Coaching - who'd wanna do it? I can - said Bernard Jackman

From a report in the Irish Independent - an interview with Bernard Jackman that sheds some light on what you need to make it as a coach....


"It was the golden generation - Munster and Leinster lifting the profile of the game in the 2000s, eventually leading to Ireland cracking the Grand Slam ceiling for just the second time in 2009.


Ten years later, Leo Cullen is the head coach at Leinster and Ronan O’Gara holds the same position at La Rochelle. Geordan Murphy is Leicester through and through. That’s it. 

It has not spawned a flow of coaches up through the system to Ireland where assistants John Fogarty and Richie Murphy are outnumbered by Englishmen Andy Farrell, Mike Catt and Simon Easterby, the ex-Ireland flanker, who discovered the game at Ampleforth College and Harrogate RFC.
Moving down into the Irish provinces, Cullen is joined by South Africa’s Johann van Graan, England’s Dan McFarland and Australia’s Andy Friend as provincial lead coaches.

Overall, there are more English coaches (7) in the system than Irish (6) with South Africa (3), Australia (2), New Zealand (2), Wales (2) and Argentinean Feilipe Contepomi completing the list of 23 senior professionals.   No Brian O’Driscoll. No Shane Horgan. No Denis Hickie. No Paul O’Connell. No David Wallace. And on it goes. 
"Generally, the majority of Irish rugby players have other options when they finish playing. They don’t need to go coaching," said Bernard Jackman, the ex-Grenoble and Dragons head coach. 

"Irish players are very well educated, whether it comes from personal education or through the Rugby Players of Ireland push for education during your career.
"A lot of players have good mentors, who bring them into company life, while they are still playing. 
"They know where they want to go. They are very switched on."   They have serious post-rugby options in what is an education-driven, and oftentimes, middle-class sport. 

For instance, Jackman is currently working as an account manager with Refinitiv, a global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure. 
Cullen and O’Gara have turned away from alternative, more lucrative business options, presumably, for the love of the game. 
"Coaching is an unbelievably volatile, unstable way of making a living," said Jackman. 
"It is a much easier lifestyle for a single person with no family to worry about."
For someone like O’Driscoll, there is a very real consideration of how potential underperformance as a coach could undermine his brand. 
"That is absolutely the case, if you can commercialise your brand in other ways," confirmed the ex-Ireland hooker.
"Take Martin Johnson, a non-Irish example, his brand has been damaged massively by coaching England. 
"He is the only England captain to have won a World Cup. But, he is nowhere near as prolific in the media or on the after-dinner speaking circuit as Clive Woodward, the only England coach to win a World Cup. 
"The potential of failing in coaching could certainly damage someone’s brand." 
Jackman did not have to contemplate such a financial injury as a self-confessed "journeyman" player, opting to leave Ireland to enter the professional circuit.
"I think there are fellas in Ireland, who would love to coach abroad, but are waiting for the phone to ring. That’s not going to happen," he said.
This is where a salesman’s instinct underpinned what appeared to be Jackman’s sudden arrival as defence coach to French club Grenoble in 2011. 
The man has a neck as thick as a rhinoceros and he used it to bull his way into the French Top-14.
"I’ll tell you what I did. I did a Skype interview. I sold how I saw a defensive system working and how I was going to coach it."
Had you ever coached defence?
"No. Never. No.
"But, what I did do was tell them that if they gave me the job, I would jump on a plane to New Zealand and spend four weeks there, being mentored by Super Rugby defence coaches."
Had you been in touch with any Super Rugby clubs before the interview?
"No. Never. No. The hard part was getting the job. Then, I had to get the experience," he said.
"I asked Brent Pope, who is a good mentor to me, could he help me because I needed to go to New Zealand for four weeks to spend time in a Super Rugby environment.

"He rang Jamie Joseph, an old teammate of his, who was at the Highlanders. He looked after me for the first week. 
"They were going on tour to South Africa, so Jamie rang up Todd Blackadder and I went to Crusaders. They took me in for a week and were unbelievable. 
"They sent me to the Chiefs for a week and, from there, I made it to the Hurricanes for three days and the Blues for two, taking in all five clubs."
From there, the agreement with Grenoble owner Fabrice Landreau was struck to become the part-time defence coach.
"We shook hands and he promised, if we got promoted, I would be there full-time," shared Jackman.
It was a busy time, coaching at St Michael’s College and working as a rugby development officer in DCU. Already armed with a degree in International Marketing and Japanese, Jackman went back and did a Masters in Sports and Exercise Management at UCD. 
"Grenoble asked me to come over once a month for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, basically to do a review of the games they had played, coach defence and do one-on-one reviews with the players. 

