THE NEXT Coach Program has been highly successful in guiding AFL players into coaching, but it is about to receive its biggest test yet as West Coast assembles a panel of graduates from David Wheadon's esteemed academy.
Four of the Eagles' six new coaching appointments have completed the elite course, which focuses on the concepts and ideas behind "the art of coaching", not just the methods.
If it is becoming the most successful production line for quality young coaches then the Eagles have struck a goldmine, with senior coach Adam Simpson, assistant Brady Rawlings and development coaches Daniel Pratt and Jaymie Graham all graduates.
Fittingly, Simpson was the first player to complete the program as a trial run in 2009, and he is the first to graduate to a senior position.
Since 2009, 17 players have completed the course and found employment as AFL coaches.
A further 14 graduates, including senior Eagles Dean Cox and Darren Glass, are still playing, while only four are not currently playing or coaching.
Coach and program mentor Wheadon, who will spend two days with the Eagles next week, enjoyed a 25-year career as an assistant coach at the elite level, working alongside coaches who have won a total of 17 premierships.
He said Simpson had shown a commitment to coaching right from his first day in the Next Coach Program.
"I remember I suggested he read a book about Vince Lombardi (a legendary NFL coach) called 'When Pride Still Mattered'," Wheadon told AFL.com.au.
"I think he had bought and listened to it all in a weekend and that just showed you he was really keen to have a career in coaching.
"He got the grasp of it straight away and he can understand different opinions, arguments and principles.
"There's a million different methods (in coaching), but there's fewer principles from where those methods arise."
As well as Simpson, Wheadon's program has been a stepping-stone for assistant coaches Simon Goodwin, Shane O'Bree, Leigh Brown and Steven King.
Current players Lenny Hayes, Ryan O'Keefe, Chris Newman and Ben Rutten are among those who have completed the course with a view to kick-starting coaching careers when they retire.
After expanding to include 15 students in 2012, the program was scaled back to nine last season and will be reduced again in 2014 to be more targeted.
"People don't realise how hard it is for a player to go into coaching – it's easy to get a job, but it's hard to become a very good coach," Wheadon said.
"The skills of playing are not the same skills of coaching, and they're not automatically transferable into coaching.
"Coaching is teaching and people management, so they have to be willing to learn about those things.
"We're asking people to do things that they're not really qualified to do, and that is to teach."
Simpson, Rawlings and Pratt all spent time playing under North Melbourne coaches Denis Pagan and Dean Laidley and would be expected to hold similar coaching beliefs.
However, Wheadon said Simpson's group would need to challenge the senior coach on his decisions at West Coast.
"Adam's very strong-minded and he knows what he wants," he said.
"He'll learn on the job too, like most of us do.
"(As an assistant) you've got to be close enough to tell the senior coach when you think he's wrong.
"You've got to argue like hell, but then be loyal to the decision."
