FRANK HADDEN

'Frank Hadden' (born 14 June 1954 in Dundee, Scotland) is coach of the Scotland national rugby union team. He replaced Matt Williams and was appointed on 15 September, 2005. Hadden coached the Merchiston Castle School (MCS) 1st XV after being appointed Head of Physical Education at the school in 1983. He coached several Scottish age-group teams before being appointed assistant coach of the Caledonian Reds in 1997. He was later appointed coach of Edinburgh Gunners (now Edinburgh Rugby) in 2000 prior to becoming the Scotland coach. He has since coached Scotland to notable wins over England and France in the 2006 Six Nations.

Contents

Background

Personal Life

Coaching career

Merchiston Castle School and Scotland under-16s

Edinburgh and Scotland

See also

Notes and references

External links

Background

Hadden was educated at the High School of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde playing rugby for both. He attended the Carnegie School of Physical Education in Leeds (now Leeds Metropolitan University) to pursue a teaching career. While teaching at Guiseley School, he played rugby union for Headingley. He occasionally played in their 1st XV^[1] when the incumbent fly half, Ian McGeechan (who later became coach of Scotland and the British and Irish Lions) was away on international playing duty.^[2] Ironically Hadden came close to playing football, with trials with both Queens Park Rangers and Forfar Athletic, as well as being offered a contract by Raith Rovers.^[3]

Personal Life

Frank Hadden's brother, Dave Hadden, choked to death on a piece of toast on the morning of 22nd August 2007. Dave Hadden was severly disabled as a result of a horrific road smash ten years ago, and was receiving around the clock care when he met his untimely death.

Coaching career

Merchiston Castle School and Scotland under-16s

In 1983, Hadden was appointed Head of physical education and director of rugby at Merchiston Castle School (MCS) in Edinburgh. Hadden helped turn the school's 1st XV into a dominant force in Scottish schools rugby. During one four year period at the school he coached their team to 54 victories from 58 matches. In 1994 he was appointed coach of Scotland under-16s team. He continued to coach national age group sides until 2000.^[4]
Hadden's first appointment to a professional team was in 1997 as assistant coach for the Caledonian Reds, one of the four new professional teams launched in Scotland. Hadden was included in the 1998 Scotland tour of Australia in the capacity of technical coach. However, when the Scottish Rugby Union was forced to merge the Caledonian Reds with the Glasgow Warriors during budget cut-backs, Hadden returned to teaching at MCS.^[5][6] While coaching the 1st XV he took them on to win The Scottish Schools Cup on a number of occasions.^[7] He was a well liked member of staff who was great with those at all levels of many sports throughout the school. Along with rugby he was also a noted athletics coach at MCS.

Edinburgh and Scotland

In 2000 a player revolt led to the removal of Ian Rankin as coach of Edinburgh Rugby. The SRU Director of Rugby Jim Telfer asked Hadden accept the role of head coach. In 2004, he became the first coach to take a Scottish professional team to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals. Edinburgh 33-15 Ospreys
In April 2005 Matt Williams was sacked as Scotland coach after losing all but three of his 17 matches in charge.^[8] That month Hadden was appointed Scotland interim coach, leading Scotland to victories against the Barbarians and Romania.^[9] In September 15, 2005 Hadden was confirmed as Scotland coach until the Rugby World Cup in 2007.^[10]
His first Six Nations game was a historic victory over France at Murrayfield on February 5, 2006 by 20 points to 16. This was the first time since 1999 that Scotland has beaten France. He succeeded in generating confidence in the team that was lacking under his predecessor.^[11] Chris Paterson said of Hadden's influence: "There is a confidence among the guys now and increased skill and belief in our handling... That's a testament to Frank and his coaching team."
Hadden's team suffered an 18-28 loss to Wales in Cardiff during which Scott Murray was sent off for the first time in his international career for using his boot recklessly on Ian Gough.
The Calcutta Cup returned to the SRU trophy cabinet on 25 February 2006 for the first time since 2000 after Hadden coached Scotland to victory over England.^[12] The win was largely due to a defensive effort that saw 112 tackles made by Scotland, with only 6 missed.^[13] Hadden said of the match: "There was no let-up in our defensive effort today. Sometimes a bigger, heavier, stronger side gets worn down by lighter opposition and this was evidence of it. I want to pay tribute to the crowd as well. They were magnificent. The crowd helps you most when you are under the cosh and they were undoubtedly the 16th man. And I speak as a supporter. I spent a lot of years on the terraces. The first thing supporters want to see is pride and passion from their team and that's what they saw out there."
Scotland finished third in the 2006 Six Nations, their best result since 2001.^[14] Their three wins in the 2006 Six Nations contrasting their sole win from the 2004 and 2005 tournaments. The turnaround is largely credited to Hadden, as the players available were nearly identical. Their win over France in the six-nations put Scotland eighth in the IRB world rankings. Their win over England then bought their rating to its highest point since rankings began.^[15] Under Hadden Scotland has been as high as seventh in the world rankings.^[16][17]

See also

★ Scotland national rugby union team

★ Six Nations Championship

★ Sean Lineen

★ Edinburgh Rugby

Notes and references

1. Rugby union teams have 15 players, hence 1st XV refers to the top 15, or the top side.
2.
3.
4. The simple truth of Hadden's success Brendan Gallagher
5.
6.
7. Various, , David, Stranock, Merchistonian,
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. Scotland the Brave Tom English
14. Scotland
15. Jubilant Scots hit rankings high
16.
17. Latest IRB World Rankings

External links

★ Scotland appoint Hadden as coach

★ The coach: Frank Hadden