Modern day coach needs to be all things to all men

A GENERAL or a chairman? The number of empty bainisteoir bibs in the inter-county hurling world is unusually high at the moment – at the time of writing Antrim, Galway, Laois, Clare, Wexford, Cork, Waterford and Limerick have changed or are about to change. There are merry-go-rounds, and then there are merry-go-rounds.

One of the buzz words being used with hurling management now is ‘the package’ – as in, the manager who comes with a ready-made backroom team, with particular emphasis on a skills coach.

We’ll discuss that in a moment, but another striking aspect of the manager search is the concentration on the leadership styles required by various counties.