SCHOOL teacher by day, football coach by night – or something in between.
Just two weeks ago, Sam Radford was named the senior coach of the Casey Demons after a restructuring of Melbourne’s football department, and it’s a role he has certainly embraced.
But the Dees’ main man already has a lot on his plate, with a full-time job at St Bedes College occupying him from Monday to Friday.
“I’m in charge of years seven, eight and nine at the school. They’re the fun years and the busy times,” Radford told Melbourne Media.
“Teaching works well with coaching, I think there are plenty of things that are transferable between the two.
“So it’s busy, but I enjoy it.”
Radford now has a balancing act, which he says is made possible by those around him.
“There’s a lot of work after hours. I’ve got a lot of support at Melbourne – Matt Eagan, Max Rooke, Mick Stinear – they’re doing a lot of work with the VFL boys,” he said.
“When I’m at school I make sure I’m present in this job and do this job properly, and the rest of my down time I’m thinking about footy and getting ready for that.”
While Radford is certainly in high demand, he is well equipped to take on the top job at Casey after developing plenty of valuable skills throughout his teaching career.
“At school I’ve got to manage a big group of students and staff, so I feel comfortable working with the staff involved in football and managing those relationships,” he said.
“Teaching or presenting new ideas I feel comfortable with. It’s just getting your head around being a senior coach and the technical aspects of football and the game style.
“I want to make sure we’re executing the game style properly – they’re the things I need to be focusing on.”
After being an assistant coach with Casey since 2017, Radford was well placed to take over from Jade Rawlings, but he admitted he wasn’t expecting the sudden change.
“It was a very big shock,” he said.
“I got a phone call off Mahns (Josh Mahoney) saying, ‘This is what might happen, would you be interested?’.
“I was certainly keen for the opportunity but wasn’t expecting it.”
While Radford hasn’t been eyeing the big promotion, he was happy to step straight in and give it his best shot.
“I didn’t really have time to think too much about it, but in reflection I do feel ready,” he said.
“I’ve had three years down at Casey with a fair bit of learnings in those years and previously I’ve coached my own team, so I felt ready to go.
“My reason for getting involved at Casey was to learn more and improve my coaching and I think you just want to do the best job you can as an assistant.
“I’m rapt with the opportunity but it certainly wasn’t something I was driving towards.”
Radford got his VFL coaching career off to the dream start last weekend with a 15-point win over Coburg, and after overcoming a few nerves, he enjoyed his day at the helm.
“I was pretty confident with how we’d go but I just wanted the day to be smooth and wanted the program to run pretty similar to how Jade had it running,” he said.
“We’ve got a great group of players. All the Melbourne boys, the Casey VFL-listed boys and all the staff were super supportive.”
Casey will run out under Radford’s watch for a second time this weekend as it takes on the Box Hill Hawks at Casey Fields on Saturday afternoon.
