Coaching is a lot more than just win/loss ratios and stats guys.
Coaching is about being a mentor to players, being able to communicate and develop young players of the modern era and much more. If the players have the mutual respect of the coach, then that is already key to long term success. No respect, no long term success. Simple as that.
Many saw today what is involved to coach a team and run the club. Did you see a bunch of rabble out there on the field at Concord? A bunch of misfits who looked like the Bad News Bears or Mighty Ducks? You saw a professional outfit who have their game on whether it be behind closed doors or open to public.
One main thing i usually consider when i look at a coach's ability is: Do players improve under that coach. If the answer is yes, they that is also a tick of approval towards long term success. If players become stagnant more often than not, then this usually sets off alarm bells for me meaning there is actually coaching techniques applied incorrectly or inefficiently.
As far as players who have come and gone under the Sheens regime, IMO i would say Tim has a fairly decent strike rate, regardless of a player's natural ability. There are a few that come to mind but not many player's careers that Sheens has ruined so to speak.
In recent times i have monitored Brian Smith's coaching abilities, and have found myself asking a few questions to make sense of what has happened to him and how he became sacked from a few clubs which have left plenty scratching their heads. From what we all know of him and how he handles himself publicly, he is a no nonsense type of coach, who is willing to call a spade a spade. Clean out the house with a dust broom and get his hands dirty.
I usually think this has a lot to do with hierarchy within a club and how the coach imposes himself within that club. For example, Brian Smith has gone to clubs and really turned their fortunes and momentum around in years gone by, and after he manages to do so, there is a following trend…they turn on him and bite the hand that feeds. From players to club boards. There must be a lot more to this that meets the eye. I've come to a few theories of how this may eventuate. It can come to either a coach who gives his players too much power, or a board who does not like the authority of power the coach has introduced to a club, to clubs who are hard set in their "traditional" ways and not willing to accommodate for change.
There are certain key people who should hold a lot of power at a club: coach, club CEO, club board, team captain. When the power of authority is not in the correct order, then usually this is the start of the in-house problems arising.
We all saw what happened when Longmuir was promoted from within, there were a few things which went under the radar to which has not even been made public. And not long after, with Humphreys at the helm, the club once again takes a sharp turn. From what happens within the club heirarchy, always rears itself in true form in public which can be seen when put under the microscope.
Now going back to Sheens, i sometimes question his selections, but they are just experimental or plans he has in place, which is fair enough. Many of which i don't agree on, but that is just personal. I've even thought he's lost the plot with what he does sometimes!! But boxes of approval are ticked for thinking differently and outside the square.
But as far as i'm concerned as he is the club coach, then i really don't see a need for warranting sacking at this stage. I believe he holds the correct amount of power at the club to make things happen. That is one of the main objectives for WT long term success. Many on here hail the great Humphreys for what he has already achieved since his inception, but you can thank Sheens a lot for what has happened too. Many of you don't see what is going on behind closed doors at the club to suggest otherwise.
If Sheens has the backing of the board, his CEO, his team captain and the rest of the key staff and most of all, the mutual respect from the players, then that in itself means he must be doing something right at the WT and can only be a good thing.
