FEATURE: Critiquing Phenomenon of Hiring & Firing Coaches

Football they say is a game of emotions. Experience has shown that the emotions manifest either positively or negatively. The positive may be the high point of performance and vice versa. 

Negative emotions escalate when all is not well. Unfortunately, the technical department of any football club tends to suffer more. 

The radical hiring and firing of coaches is what I am talking about. Yes, the 2016-17 MTN elite season has ended, and the table toppers, and award winners are going bananas with jubilation. 

Ironically, some coaches who started the season with the heroic clubs or who groomed the players on today’s honour roll are dying in obscurity because they were sacked at mid-season.

You may want to know that, Bamboutos of Mbouda sacked three coaches before the season could come to a close. The first was Spanish national Zavieres Santos, and then came former Cameroon Coach Jules Nyongha and Bernard Fotso.

Poor results saw former junior lions head Coach Souleymanou Aboubakar replace Ebenezer Seukeng as Feutcheu coach. Prior to dismissing Mr Seukeng, the Bandjoun club had sacked Justin Kamgue and Casimir Mangue.

After leaving Bamboutos on mutual consent, Laurent Djam went on to replace Faustin Domkeu as the coach of New Stars of Douala.

Not even high-profile Coaches were spared. Remember UMS let go of Coach Bonaventure Djonkep.

After parting ways with expatriate trainer Lionel Soccoia, Coton Sport appointed former female Under 17 tactician Minkreo Birwe.

When the going got tough in June, AS Matelot of Douala flushed out Coach Wamba Petit Michel. Poor results also accounted for struggling PWD’s termination of Coach Joseph Monthe’s contract. In fact, the list is long and the time is short.

The firings are always geared toward one direction, the hope that someone else will alter their team’s fortunes.

A study published in the Social Science Quarterly suggests that these moves may not lead to the happiness the fans envisage. Football scholars Scott Adler, Michael Berry, and David Doherty found out that if you are a bad team, changing your coach doesn’t make a difference.  And if you are “not bad,” a new coach makes it worse.

However, some specific instances of coaching replacements have truly benefited teams. It is also important to bear in mind that the fact that a team’s performance improves following a coaching replacement does not necessarily mean that the coach should be given credit for the improvement.