Its not the coach

In the last 10 years,India has had 10 different chief coaches for the national team three of them foreigners. Nobbs got the second-longest term of the lot,surviving for 24 months and 10 days. Rajinder Singh got the best deal,holding on to his chair for 27 months. Yet,neither Nobbs nor Rajinder could deliver the desired results. With neither foreign imports nor their Indian counterparts reviving the teams fortunes,the question is: are coaches the reason for the mess Indian hockey finds itself in?

Perhaps not. The truth is,the drying talent pool is the major cause for concern. The reasons for this are varied. The sport is virtually non-existent at the school level and is dying a slow death in its traditional pockets,such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. The fast-declining standards were visible at the national championships last month where 20-0 and 30-0 scorelines were routine. No outstanding talent has been unearthed in the last few years and coaches have often had to fall back on veterans. To be fair,Hockey India showed patience in persisting with Nobbs. But unless there is a larger pool of quality players to choose from,no coach will be able to bring back the glory days.