Local coach for Bafana? Nyet

So with Carlos Alberto Parriera’s tenure as Bafana coach at an end, questions are inevitably being raised as to who should succeed him in accepting Safa’s poisoned chalice.

As is usual the clamour is growing for a local coach to succeed Parreira. This of course is based on nothing but misguided patriotic fervour. Of course there are the usual arguments about national pride (seemingly winning is not a factor here) understanding local conditions (quite useful since the Bafana squad is all locally based, right?) and of course the perennial favourite — “our playing style”. Yes, the mythical playing style that no-one has seen reaping any rewards on local fields in almost a generation.

So all in all, a pile of jingoistic crock.

Two men stand out a favourites for the post; his current assistant Pitso Mosimane, and the man who succeeded Mosimane as coach at SuperSport United, Gavin Hunt. There are some clamouring for Gordon Igesund, the man with four PSL titles with as many different clubs to his name. But his near crumbling under pressure at Orlando Pirates and Sundowns where he almost threw away seemingly comfortable league leads, certainly casts doubt over his ability to handle high profile jobs.

Now Pitso Mosimane is one of the greatest players SA ever produced. He also was a successful foreign export in an era when going overseas was a pipe dream for all but the cream of SA’s crop. He also played for Bafana in the early days of readmission into international football. As a coach he took SuperSport United from a well-funded also-ran into a team that regularly competed for cup honours and made a bold statement in the league. He has been part of the Bafana set-up since 2006 working under Ted Dumitru and both Carlos Alberto Parriera and his compatriot Joel Santana. Thus he is well versed in the rigours of international football and the political machinations within Safa.

Gavin Hunt had a distinguished if low profile career at Cape Town club Hellenic. He also has had a decent career as coach — winning three consecutive league trophies with SuperSport United, the 2004 Absa Cup with Moroka Swallows and Coach of the Year with Black Leopards and Supersport United. He also gained promotion with unfancied Seven Stars before their merger with Cape Town Spurs to form Ajax Cape Town.

Hunt’s three league titles have seen become something of a media darling and a commentators favourite for the Bafana nod. Three consecutive league wins is impressive, and coaching a team linked to a major broadcaster doesn’t hurt. Until you look at the numbers behind the story that is. And they make for grim reading.

Take for example the fact that SuperSport United (SSU) have never won more than 16 league games in any of their league triumphs. Or that in those three league triumphs they average 1.51 goals scored per game and 0.7 conceded. That’s a 53% win ratio and a goal difference below one a match. Three years of winning being a 50/50 either way. With the same coach and largely the same squad. While finding a player of the calibre of Teko Modise surplus to requirements only to see him flourish at Orlando Pirates. Points accrued per game? 1.88. Dominant or average?

By contrast the Sundowns dynasty of the late 1990s won 63% of their games, scoring 1.82 goals a game and conceding less than 0.8 for a goal difference of exactly 1 a game. Points accrued per game? 2.14. this over a 34 game season. With two different coaches at the helm. Gavin has been securely ensconced in his job, a credit to Khulu Sibiya’s sound management if nothing else.

Now that doesn’t take away Gavin’s wins, but it does beg the question, are SuperSport United great or merely the least rubbish of a putrid league? And can Gavin’s league record be used as justification for taking the reins in a national side with Bafana’s ambitions? I personally feel that if we are to stubbornly go for a local coach then let’s take the man who has been in the system and learnt from one of the best coaches we have had in Bafana’s 18-year history. If not, let’s take our flag tinted lenses off and accept that we still need to look outside our borders for a capable hand.

Maybe in time local coaches will come to prove themselves. I certainly believe Gavin Hunt and Pitso Mosimane can grow into a capable coach for the national job, but not just yet, and after a decade of failure, Bafana cannot be used as a coaching incubator anymore.