Dragons. He will officially take up the post in late December. Flanagan was deregistered as a coach by the NRL in 2018 for breaching guidelines set out after Cronulla’s prominence in the 2014 supplement scandal.
- Derek Shelton has been brought in as the new manager of American baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates. The club has undergone a major staff turnover since a 69-93 season. Shelton said: “It is going to be a fun environment in which we will all be held accountable to each other.”
- England rugby attacking coach Scott Wisemantel has departed and is expected to return to Australia. His shift comes after England’s loss to South Africa in the final of the 2019 World Cup. Head coach Eddie Jones will be on the lookout for a replacement ahead of the Six Nations in coming months.
- German football legend Jurgen Klinsmann is back in the Bundesliga after being announced as head coach of struggling Hertha Berlin. Klinsmann (pictured) coached the USA national men’s team from 2011 to 2016 but left after a string of bad results and failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Klinsmann, who won a World Cup as a player in 1990, replaces Ante Covic in the role at Hertha Berlin.
- Greg Blewett will relieve Jamie Siddons as South Australian cricket coach, with Jamie Siddons standing down for personal reasons. Fellow Redbacks legend Jason Gillespie has also been linked to the role, as uncertainty about Siddons’ future hangs in the air. South Australia are winless in 17 games.
- Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown has set his sights on a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo after replacing Andrej Lemanis as Australian basketball coach. Brown’s relationship with NBA superstar Ben Simmons appears to have been pivotal in the appointment. Brown previously coached the national tea, the Boomers, from 2009-12.
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