Border Mail |
WANGARATTA Rovers president Andrew Smith admits the Hawks are likely to break with tradition when they appoint Mick Caruso’s replacement as coach.
Smith said the Hawks were already “actively” hunting Caruso’s successor and that person was likely to come from outside the club.
Rovers have a rich history of appointing their own with former players Matt Allen, Peter Tossol, Tony Pasquali and John O’Donohue filling the position at W.J. Findlay Oval.
“The search starts now, for sure,” Smith declared yesterday.
“We’ll explore all avenues but outside is definitely looking the main option, at this stage.
“Having said that, if somebody within puts their hand up and they’re the right person then they will be considered, too.
“We’ll be open and transparent about it.”
Smith said the Hawks hadn’t put a time frame on signing their next coach but said the sooner it happened, the better.
Smith, Tossol and vice-president Barry Sullivan will head a sub-committee in charge of finding Caruso’s successor.
“Now that Mick has made his decision we’ll put together a panel and go from there,” Smith said.
“It’s hard to put a date on it but we’d rather have it done sooner, than later.
“Obviously that would help with things like retaining our list.”
Meanwhile, Caruso has revealed he decided more than two months ago he would stand down.
Caruso sighted increasing work commitments as a telling factor.
“Probably about 10 weeks,” Caruso said when asked how long ago he came to his decision.
“I had a chat with Barry Sullivan earlier in the year.
“It’s a tough gig.
“Work commitments had got higher and higher for me and with my job I spend a lot of time on the road.
“I couldn’t devote the time I wanted to devote to coaching; you really need to devote 25 to 30 hours a week to the job.”
Caruso said it had been a privilege to coach the club he won four premierships at as a player.
