DOCTOR Pitso Mosimane to you! Or should it be Doctor Coach Pitso Mosimane? Whatever tickles your fancy, Jingles is likely to say. “I am just a coach, man,” he might add.
An incredible coach at that, so incredible that the University of Johannesburg (UJ) deemed it fit to confer on him an honorary doctorate — an honour which “recognises his exceptional contributions to the sport and his commitment to excellence and innovation”.
The citation added that Mosimane’s “contributions extend beyond coaching” as he is “a vocal advocate for African football and has significantly impacted on the development of young African players”. The university also lauded his leadership and achievements for having “paved the way for other African coaches and elevated the status of African football on the global stage”.
All true. For if ever a South African coach has done much for the country’s football, it is the coach who turned 60 on Friday – having received arguably the best birthday gift ever, the honorary doctorate from UJ. This, after all, is the first and only South African coach to win the CAF Champions League when he led Mamelodi Sundowns to the title in 2016. He later won the continent’s premier club knockout competition twice in a row with Al Ahly of Egypt, Mosimane having joined the Red Devils on the back of a record five league titles with the Brazilians.
A third-place finish at the Fifa Club World Cup with Al Ahly was a massive achievement for the Kagiso-born coach who sat on the bench for South Africa at the 2010 Fifa World Cup as assistant to Brazilian Carlos Parreira. Mosimane later took charge of Bafana Bafana, and while he was fired following failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations, there is a general belief that South African Football Association (Safa) should have given him more time in charge given just how successful a coach he went on to become thereafter – albeit at club level.
Former Safa president Molefi Oliphant was among those who praised Mosimane for the honour he received: “I am proud of him. Dr Mosimane has actualised himself. He has reached the zenith; the peak of his career as a player and as a coach. For him to be honoured by the leading university of our country, you cannot ask for more. We at least have made our contribution to his development as a coach. And an event like this is vindicating us – that many years ago we were right to believe he is the right man to lead our national team.”
The man who spotted Pitso’s talent as a player and did a lot for his development into an international player who plied his trade in Greece and Qatar described Mosimane being conferred a Doctorate as “a big day for football”.
“Good to see one of our ex-players and coach being honoured while he is still alive because we are (usually) only honoured when we are dead, and when you are dead you don’t hear anything,” said Jomo Sono, another football honorary doctor.
“I feel very proud, like any father when your child graduates, you know, you are proud. I come a long way with him and people think because I spotted him, I groomed him, he played for Cosmos, they think we never had quarrels on the way, but we did.”
Having worked with Mosimane, the player at his club Jomo Cosmos, Sono knew his protégé would make it big as a coach after beating him in a cup final early on in his career on the bench.
“I remember when we beat him in one of the cups (SAA Supa8) in Pietersburg – he attacked me. He was angry and wanted to know what kind of football we (Cosmos) were playing. I said to him, ‘I don’t have money to buy players.’ We beat him on penalties after a 0-0 draw. I parked the bus for 90 minutes and he was very upset. He attacked me and said, ‘Why do you play football like that?’ But I won a trophy and could see from back then that this kid will go far. He wanted to win. He wants to win all the time and it has not changed.”
It is that insatiable desire for success that has seen Mosimane become the great coach he is and the honorary doctorate from UJ is an acknowledgement and recognition of the impact his quest for excellence has had, not only on the game locally and on the continent. It is no doubt also an inspiration for others to know that giving your best and succeeding in your chosen field will not be recognised only there, but could bring accolades from other places, too.
As Mosimane said in accepting the award, it is a humbling feeling. “We are ordinary people from football and when the academics acknowledge and appreciate, you feel like ‘is it really happening?’ It humbles you.”
Oh, make that Doctor Mosimane, please.