Allister: Know the man in charge
Born on May 23, 1963 in Grahamstown, Coetzee made his rugby debut in 1985.
Coetzee was a scrumhalf in the period before rugby unification in South Africa, and captained the South African Rugby Union (SARU) national team, as they were known between 1988 and 1991.
Coetzee played in the Currie Cup for Eastern Cape between 1992 and 1996, he also represented Eastern Cape in the 1994 Super 10 competition.
In 1992 he was selected to play for the Junior Springbok.
The former teacher retired from the game in 1996, but could not give up the game.
Coetzee then ventured into coaching where he was immediately appointed as an assistant coach for Eastern Province (EP) in 1996. Two years later he was appointed as team manager for the Super Rugby team, the Sharks. In 2000 he was appointed assistant coach to Ian McIntosh and Hugh Reece-Edwards at the Sharks.
Coetzee coached the Emerging Springboks in 1998, an All-Stars team in 1999 and the South African Under-23 and South Africa A-side in 2000, while he was assistant coach to Harry Viljoen for the Springboks.
In 2001, Coetzee became the first black head coach of a provincial rugby side in South Africa. He coached the EP from 2001 and resigned in 2003.
Coetzee was appointed as assistant coach to the Springboks in early 2004. He formed part of a successful coaching trio with Jake White and Gert Smal until the end of 2007. The coaching trio capped off four memorable years with the winning of the 2007 World Cup in France.
While he was assisting Jake White with the Springboks, Coetzee was appointed assistant coach at the Cats for the Super 14 season in 2005. He held that position for only one season.
After the World Cup success, Coetzee joined Western Province (WP) in 2008. He accepted the position of backline coach for the Super Rugby franchise, the Stormers. Not long after that appointment he took over as head coach of WP in the Currie Cup.
Prior to the start of the 2010 Super Rugby season, Coetzee was appointed the head coach of the Stormers.
Coetzee led the Stormers to three South African Conference titles during his tenure as coach. He was also successful in his role as coach of the WP – he won the Currie Cup twice, in 2012 and 2014.
He remained with the Stormers until the end of the 2015 Super Rugby season.
After the 2015 Super Rugby season Coetzee left South Africa and moved to Japan to take over as head coach of the Kobe Steelers.
On April 12, 2016 Coetzee was named the Springbok coach.
