Wits coach has been to several interviews for the Bafana job without any success in the past.
DURBAN – Accomplished PSL coach, Gavin Hunt has given up on his ambition to ever steer the Bafana Bafana ship.
Hunt has been to several interviews for the Bafana job without any success in the past and now feels that an opportunity to lead a national team, if it comes, may not necessarily be with South Africa. Molefi Ntseki is the current Bafana coach.
Hunt is a four-time PSL title winner and has done it all on the domestic front. He is currently in charge at Wits. He has set his sights on coaching foreign national teams in his pursuit to fulfill his dream of coaching at the World Cup. “I’ve had more interviews than I have had breakfast for (the) Bafana job,” Hunt said.
“When you walk into the room and you don’t know any of the people that will interview you, that’s the problem. I always say with the national team job, no matter where in the world, they’ve got to identify the person that they want and interview him. I remember in 2010, myself, Steve Komphela and Gordon Igesund, we would go into the room like little school boys.”
“We went there one by one and we had 45 minutes to do the presentation. I said, what am gonna talk about in 45 minutes. You ask me the question and then I’ll talk. It was crazy times. Interesting, you learn from those situations,” Hunt explained.
The 55-year-old has won four league titles, an ABSA Cup, Nedbank Cup, MTN8 and the Telkom Knockout trophies in his glittering coaching career.
“My ultimate goal now is the national team. It is not going to be here (SA). I know it is somewhere. I want to coach at the World Cup. That has to be the ultimate. Be it Ghana or somewhere, I don’t know. There was a bit of talk with Ghana at one stage, but in Ghana they’ve got five presidents and everyone is an agent. It was just talk on the phone call. Zambia also (wanted me) when Kalusha Bwalya (was still the president of the Zambian Football Association) after Herve Renard left,” Hunt said.
At the moment, Hunt says he is still happy at Wits.
“If I was out of work, I’ll jump into something. Right now, I have the right project here. It is a right club with stability. The only thing, I do miss is the glamour. All the razzmatazz and the supporters. That’s something frustrating, but also a motivational factor. I think in football everything is about timing, especially for big jobs. When I talk about timing, I’m talking about guys like Pitso Mosimane and Roger de Sa.”
“When Pitso joined (Mamelodi) Sundowns, he was out of a job after he left Bafana. It was the case with Roger and Eric Tinkler when they joined (Orlando) Pirates. It was similar during my time with the likes of Gordon Igesund and the late Ted Dimitru. They didn’t just leave their jobs. So, that’s timing,” he added.
Hunt has been linked with Kaizer Chiefs and Pirates in the past, but has his reservations about coaching either one.
“The problem with the big three clubs is that you are not the boss. I recently had a meeting with one of the chairmen from the top three clubs in the country. It was a great meeting. He said ‘I want you to be the coach’ and I said, oh yes, fantastic.”
“But I told him that Mr Chairman, you’ve got four or five bosses here. I told him, I’m the boss. I’ve got to sell and buy players. Obviously, you sell but you’ve got to involve me before selling any player. It was a good meeting but nothing happened,” Hunt said.
