‘Embarrassed and sad’: Coleman opens up on sorry Tahs ending, dreams of return

Outgoing Waratahs coach Darren Coleman says he’s “embarrassed and sad” that he couldn’t lead the Super Rugby franchise to more success, but the affable mentor hopes to one day return to complete the job.

“The dreamer in me would love to come back one day,” he said. “Whenever. Ten years down the track and have another shot at it as a better coach.”

In a dignified address to the media on Tuesday afternoon, Coleman, who was told on Monday that his time would come to an end with the Waratahs at season’s end after three years in charge, opened up on his time at Daceyville during a long media conference alongside Waratahs chief executive Paul Doorn.

After picking the Waratahs up off the canvas in 2022 and leading them to the finals following a winless season, Coleman’s side struggled for consistency in his second season despite making another quarter-final before falling down the standings rapidly in his year in charge.

With two matches left in the Super Rugby season, the Waratahs are stone cold last on the bottom of the standings on 12 points after two victories from 12 matches.

Ultimately, having won just 16 of 42 matches over the past three year (38 per cent), the NSW Rugby board in consultation with Rugby Australia decided the time was right to move on from Coleman.

Coleman said he felt a sense of “relief” after being told on Monday his time as Waratahs head coach was coming to an end and he wouldn’t be “slinging and throwing rocks on the way out”.

“You didn’t have to be Einstein to figure out that there may be changes, so it wasn’t like it was a mad shock,” he said.

Nonetheless, the homegrown talent, who in his own words said had been to more Shute Shield clubs than Tiger Woods had in his golf bag when taking on the coaching role, felt “six strong emotions” after reflecting on the news that he wouldn’t return as head coach, including being appreciative, frustrated and motivated.

Amongst that, he added: “I’m sorry and I’m embarrassed.

“I couldn’t progress the good work and the on-field results of my year one here to further success with the team.

“I feel especially bad I couldn’t deliver for all the passionate and loyal Tahs fans and supporters.”

Despite beating the Crusaders twice in 2024 and a mounting injury toll, which included the loss of all ten contracted front-rowers, Coleman didn’t think he was “stiffed” by being thanked and pushed out the door.

“You make the best decision for the team and I feel the board and the organisation have taken everything on board and they’ve made the best decision,” he said.

“There’s definitely no bad blood from my end.”

Nor does Coleman believe he was driven off the click by the news he had until the end of March to prove himself, saying he was given more than enough time to push his case.

“No, I didn’t coach any better or any worse because of that,” he said.

“I was always giving my best.

“We didn’t do well in the first four weeks. I think we were one and three.

“I guess the board… I have a feeling that they wanted to keep me. I just needed me and the team needed to perform.

“They stretched it out to the mid-year review and we still weren’t going well and they gave me some feedback and another shot and then we still weren’t going well. So, no hard feelings.

“They gave me three chances, not one.”

But he does believe the job was harder than he first imagined.

“I’ve got to admit the outside noise was harder than I expected,” he said.

Asked what he would do differently second time around, Coleman said “heaps”.

“The end’s a bit sour and sad but when I reflect and emotion goes out of it, I’ll look back and it’ll be an amazing three years of my life,” he said.

He said that coaches coming out of the Shute Shield competition could make the leap to Super Rugby but added that it would be an “easier” and “natural progression” to be an assistant coach first.

Under pressure CEO Doorn, who hired Coleman in mid-2021, said the process surrounding the coach’s future had been “honest and truthful” throughout the entire “journey”.

Doorn said no irons were in the fire yet regarding finding their next coach, but added the process to find Coleman’s replacement would start “immediately”.

Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, who led the Super Rugby franchise to their one and only Super Rugby title, is an obvious target.

His former right-hand man Nathan Grey, who since finishing up as Cheika’s assistant with the Waratahs and Wallabies has taken over the Junior Wallabies, is believed to be one of the favourites.

Current assistant Jason Gilmore, who also led Australia A over the past two years, is likely to accept a role with Harlequins in England.

Outgoing Randwick coach Stephen Hoiles and current Australian men’s sevens coach John Manenti are also options.

While other left-field options like Dan McKellar and Simon Raiwalui are currently in roles.

Doorn didn’t want to speculate whether Cheika was a serious option despite currently being a free agent.

“I haven’t spoken to Michael this time round, no not as yet,” Doran said.

“I’m not going to put names on it today because there’s plenty of people. I don’t want to necessarily suggest that there’s one ahead of the other. So yeah, we’d be open to all incomers.”

In addition to finding their next head coach, Doorn said the hole left by Andrew Blades’ departure as general manager had been more significant than first thought and the Super Rugby franchise would consider whether to fill that role.

Coleman, who temporarily filled Blades’ shoes over the past ten months before being relieved of those duties earlier in the Super Rugby season, is thought to be interested in moving into the role.

Doorn didn’t shut the door on Coleman transitioning either.

“Darren and I have not surprisingly had those conversations,” Doorn said. “So effectively, that is an option.

“But again, we’ve got to land on what do those positions look like? What’s the skill set we’re looking for? We’re going to derive that from that objective as opposed to just automatically finding jobs for people.”