Jason Kerr and the mindset of a head coach

SAM DALLING: The Somerset head coach finally saw his charges win silverware last year. As his side ready themselves for a shortened campaign, he opens up on his philosophies, the winning feeling and unfinished business

To be rendered expendable is something many of us fear. At work, being deemed unnecessary doesn’t bare contemplating.

It sounds odd then that anyone would measure professional success by how little they are relied upon.

But sport is a strange beast and that’s exactly what Somerset head coach Jason Kerr aspires to.

Complete madness? At first glance, yes. Dig a little deeper though and things become clearer.

When you’re dealing top-level athletes, the value is less in providing technical insight and more in supporting them as humans.

Self-sufficiency and enjoyment are vital in the modern era and Kerr won’t be departing from those philosophies anytime soon.

“Ultimately – and it sounds silly – but I’m trying to make our support staff obsolete,” he explains.

“The culture I am trying to create is where the players are self-reliant. We try and encourage the guys as people to have incredible growth mindsets – we are just there to shape and support them along the way. We all grew up loving playing cricket. We played for the love of the game.

“There’s no compromise on our work ethic or on our desire to be better, but when you’re in the middle you want to be the cricketer you grew up aspiring to be.

“I encourage the guys to be that kid, whether it’s a 13/14-year-old or someone older. I’m here to make sure they enjoy the journey.”

Another more human aspect of the game is mental wellbeing – a topic under the spotlight at the moment.

Historically a taboo subject, understanding of the mind is developing rapidly. Whereas before it might have been perceived a weakness to admit to internal struggles, the stigma is slowly but surely falling away.

With the likes of Somerset legend Marcus Trescothick and Jonathan Trott leading the charge towards a new era, the idea that it’s okay not to be okay is becoming a reality.

And Kerr believes the club has made great strides in the area – albeit there is still a way to go.

“There was a lot of stigma about that but at Somerset I encourage the guys to be as open and honest. I want a transparent dressing room. Whatever worries they’ve got, whatever they are carrying, it’s about being comfortable being able to talk about it.

“That allows them to play their best – when they’ve got the least amount of stuff going on in their heads and physically in a good space.

“I’m certainly not skilled enough [to help them medically] but the important thing is that they know I’m there with their best interest at heart and to help them as people. We need to see everyone as human beings and not as cricketers.

“It’s an area where we are improving – cricket has done a huge amount for it. More and more people are happy to talk and that can only be a good thing.

“We’re not there yet – I’ll keep encouraging them. I know from some of the conversations I have with players that we are moving forward in that area.”

^{Kerr finally saw his Somerset win silverware last year}

Kerr’s affiliation with the West Country outfit goes back nearly 30 years. It kicked off with an eight-season stint on the playing staff between 1993 and 2001.

He moved to Derbyshire ahead of the 2002 season, but after solitary campaign with the Phantoms the allrounder’s career was curtailed by a back injury.

Kerr returned to Somerset as a coaching consultant in 2005 and a year later was appointed academy director.

There he stayed for seven seasons before being promoted the role of first-team bowling coach and ultimately making the step-up to his current position ahead of the 2018 campaign.

But he isn’t the only long-time club servant on the backroom staff. He was joined at the top of the county’s hierarchy by Andy Hurry, who returned to the club as director of cricket to coincide with Kerr’s appointment.

“Sarge” as he’s affectionally known because of his military background, first appeared at Taunton in back 2001.

Despite never having played first-class cricket, he too worked his way up the ranks, serving as head coach for a spell in 2006 and remaining at the club until he departed to head up the ECB’s England development programme six years ago.

Between them, the pair have spent nearly five decades in TA1 and Kerr believes their close-knit relationship is sits at the heart of everything the club is trying to achieve.

“The relationship between the head coach and the director of cricket, whoever those people are, is paramount,” he said.

“I’ve known Sarge a hell of a long time and he’s brilliant at what he does. More importantly we’ve got an outstanding relationship.

“There’s a trust, a bond there. We have some incredibly difficult conversations between ourselves and none of that emotion gets carried over. That’s incredibly rare – it allows you to move the club forward, move the cricket forward and it creates a challenging environment from a managerial point of view to make sure we are getting better.

