Mooney stays on at relegated Otago
The Otago Rugby Union has opted to retain Phil Mooney as head coach, despite a disastrous 2010 season which saw them finish last in the NPC and relegated to the second tier championship next year.
The announcement, made on Friday, follows comprehensive review done by the ORU of the Union’s 2010 NPC campaign.
The recommendations from this review will see a revised coaching structure.
Mooney will get a co-coach and some additional specialist coaching resources made available.
One of the key areas of focus for the review was around the performance of the Otago NPC team.
An internal self review of the season was conducted by the coaching staff, alongside a season review completed by an appointed board sub-committee.
“No one was happy with the season outcome of the NPC team and there were several areas that were considered deficient that needed addressing to turn around the team performance for 2011,” ORU Chairman Wayne Graham said in a statement.
“The end of season review phase is not a simple process and it has taken some time to achieve the desired end state that we are now at,” added Graham.
While Mooney will have a co-coach and some additional specialist coaching resources, there will also be a board appointed sub-committee that will oversee the coaching throughout the season and there will be steps taken to ensure the support structure and resources are in place earlier.
At this point in time, neither the co-coach nor the coaching sub-committee have been identified and further work is already underway on both fronts.
The other significant change is around the union’s management structure.
With the change in relationship between the Highlanders and ORU and the focus on moving to the new stadium in Dunedin in 2011, a complete review of the structure, roles and responsibilities of the business has been conducted.
The establishment of a separate management structure for the Highlanders franchise has allowed the ORU board to disestablish the role of CEO that sat across both organisations and reappoint Richard Reid to the role of General Manager of Otago Rugby.
“This is a significant change in the structure of our organisation, which will have immediate impact,” Graham said.
“The increasing demands of Super Rugby make a joint CEO role across both businesses unrealistic for one person to deliver.”
