Graham Reid clinches the foreign coach debate as India win a medal in hockey after 41 years
The era of foreign coaches in hockey began at the turn of the century, and the Indian subcontinent was soon bitten by the bug big time.
For the first time in their history, both India and Pakistan appointed foreigners to guide their teams at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Gerhard Rach - India's first overseas coach
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Pakistan brought in Dutchman Roelant Oltmans while India turned to German Gerhard Rach.
Weeks before the Athens Games, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) decided to appoint Rach as head coach of the senior men's team. It was a pathbreaking decision, as the German was the first foreigner to occupy that position.
The Indians didn’t have a specialist drag-flicker as Sandeep Singh had injured himself prior to the Games. The team finished seventh in the final placings.
The iconic PC specialist returned to the team for the Lahore Champions Trophy in December 2004. However, Gerhard Rach was no longer part of the coaching set-up post the tournament, where the Indians finished fourth among six teams.
Ric Charlesworth was appointed technical director in 2008. However, the Australian master-coach, who had always expressed a desire to work with the “talented” Indian players, left soon after, bitter and disillusioned with the IHF.
Spaniard Jose Brasa did not last long, either, despite his team finishing on the podium at the 2010 editions of the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Michael Nobbs helped the Indians make it to London in 2012 - after the team had failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. In London, they ended up last after which the Aussie coach had to leave on account of poor health.
Dutchman Paul van Ass had an even shorter stint than his predecessors, and, it was left to Roelant Oltmans to make his presence felt.
Oltmans makes an impact but is shown the door
Oltmans, who was appointed as the high-performance director in 2013, took on the role of head coach after Van Ass' departure. He took the team past the group stages of the 2016 Rio Olympic competition for the first time in 36 years – this was partly due to the change in competition format allowing the top four teams of each group to make it to the knockout stage.
Despite the stunning achievement in Rio, Oltmans too was relieved of his duties in 2017 with fellow Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne taking over the men's team after having come to India to coach the women.
The Indians won Asia Cup gold and a Hockey World League bronze with Marijne at the helm. However, all hell broke loose after the Indians failed to win a medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Azlan Shah Cup.
Marijne was instrumental in introducing young talent with players like Vivek Sagar and Dilpreet Singh finding a place in the side. However, he was criticized for catapulting the youngsters on to the big stage too soon.
Issues revolving around Marijne's inability to comprehend Indian culture and language led to an infamous coach swap with the Dutchman shunted back to the women's team in a rather unceremnious fashion.
Foriegn to Indian - to foriegn again! The coach conundrum!
Hockey India bucked the trend of persisting with foreign coaches and appointed Harendra Singh as Chief Coach of the Indian men's team in May 2018.
Harendra thus became the first Indian to occupy the position since Olympian Joaquim Carvalho, who left his job following India's failure to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The Indians, under the tutelage of Harendra Singh, very nearly beat Australia in the final of the Champions Trophy in 2018. However, all the good work came to naught as the team went on to lose the Asian Games semifinals against Malaysia.
A place in the World Cup quarterfinals too was, apparently, not enough to make up for the team's inability to book a direct ticket to Tokyo. Consequently, Harendra Singh too was shown the door in early 2019.
Harendra's ouster caused a furore amidst the Indian hockey fraternity, with Hockey India taking their time to appoint his successor. The Indians played the 2019 Azlan Shah Cup without a Chief Coach.
Not many were enthused when Graham Reid - who was an assistant to Max Caldas in the Dutch camp - was appointed as the chosen one to guide the Indians into the Olympic qualifiers and beyond.
Man with the midas touch - Graham Reid
Reid had time to dig his heels in as the Indians were not part of the grueling Hockey Pro League in 2019. They went about playing tournaments like the FIH Series Finals and the Olympic qualifiers against Russia.
The Australian's first big test came in 2020 in the second edition of the Pro League. The Indians made their debut in the elite competition under him. His team was up against the likes of Netherlands, Australia and Belgium in the Pro League.
At Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Stadium, Reid's boys humbled the Dutch, winning the first-leg encounter outright and earning shootout points in the second.
The Indians managed to win the first of their two matches against world champions Belgium before going down in the second following a close contest. They also won their second leg tie against the Australians via a shootout at the same venue.
The Indians were on an absolute roll when the pandemic played spoilsport, forcing several Pro League matches to be called off. Although Reid's boys did manage to get the better of Argentina before the Tokyo Olympics.
Reid courted controversy by leaving flamboyant and temperamental striker Akashdeep Singh out of the Olympic squad. Veteran SV Sunil did not find a place in the coach's scheme of things either.
The Indians picked up full points after appearing to struggle against New Zealand in their Olympic opener. They crashed to a 1-7 defeat against the Australians a day later.
Reid's team selection was in focus midway through the Olympic competition. However, voices of dissent soon gave way to murmurs of approval soon after. The Indians won three straight games against Argentina, Spain and Japan to cruise into the knock-out stage.
A win against Great Britain, which booked Manpreet and co. a place in a historic semi-final, was more than sufficient to silence the critics.
A podium finish for the men after a long gap of 41 years now means that Graham Reid's name will go down in history as the man who resurrected Indian hockey.
The little-known Australian, who was once part of a legendary Kookaburra squad, has done what none of his predecessors could manage.
For now, the coaching debate has been firmly clinched in favor of the foreigner who replaced an Indian at the helm.
Indeed, nothing succeeds like success, as bitterness gives way to bonhomie, while the medal celebrations refuse to die down after what has been a truly long wait.