By Tony Becca - On The Boundary 
THE three-year contract between the West Indies Cricket Board and coach Roger Harper comes to an end in March and although he can apply for the job, the criticisms, and from Board members at that, have been such that unless he is lucky, there will be a new coach.
Although the young batsmen finally seem to be coming into their own, the consensus is that Harper has not done a good job, the odds are against the West Indies Board retaining his services, and the question, it appears, is not whether there will be a new coach, or who will it be, but from where will he come.
The reason for the question is that there are a growing number of people, including Board members, who believe that the time has come for a foreign coach.
According to these people, many of whom have cited the success of Jamaica's football team under a foreign coach, West Indian coaches have failed and only a foreign coach can return West Indies cricket to its former glory.
That, however, is not true.
Apart from the fact that there is a difference between Jamaica's football and West Indies cricket in that one has little experience of play at the top and one has so much, apart from the fact that the problem of West Indies cricket is deeper than the quality of coaching at the top, and apart from the fact the problem of West Indies cricket is what is happening, or not happening, in the schools and the clubs, there are West Indians who can do the job, who can do it well, and who should be the ones to lead the revival of West Indies cricket.
Before bringing in foreigners to coach West Indians how to play cricket therefore, the Board members should look at some of the reasons why West Indian coaches have failed, and if they do, they will find two good reasons.
They will find that West Indians do not respect their own regardless of their prowess as players and their skills as a coach, and that they respect foreigners regardless of their lack of prowess as players and their lack of skills as a coach.
Although that is unfortunate, it is a fact, and remembering what happened to Rohan Kanhai, the Board and its members have contributed to it.
Kanhai, a great player and as good a coach as any and better than most, was removed, not because of any inability to coach but because of pressure from certain players because he was considered too tough, and if they are honest, the Board members will see that they are partly to be blamed.
They are to be blamed for the simple reason that instead of backing a man whom they had employed to do a job, instead of standing up for discipline, they backed away and allowed some indisciplined players to have their way.
The belief that the players will respect him is the reason why some are calling for a foreign coach, and if the end justifies the means then that may be the way to go.
The end, however, should not and does not always justify the means, and instead of going for a foreign coach, the Board and its members should support West Indian coaches so that they can do a good job.
There are three reasons why it should be a West Indian coach. One is that there are good ones around, two is that West Indies cricket, once the best in the world, should always be played the West Indies way, and three is that a foreign coach is hardly likely to coach West Indians how to play the West Indies way.
It would be an embarrassment to the West Indian people if after playing Test cricket for 74 years, if after being the best for a long, long time, if after producing so many of the world's great players, there is not one good enough or fit enough to coach the team.
The talk about a foreign coach reminds me of the words of an Englishman back in 1950 when the West Indies, led by John Goddard and including such great players as Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott, Sonny Ramadhin and Alfred Valentine, defeated England in England for the first time.
According to Learie Constantine, one of the greatest West Indies players of all time and who was then residing in England, the Englishman said: "Look at them, such great players and yet they have to be led by a white man."
That was 52 years ago.