"It wasn’t easy. But, it was great. It was definitely imposter syndrome all the time.
"You have to embrace that and look forward to the day you’re not a complete imposter. That’s a fact. 
"It keeps you on your toes if you know you are out of your depth." 
When the adventure in France ended with Grenoble bottom of the Top 14 in 2017, Jackman popped up as head coach at the Dragons. 
"When I went to Grenoble, I had Italians, Romanians, Germans, Irish coaches come over; the same at the Dragons," he said. 
"I believe the greatest gift you can give as a coach is to open up your doors to other coaches, let them come in and observe, learn. It was phenomenal. 
"The Kiwis aren’t worried about sharing information because they are already planning for the next step. 
"It is a really good attitude to have. As soon as you think you know it all, what you have is unique, you’re boll**ed. 
"That gave me real confidence."

O’Gara has led a charmed coaching life, built on making the right decisions from his move to Paris in 2013 all the way to his current position at La Rochelle. 
"It wasn’t easy for him going to Racing as a defence coach, dealing with two French coaches who were so tight from working together for so long," stated Jackman.
"Trying to influence change as an assistant is a very difficult thing to do. 
"He kept his head down, developed, increased his role and then moved to New Zealand. 
"He would have taken a big pay cut to go there. The salaries in Super Rugby are disastrous. 
"He wouldn’t have got that opportunity unless Dan Carter believed in him because he is good. 
"He got his first job on a mixture of selling himself and his profile.
"Since then, it is because of the reputation he has built through the work he has done."
O’Gara did not wait for the phone to ring. He made his moves happen. 

And Jackman respects that."



Who are the coaches/DORs that are doing well/not so well for your nation?

Head Coach/DOR
Mark McCall, Saracens 
Ronan O'Gara, La Rochelle
David Humphreys, Gloucester
Leo Cullen, Leinster
Declan Kidney, London Irish
Jeremy Davidson, Brive
Geordan Murphy, Leicester
Mark McDermott, Russia national team
Michael Bradley, Zebre
Conor O’Shea, Italy (nearly finished)
Allen Clarke, Ospreys (finished)
Bernard Jackman, Dragons (finished)

Specialist Coaches
Mike Prendergast, Racing 92 - Attack
John Fogarty, Ireland - Scrum
Felix Jones - Springboks (temp)
John Muldoon, Bristol - Defense
Conor McPhillips, Bristol - Asst. Coach
Girvan Dempsey, Bath - Attack
Jared Payne, Ulster* - Defence
Jimmy Duffy, Connacht - Forwards
Nigel Carolan, Connacht - Backs
Jonny Bell, Gloucester - Defence
Neil Doak, Worcester - Backs
Ian Costello, Wasps - Defence
Eric Elwood, Connacht - Academy

Sorry Pot, but because of teh font and format I am struggling to read that.

LondonTiger wrote:Sorry Pot, but because of teh font and format I am struggling to read that.

Don't know what happened there - trying to fix it.

Geordie is struggling, having been promoted way ahead of his skills, experience etc.
McCall is an excellent DoR.
Humphreys seems a good administrator.

Is Girvan Dempsey in coaching at anymore?

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Is Girvan Dempsey in coaching at anymore?

Bath attack coach iirc

Left out Conor O'Shea as well.

I think Geordie is a better fit for the Humphreys style role. Things behind the scenes are working better now the problem is the awful displays on the pitch.

Sin é wrote:Left out Conor O'Shea as well.

Nowadays COS is about as Irish as Tony Cascarino

LondonTiger wrote:

Sin é wrote:Left out Conor O'Shea as well.

Nowadays COS is about as Irish as Tony Cascarino

Na, O'Shea family is Kerry royalty.

No surprises there. Jackman was full of guff that impressed the board. That was pretty much obvious. Like rugby's own David Brent at times.

LondonTiger wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Is Girvan Dempsey in coaching at anymore?

Bath attack coach iirc

Coach for 'how to slice a kick out on the full then pull a face like you've jut been dumped by your first girlfriend'. Dempsey excelled at that as a player.

miaow wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Is Girvan Dempsey in coaching at anymore?

Bath attack coach iirc

Coach for 'how to slice a kick out on the full then pull a face like you've jut been dumped by your first girlfriend'. Dempsey excelled at that as a player.

Girv the Swerve had a few decent performances. But he's a handy coach. He was taking on the youngsters at leinster but Cullen was feeling threatened and next thing he was out of there.

Not a good sign. Strong men don't get rid of competence. Sounds self serving from Cullen.

Or it could be that there was no position for promotion for Dempsey at Leinster whereas Bath were offering good money and an international backline with which he could enhance his reputation.

That would be a lot more reasonable.

“Probably won't have Dragons fans very happy.”

I might be missing something but I didn’t read anything in that piece that annoyed me as a Dragons fan. I as waiting for it.... but it never came!

The Oracle wrote:“Probably won't have Dragons fans very happy.”

I might be missing something but I didn’t read anything in that piece that annoyed me as a Dragons fan. I as waiting for it.... but it never came!

You're right.  I deleted the comment from the OP.