It’s welcome if overdue news that the USA Eagles at last have a new head coach. He is Milton Haig. He has extensive coaching experience dating back to the 1990s.
He was head coach of Georgia men’s squad from 2011 to 2019; more recently he has been coaching in Japan.
But it’s disturbing to find that unwelcome word ‘interim’ inserted in his new title. That makes two interim appointments in succession. Is there an established world record in this select area?
It’s a heavily New Zealand-tilted announcement. Joining Haig will be John Haggart and Melodie Bosman, the latter an ex-Black Fern. Yet again that dread word ‘interim’ rears its head. The need for new assistants is explained by the current occupants having collegiate responsibilities.
USA Rugby’s CEO Ross Young claims his board are well on the way to processing the choice of a permanent occupant of the top job. His words would carry greater weight if they had been uttered in the first two months of this year, when the position became vacant with Rob Cain’s withdrawal.
His immediate replacement, Rich Ashfield, will be around to help smooth the handover, but it’s strange to find such dilatoriness in the USA of all places.
Before heading to Aotearoa, the Eagles squad will fly to Ireland for a joint training camp. Then they have a friendly lined up with Wales on 30 September.
It’s difficult to imagine where these decisions leave the players. Whether they are old hands or youngsters finding their way, what they have needed across 2023 is a clear path and an established management team. Instead, they will have endured two interim head coaches and a third still unnamed to take them forward, we hope, to more stable times.
Curiously, Haig is the same age (59) as another Kiwi, John Mitchell.
