The Longest Serving Coaches In The DStv Prem

With all coaching changes now seemingly done ahead of the 2023/24 season after five clubs switched coaches, here are the longest-serving coaches in the league.

Stellenbosch Head Coach Steve Barker has begun his seventh consecutive preseason with the Western Cape club, making him the longest-serving coach in the DStv Premiership by some margin.

Barker took on the role at the start of the 2017/2018 campaign, taking over from Sammy Troughton. He had joined the club the previous season as Troughton’s assistant, but the following year the former AmaTuks and AmaZulu coach took over as Head Coach. Two years later he promoted Stellies to the Premiership.

It is not the first long spell at a club for the 55-year-old, as he had previously spent nearly a decade at Tuks, coaching the first team for six and a half years, where he also won promotion to the top flight. 

After finishing 10th and 14th in their first two seasons in the Premiership, Stellies showed a big improvement in the last two campaigns, finishing fourth and sixth.

Barker has been in his role almost four years more than the next longest-serving coach, Eric Tinkler.

There seems to be a little more patience in the Western Cape and Tinkler, who is in his second stint at Cape Town City, has been at the club for just over two years now, having joined at the end of May in 2021. City finished second and fourth in Tinkler’s two full seasons.

City have actually only had three coaches in their seven years of existence, Tinkler twice, Benni McCarthy and Jan Olde-Riekerink. In his first spell Tinkler finished third and led the team to Telkom Knockout success.

Next up is Sead Ramovic, who joined TS Galaxy in October 2021. Coaching in South Africa can be a precarious business, but the Bosnian-German made a strong impression on Tim Sukazi, and despite some of the troubles the club has faced, and this being his first head coach position, he is closing in on two years in the job.

Interestingly enough, the coach who is the fourth most experienced is Shaun Bartlett, who had been an assistant at Galaxy until Ramovic’s arrival. A few weeks later he joined Cape Town Spurs, and after a tough first campaign where he helped them avoid relegation, he led the club to promotion this month, fighting their way via the playoffs. 

Giving a coach time seemed to work quite well in the Motsepe Foundation Championship last season, as next on the list is Polokwane City’s Duncan Lechesa. After leaving Free State Stars, Lechesa took over at Polokwane in February last year, and in his first full campaign guided Rise and Shine to promotion.

The sixth longest-serving technical team is the Co-Coaching pair of Vusumuzi Vilakazi and Mabhudi Khenyeza, who first took over as Golden Arrows interim coaches in April last year. 

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Jose Riveiro was appointed on the 1st of July 2022 at Orlando Pirates, while Gavin Hunt took over the SuperSport United job a week later. Both should be delighted with their first year in charge

While Rulani Mokwena has only solely been in charge since October 2022, one could argue that he’s technically the second longest-serving head coach, after all, he was Co-Coach with Manqoba Mngqithi from October 2020.

Sekhukhune United appointed Brandon Truter in November last year, while John Maduka rejoined Royal AM in February.

Molefi Ntseki, Steve Komphela, Morgan Mammila, Pablo Franco and Kaitano Tembo are about to begin their stints at Kaizer Chiefs, Swallows Chippa United, AmaZulu and Richards Bay respectively.