Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Rulani Mokwena has revealed what he learned from coach Pitso Mosimane when he worked as his assistant.
The South African coach worked under Mosimane at the Tshwane giants between 2014 and 2017 and again in 2020, having won the CAF Champions League in 2016 as pinnacle under Mosimane.
Mokwena now explained that he has learned a lot during his tenure under ‘Jingles’, in particular things off the pitch.
“Coach Pitso Mosimane was fantastic for me, I learned so much from him,” Mokwena said on the Coaches Corner podcast.
“Not necessarily about the pitch, but more about off the field management, managing the output management as we call it in terms of managing the office, managing colleagues and managing the support staff and even the players and trying to get the best out of the players.
“The winning mentality also was something that coach Pitso was very strong with, but also on the pitch, he was very good. But I always say that at that moment, you have to be the assistant that the team needs or the coach that the team needs.
“I had a very strong coach in relation to demanding from the players when I was at Mamelodi Sundowns first stint and coach Pitso was extremely aggressive with regard to the pressure that he put on the players.
“And I had to be a bit more subtle and supportive, and more of the good cop, also tried to support as much as I could with regard to training and preparation of the team on the pitch.”
Mokwena also opened up on the difference between working under Mosimane and Milutin Sredojevic at Orlando Pirates.
“But when I moved to Pirates, the role was a lot similar but with a little more pressure because we had a different coach Milutin Sredojevic who came in and was someone that works very hard, but also as good with relations with the players,” he added.
“When I was at Pirates with Milutin, I ended up having to do a little more of the demanding and putting a lot more pressure on the players and I tried to be the coach that I felt that the head coach needed and that’s always my take even now as a coach my beliefs is try to be the coach that you feel the team needs.”
