One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on June 26, 2009, 01:27:11 AM
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Tigers call on basketball great
Caroline Wilson | June 26, 2009
BASKETBALL legend Lindsay Gaze has been seconded by Richmond to play a key role in its search for a coach.
Tigers football boss Craig Cameron, who yesterday unveiled his strategy for the coaching search to the Richmond board, stressed that the club would not be taking any short cuts in its two-stage interviewing process, which will also include former players Emmett Dunne and Greg Stafford.
The Tigers' detailed strategy comes despite the fact that the highly sought-after Nathan Buckley has declared himself a candidate for a senior coaching position next year and will be interviewed by Richmond and North Melbourne.
Richmond and North Melbourne, which has reportedly targeted Buckley as its No. 1 choice to replace Dean Laidley, will be searching for senior coaches concurrently along with, potentially, Port Adelaide.
The Power will make a decision on the future of premiership coach Mark Williams at a board meeting on Monday.
"We're not going to let any other clubs' timing impact our procedure," Cameron said last night. "We're convinced that this will throw up the best coach for us and the process will not be shortened.
"We're determined for this to run its course. If we try and jump at shadows and worry about what other people are doing, it won't work."
Caretaker coach Jade Rawlings has not yet declared himself a candidate for the job, but could be vying for the position alongside Tigers assistant and former captain Wayne Campbell. Cameron said the club would not be commenting on the identities of the candidates.
Richmond's first stage will feature a panel — consisting of Cameron, football director Tony Free, club psychologist Jeff Bond, Gaze and Ben Crowe, a director of business consultants Gemba — interviewing approximately 15 candidates after applications for the position close on July 3 — a date Cameron stressed was flexible.
A short list of four or five would be interviewed for the position in early August. Cameron and Free will remain on the coaching panel, while Crowe and Gaze will be replaced by Dunne — a member of the AFL tribunal — and the recently retired Stafford, who came to the Tigers from the Swans and now manages his own building company.
Richmond president Gary March and chief executive Steve Wright will also join the second stage of interviews.
Cameron said the club would also seek the expertise of coaching legends such as Leigh Matthews, who knocked back a position on the Richmond panel, and others before putting together its first list of candidates. He described Gaze, former Olympic coach of the Australian Boomers, as having "great vision and great mentoring skills".
"He's a great teacher and he understands people, and in the first stage of interviews we wanted to find out about people's personal qualities and not so much about hardcore footy," he said.
"The second stage will involve a much more intensive football interviewing process."
The system unveiled by the Tigers to find a coach is a far cry from its most recent full-time coaching appointment, where Terry Wallace was offered a five-year contract by the Clinton Casey administration without any other candidates being officially interviewed.
The Kangaroos' coaching panel will also swing into action in the coming weeks. Although Buckley remains the club's top choice, it has not ruled out any other candidates and prospective applicants are expected to include Richmond assistant David King, Sydney assistant John Longmire and caretaker coach Darren Crocker.
A raft of impressive assistant coaches led by Damien Hardwick, Leon Cameron, Ken Hinkley, and Todd Viney are also expected to be strongly considered by Richmond.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/tigers-call-on-basketball-great/2009/06/25/1245522936387.html