Langer’s rise and fall highlight how broken coaching is in Australia

The appointment of Justin Langer to the head coaching position of the Australian men’s team after the sandpaper scandal was not universally accepted in domestic cricket circles.

It was seen by many as a knee-jerk reaction that had more to do with virtue signalling by Cricket Australia than a well-considered, deeply researched call etched in due diligence. No one at CA put their hand up to say they were the prime mover in his appointment. No advertisements were posted for candidates; no alternatives sought or interviewed. For some inexplicable reason, Langer was seen to have an unquestioned imprimatur to “fix” the amorality of the nation’s most visible sporting team.

Justin Langer’s coaching successes before taking on the national role were limited to white-ball cricket.Credit:Getty

He was presented as having different experiences than his predecessor, Darren Lehmann, yet they were the same age and played in the same Australian teams that were excoriated for their abusive style. He had also been an assistant coach inside the Australian dressing room for three years.

There is no evidence that Langer resisted the methods of those teams, so why was he the anointed one to repair the moral fissures? He was installed to bring control and purpose to a group that was spectacularly unsuccessful and seen as wildly ill-disciplined. There was only one direction for that squad to go.

Now he has quit the top job, it is important to dissect his reign, in particular how he got there.

Langer’s coaching successes before taking on the national role were limited to white-ball cricket. He won the BBL twice with the Scorchers, and Western Australia won the state 50-over trophy once. WA did not win the Sheffield Shield during Langer’s tenure, and haven’t won it since 1999.

Darren Lehmann and Justin Langer greet Damien Fleming during a Test in 1998. Lehmann and Langer both went on to coach the team.Credit:Reuters

These are barely notable qualifications to coach the longest form of the game at the highest level.

So, what was the attraction for CA?

Prima facie, Langer needed several more years of domestic coaching, preferably gaining experience in different environments to that of his home state. His methods at WA were decidedly “old school”. He was, and apparently still favours, intensity and rigidness, despite several attempts to change his approach. The fierceness of focus and single-mindedness that rewarded him as a player do not work for everybody and became a liability that senior players in the national team could no longer tolerate. Methods that had traction in the small pond of WA needed evolution to endure within the Test team.

Langer is clearly “coach focused” rather than “player focused”. That attitude appears to be at the centre of the player revolts that ultimately cost him his job.

Former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic.Credit:Getty

The coach of the very successful Matildas was dismissed almost immediately when he “lost the group”, ostensibly via a written survey of players. Alen Stajcic was never found to have coached poorly or behaved inappropriately, but Football Federation Australia (now FA) acted quickly and decisively, minimising Stajcic’s pain and public exposure, allowing him to receive a dose of respect for his achievements.

Contemporary players (indeed most young people) don’t like being told what to do. They need to be convinced, cajoled and steered in the appropriate direction. Coaching staff who micromanage players have short shelf lives, especially when the players are erudite, educated and intelligent.

The precipitating reason for Langer’s elevation to the top job was sandpaper, but perhaps the underlying reason was a lack of genuine candidates. The pathways to elite coaching in Australia have been fictitious for many years. There is a penchant for highly paid players to retire and then expect to become highly paid coaches immediately.

A number of players are rushed through level three courses. Elite players don’t fancy learning how to coach at junior or club level, and that creates liabilities in the long term.

CA has let coach education become an afterthought. The appointment of non-cricket, high-performance management was scorned and turned out to be quite destructive to the fabric of the game. Having knowledge and experience of the depth and breadth of Australian cricket appeared to be a handicap when applying for a position that required exactly those characteristics.

Senior coaches in American professional or college sports have decades of experience: they earn and learn their way to the top through years of junior and pathway programs. For example, the Atlanta Braves’ Major League Baseball staff last season consisted of: manager, 44 years experience; assistant coach, 51 years; fielding coach, 38 years; bench coach (an important assistant), 37 years. The least experienced of their match-day active coaching staff had been in the game for 31 years.

Cricket coaching at club level in Australia is eschewed by most first-class players looking to become professional mentors. It should be compulsory to work at clubs for at least three years to gain eligibility for the next level.

It is, then, far from surprising that the best two coaches in Australia have had decades of work at club, junior pathways and semi-professional levels before getting jobs at the elite level. In the current climate of national coach change, only one name has been constantly engaged as the next man, World Cup-winning (sadly with England) coach Trevor Bayliss.

Former England coach (right) Trevor Bayliss with Justin Langer before the Ashes Test at Lord’s in 2019.Credit:Getty

He began his coaching journey at the NSW age-group levels and spent many national championships locking horns and sharing information with Greg Shipperd and experienced mentor Ashleigh Byron. Shipperd, the current Sydney Sixers coach, is the most decorated domestic coach in Australian cricket history, mentoring senior teams since 1990 to 24 finals and 13 titles. When not steering the Sixers ship, he is engaged with Victorian pathway talents and was recently requested to help Tasmanian cricket through its coaching crisis. He would have been the ideal man to take over after Cape Town and is absolutely the right man to take over now. At 66 years of age, he has more than 30 years in elite coaching with four years in the IPL to boot.

Bayliss was near retirement when England called, so I’m not sure he wants another three to four years with a national team. But he would be excellent.

Jason Gillespie is the next best, with experience stretching from Zimbabwe to Yorkshire.

Those currently inside the tent include Andrew McDonald, whose methods and input are appreciated by the bowlers, and Michael Di Venuto, a batting specialist with head coach credits at Surrey.

There are no other possibilities with longevity in coaching or overseas international experience, so where does CA go from here?

Succession planning for the captaincy of the Test team was non-existent, but there is a chance, with the right people in place, that coaching can regain some primacy. Board members should not be deciding coaches futures when that is not their area of expertise.

The Australian men’s Test team has recuperated from the Cape Town fiasco and the underlying issues that led to that watershed moment. It now has a leader in Pat Cummins who commands in all aspects, but Tim Paine can, quite rightly, accept the lion’s share of credit for the rehabilitation of the side. His ability to reshape the players’ mindsets and the perceptions of the fans was brilliant. It is a pity his exit was so clouded.

Langer was a part of the new definition of the team and deserved a more stately exit than he got, but perhaps he was as much a creator of the dallying as he was the victim.

If Langer’s raison d’etre was to restore faith in the team, then maybe that job is complete and a new man, more akin to the needs of the modern player, deserves their chance. However, coaches, just like players, need a well-constructed framework to develop and learn.

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