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Mamelodi Sundowns first-team coach Steve Komphela is raving about colleague Rulani Mokwena, calling him a genius, in response to how he has taken up the club’s sole head coach role since October.
Downs are yet to lose a match in the 17 games following the decision by the hierarchy to disband the co-coaching arrangement between Mokwena and Manqoba Mngqithi.
Komphela says the 35-year-old Mokwena has adapted to the position like a duck to water.
"The guy is unbelievably intelligent, he's brains, brains, brains. You never get into coaching and succeed at a such young age without brains. Unfortunately modern management it's not only about your capability to do your job, to be a great technician is about managing the rest of the other dynamics around you", claimed Kompela.
More than a decade ago, Komphela roped a wet behind-the-ears Mokwena into his technical staff at the now-defunct Platinum Stars. He says Mokwena’s growth has been extraordinary.
Eyebrows were raised when Sundowns announced changes to the backroom staff in October, days after being knocked out of the MTN8 semifinals by rivals Orlando Pirates.
"But I think it was a hell of a great arrangement, from the beginning. In fact, it is the same arrangement that made a transition to where we're at. Had we started otherwise, would we have been where we're at? Nobody knows.
“But looking at how it started, and how it transcended it got solid, it's like cement. Cement starts first fluid and all that, but at the back of the sun, the time and all that it solidifies. This could have been one of those cases."
