The coach that always has his players' back will gain a longer-term reward — trust

There is a reason we put the clothesline in our back garden instead of outside the front of the house. It is one of the unwritten rules about house etiquette. Certain things are best kept away from prying eyes.

It is probably the same reason that the windows are closed if a tête-à-tête is brewing, this time to keep the contents of the argument away from prying ears. No one tells you about these things, but no one has to either.

From a coaching perspective there are also unwritten rules. In a time when the media themselves are at the centre of a story, given the recent attention about how soon is too soon to be interviewing someone following a performance, player or coach, there are certain topics a coach should never touch, well, two to be precise.

The first is: Never bait the opposition.

Never say anything that could find itself on the dressing room wall of the opposition in the weeks and days leading into a fixture.

Give them nothing.

Praise them if you can for what they do well and how well they’re coached. The kind of things they’ll hear but never listen to. But never denigrate them with your true feelings, the words and phrases you might use to describe them to your own players to identify areas you can hurt them. That stuff will be listened to, heard in great detail, and an entire campaign of war-like proportions will be built around those soundbites.

Every coach and player has a point to prove; their job is to find out what that is, your job is not to make it easy for them.

We have brilliant examples of this type of engagement from throughout world sport. Coaches who before a game will make you think that the opposition are the hottest of hot favourites regardless of rankings or history, reinforcing that their own team have a tough job ahead. Bill Belichick from the New England Patriots, Steve Kerr from the Golden State Warriors, Brian Cody from Kilkenny, and Peter Keane from Kerry are stalwarts of saying nothing while talking in an interview.

The second is: Never bury your own players in public.

Never use the media as a means to get to your own players, especially in this day and age. When emotions run high after games with questionable decisions from officials or poor displays from your own players, coaches would be best served to take a beat before speaking. There are plenty of things that can be said, but only some that should be.

Right now in hurling the talk is all about the interpretation of the penalty ruling, specifically the call made by James Owens in the game between Tipperary and Clare last weekend. Even the defeated Clare manager, Brian Lohan, managed his obvious frustrations in his post-match interview, when it was clear he was seething within. The general consensus is that the rule-makers have put the referees in an impossible position. So in this case when something out of your control like that impacts on your team’s chances, it is fair to say that Lohan is forgiven for making his feelings known about the situation, and well he did.

However, when your own players do not perform to their potential, something that would be deemed more in your control, and potentially reflect badly on you as the coach, the first port of call should be to protect them in public, whatever you may want to say to them within the private confines of the team environment.

Unfortunately, there are some high profile examples of coaches breaking this rule. None more so than Jose Mourinho who in more recent years has begun to use his post-match media obligations to challenge some of his own players when they have not performed to his liking. It is important to note that it is unlikely his pointed barbs have ever had the desired effect.

So why does he do it?

Is it an ego thing? A man who, for years would famously deflect media attention away from his players with a sideshow where he had a starring role. Whereas nowadays it is almost expected of him to have a pop off someone. He did it at Manchester United where Luke Shaw was his chosen target and again at Tottenham Hotspur with Delle Alli. No doubt his AS Roma players can expect more of the same in the season ahead if things don’t work out to his liking. Apparently, if things are not going well for a Mourinho coached team, he will not take the fall for his players anymore.

There is an expectation as a player that your coach has your back, come hell or high water. It is for this reason that players will often go through a brick wall for their coach because they know, instinctively, that should things go awry, they’ll always be protected by their coach. That doesn’t mean that they won’t be driven towards excellence by them, by whatever means necessary, to motivate them to becoming better, but the understanding is that that hard line will be discussed behind closed doors.

Whether coaches like it or not, what the public see on the pitch on match day is a reflection of the environment they can’t see every other day, so when the team performance is below par, the coach can feel the heat in a manner that makes for uncomfortable thinking.

But in this moment a coach prepared to take the heat and responsibility for the poor performance is one that is likely to set the foundation for a longer-term response from the players, rather than the short term effect of a public slap across the wrist.

Recently, when Waterford were beaten by Clare in the Munster hurling quarter-final, the Waterford manager Liam Cahill struck out at his players in the media for their poor performance, with repeated reference to how flat they were and how they had failed him. On the surface, it can be seen as a means to motivate the players. But like Mourinho, the evidence that publicly slating your players rarely, if ever has the desired effect.

If it does work, it is likely to be short term only, which some might say is all that matters now that they are in last chance saloon territory of the backdoor. But something far more important has been lost by his actions, and that is the unquestionable trust of unconditional support, publicly, for his players.

A coach suggesting that players have failed is ignoring the fact that those same players are working off your instructions and within the environment that you lead and create for their development, progression, and improvement. No doubt it stings when things don’t go to plan on the big day, but to point the finger solely at the players not only deflects responsibility away from you but reflects badly on your own capacity to be accountable.

The added concern is that nowadays when a coach hangs his players out to dry, it is providing fuel to the fire for keyboard warriors to jump on the bandwagon and add insult to injury online.

Coaches prepared to leave their ego at the open door, will free up their players to tune into what they need to hear when the feedback comes thick and fast behind closed doors.

? Irish Examiner

@DrSkillAcq