“It’s a brilliant working relationship and I feel like he’s got my back. We’ve got similar philosophies in lots of ways and we are very different in others. Our skills set complement each other really well.”

^{Several of Somerset's players have been rewarded for their recent work with England call-ups}

Last summer Somerset lifted their first trophy in nearly 15 years. The Royal London One-Day Cup triumph over Hampshire was the first silverware won by the Cidermen since 2005 – a T20 title under Graeme Smith’s leadership.

However, in the intervening period between those two victories, Somerset were runners-up the County Championship on four occasions – 2019 being the fifth.

Throw in no fewer than six domestic cup final defeats, and it’s clear there’s been no shortage of heartache for players and supporters alike.

A record like that inevitably comes with the unwanted bridesmaid’s tag and Kerr admitted that seeing his side lift a trophy at Lord’s will be etched long into the memory and hopes it can be a catalyst for years to come.

“What it did for us a club and as team was to go: ‘We can do this.’ To beat Worcester and Notts the way we did on the way to the final gives the lads huge belief.

“To actually be champions, to celebrate winning the trophy with the supporters and to see what it means to so many people in the South West is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

“As head coach to win – however much you feel you do or don’t contribute on the day – was an unbelievable feeling.

“To be on the Lord’s balcony knowing you’d won, having lost as a player and a coach previously. It was a brilliant day.”

Kerr also paid tribute to the club’s loyal fanbase, who at one point saw their side come away empty-handed from five finals in three seasons.

When cricket does return, Somerset fans will have to be content with following their side digitally. The absence of spectators will be felt more keenly at Taunton than perhaps it would be elsewhere.

With the box office regularly having to pull down the shutters in advance of white-ball clashes – at one point 21 straight T20 clashes were sold out – they also boast average gates in their thousands for the red-ball stuff.

That fact hasn’t escaped Kerr who believes it’s his duty to make sure the players understand the fans’ importance.

“We are incredibly fortunate to get the support we do,” he says. “I won’t let the guys forget that during my tenure.

“We play some good cricket, we play some poor cricket but they come through thick and thin over the years – they are incredibly loyal.

“It’s their club. We are the team that are passing through right now and we need to make sure we represent them well.”

^{Kerr has known Andy Hurry (right) for some time}

Come August, Kerr may have a selection headache on his hands.

With the quintet of Leach, Bess, Gregory and the Overton brothers all having been involved with England at some stage of this unusual summer – and the prodigiously talented Tom Banton now part of the white-ball squad for the ODI series against Ireland, Somerset may have to get used to being without several members of their first team.

But rather than moan, Kerr views it as an opportunity for fresh bloody to come into the side.

“We’ve got more and more international experience, more and more global competition experience,” he adds. The challenge within that is the more success you have as individuals and as a team, that creates more opportunity for them and more opportunity for young players to gain experience.

“Within sports you’ve got a window. Your teams go in cycles and you’ve got a window of opportunity.

“That’s what we are aiming for – we want to repeat this cycle. As Lewis Gregory comes to the end of his career we want there to be another Lewis Gregory to take his place.”

Kerr himself is on his own pathway to the top. Having recently signed a contract extension, he will remain with Somerset for at least a couple more years.

But nothing is forever, and naturally his time at the club will come to an end at some point.

He earned a call-up of his own over the winter, heading off to Australia as part a Lions backroom staff also containing Richard Dawson, Bruce French and Jonathan Trott.

International recognition of his own is certainly on Kerr’s agenda, but for the time being he’s focusing his efforts on building a dynasty at Taunton.

“It was a brilliant experience,” he ssays of the Lions opportunity. “Selfishly, it’s experience like that I needed. I’ve been at Somerset a long time in lots of different roles.

“That gives me some huge strengths within our environment but also presents some challenges outside. You can become very narrow in your thinking.

“I’m very open to learning and to making sure I keep evolving, to make sure we keep evolving as a club.

“There will come a time where my journey at Somerset will come to an end, so I need to make sure that I keep growing and keeping getting as many experiences as I can.

“Short term I can bring these back to Somerset and long term will stand me in good stead in terms of being able to coach anywhere else in the world.

“I’m very aspirational as a coach, but I’d like to be at Somerset for quite a while longer – we’ve got some unfinished business.”

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