Gary Gold’s decision to resign as Director of Rugby at the Sharks is both a blessing and a disguise for new CEO Gary Gold Gary Teichmann, who is looking to trim down costly administrative structures as the Shark move into a new era.
Gold, a former Springbok forwards coach, has not been overly popular with the Sharks fans since he took office two years ago at Kings Park but many forget that he was forced into the position of head coach there because there was nobody else of arguable bilityat that stage given the departures of Brendan Venter (voluntarily) and Jake White (by mutual agreement).
Expediency meant Gold never got the chance to be the Director that would oversee all rugby in KZN.
It is a mute question now. Gold has resigned with one year to go in his contract at Kings Park because he says he has exciting coaching possibilities in the Cape, his home. Would he have stayed on in Durban had he been offered the head coach position for the Super Rugby team next year?
“It never got to that stage of negotiations,” Gold said last night. “I just felt it was time for me to move on and Gary Teichmann and I had long and honest conversations and in the end I was happy to tender my resignation. I was not fired, Gary wanted me to coach into 2017, but I wanted to resign.”
Interestingly, a Sharks press statement said that Gold will not be replaced. The Sharks will move on without a Director of Rugby.
While Teichmann could be reached for comment last night, his former team-mate at the Sharks and Springboks and confidant, John Allan, gave strong opinions on Teichmann’s way forward for the Sharks.
Teichmann took over as CEO of the Sharks when John Smit resigned from the job in July of this year after three years in the position. He had, in turn, taken over from Brian van Zyl, who had headed the Sharks for more than 21 years.
“I think Teich is building towards a slim, trim, mean operation that is based on a strong head coach who has a close relationship with a strong CEO,” said Allan. “In Teich’s vision, there will be a lot of wheat cut from the chaff. But I am certainly not talking about Gary Gold. He is fantastic rugby man that came in when the Sharks were in crisis and this year beat two New Zealand teams, and he almost beat three of their sides, he beat the Highlanders in Dunedin, and whipped the eventual champion Hurricanes in Durban. He is hardly a bad coach”.
So Gold is gone and Robert Du Preez will coach the side in Super Rugby next year.
“I think the Sharks are getting things in place,” Allan said. “You cannot get two more passionate Sharks men working in tandem than Teichmann and Du Preez. “ They understand the ethos of Sharks rugby better than most and they will work from the bottom upwards to get a new nucleus of local players coming through that will have a passion and hunger for the jersey. And those they bring through from outside the province they will teach the history and honour of the jersey.”
By Mike Greenaway
Martin Myers 
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