Director Biff will have to prove his mettle, if picked

Ahhh … the age-old burning sports question.

Does a former player make a good manager based on his popularity?

Quite often former players are the most outspoken and the more they shoot from the hip – take Pat Symcox for example – the more
exposure they get.

And sports fans can easily side with them because they ask the right questions and say the right things to stir people’s emotions.

Besides the petrol price, there are few things that make a grownup’s blood boil like a losing team.

Former players with weak or no opinion at all simply don’t sell newspapers.

Readers want somehow to call a spade a spade by telling people the coach must be sacked.

Enter Graeme Smith, who is believed to be in line for director of cricket at Cricket South Africa.

He ticks the boxes … well, almost.

Smith has always been a fan favourite, whether with bat in hand or behind the microphone.

He has traded blows with the best on the international stage and has never been shy to speak his mind.

But now he might find himself in the unfamiliar position as a manager.

Yes, he hit many epic centuries in SA colours and the badge he wore meant so much to him that he went out with a broken hand at
the Sydney Cricket Ground to try and save a Test against Australia.

But this is a different kettle of fish altogether, requiring other skills, from technical coaching ability to management.

A successful sportsperson does not automatically make a good coach.

Lots of former players across all sports have tried their hands at management with varied success.

The best example of somebody who managed to pull off the feat with great success – in fact reaching the very pinnacle of his sport – is Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.

He started to dabble in coaching while still playing for the Cheetahs and only a year after turning his attention to full-time coaching, won the Currie Cup in 2005.

The rest is history.

Former Proteas opener Gary Kirsten took like a duck to water to the other side of the fence by guiding India to Cricket World Cup glory in 2011.

But for every Erasmus and Kirsten, there is a Naas Botha or a Paul Adams.

Leon Schuster might have constantly portrayed Naas as a flyhalf who could only kick, but he is still considered by many to be one of our finest rugby players in history.

Not only did he have much more potential than merely booting a leather ball through the uprights, he also possesses a gifted rugby brain.

Listen to the man on SuperSport – he knows what he is talking about.

But sadly, despite been given numerous coaching gigs, he has never been able to repeat his great success off the field.

Adams was also a fan favourite, but eventually lost an almighty battle with the players at the Cape Cobras regarding his style of management as coach.

If Smith gets the job, good luck to him.

The fans would want him to be successful and if he is, kudos to him for making the transition.

If not, we’ve got Symcox’s number on speed-dial.

Jaco van der Merwe is The Citizen’s Head of Sport.

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