Now that I have coached rugby for five or six years I appreciate what makes a good coach. To boil it down, the good ones teach and lead by: fairness, selflessness, measuring what they don't say perhaps more than what they do say and just flat-out having presence.
Some other qualities:
- Optimism--they don't freak out over mistakes.
- Disciplinarians--they make good on threats but rarely threaten.
- Flexibility--they can make changes and adjustments on the fly.
He is huge. He is a cool cat. He never talks much about his own life in rugby. He doesn't have to. The few times I have ever seen him play touch or just mess around a little in practice you can tell that he has mad skillz, coordination and field vision. The tattooed hulk sees things and has one of the best dummies, regardless that he is the size of a refrigerator.
He builds confidence in young players. When he leads a fitness session or agility training or any other aspect, the kids hang on his every word. He rarely yells or gets mad. He is patient and has a good sense of humor. But do not cross him because he will put a hurt on you with up-downs. He offers weight training in the off-season to any kid.
John Somers, formerly of Baracus Rugby and a few other clubs, also makes the mark. Like Soni, he is gargantuan and possessed ungodly skills. What other giants, 6' 4" and multiple stones, could dummy, throw skip passes and set up players for scores while at lock?
John got you to think without preaching or yelling. The Irish man-mountain made you learn by doing, picking apart the problems and then reassembling in the classic whole-part-whole school. He made me realize that when you are in traffic that being "isolated" is one of the biggest sins in rugby. He was mellow and cool but, again, not a man to vex. He had to deal with head-strong hippie talent. (Think the Raiders of the '70's.) He has a Ph.D. in mauling and lineouts.
Barry Thompson formerly of the Olde Gaels and now Diablo Gaels U-23 is another coaching genius. In the years I played for Barry in the mid-90's I don't recall touching a ball too much in training. It's because he ran our dicks into the dirt with his "Fasta, fasta, fasta" laugh of his. For a few years when we were very good, and when I was a scrub, he punished us for two hours straight on pavement every practice because we could not access fields in Oakland during the rainy season. We were as much a track team as a rugby club. We just ran opponents off the pitch.
Regardless of your rugby pedigree, if you showed to training regularly the crazy Kiwi would give you a start on the A side. I use his method with our high school players before matches. Barry would talk to you for about 30-seconds in stretching before a match about what you needed to do in that game to help the team. He wanted you to play to your strengths to help the club. Every one on the Olde Gaels wanted to please Barry with how they played. Again, the guy was not a yeller.
I also learned a lot from playing under Harry Batten, coach of the Diablo Gaels. Practice never got boring under Harry. He had the beep test, grappling, ball drills, wheelbarrow races, tackling lines, tons of sprints, etc. I use many of his drills with the high school kids. Harry would also do some coaching for summer 7s. Like the others, he was/is selfless with the time he puts into rugby. The Gaels would not exist today without Harry and manager John Compaglia.
Honorable mention to two other coaches: Wally Davis of Franklin and Marshall College rugby,where I took up the sport, and Eric Whitaker who coached the backs of the Gaels one season.
Davis, built like Ichabod Crane, was a stork of a fullback who ran a local oil company in Lancaster, Pa. I recall getting our asses kicked at Lafayette College one spring. Never to be down in the mouth, Mr. Davis led us in rambunctious singing post-match to the tune that Lafayette kicked us out during parents' weekend. Wally introduced me to the joys of watching international rugby.
Whitaker was a former star at St. Mary's College and member of the USA national team. He weighed about 170 pounds soaking wet. His gift was to turn every drill at backs training into a contest. We had competitions to see who was best under the high ball or to determine the best tackler. It was as much fun to play under Whitaker as it was to play next to him. Whitaker, while playing flyhalf, once Jedi-mind tricked an entire team into stopping while he paused with the ball, wiped his brow and took off for the try.
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