Well, it’s hard to go past the American T-Ball coach who, as we reported mid-year, ordered one of his knee-high players to deliberately “take out” a slightly disabled teammate with a practice pitch so the challenged player wouldn’t slow down the team in the looming play-offs. (Or basketballer Shane Heal, the star player turned playing coach, after some fast boardroom knife-work in the Dragons’ lair.) But this year’s award has to go to imported coach-for-hire Guus Hiddink who pulled the Socceroos together when it mattered and made us all believe, even if for a moment.

Crikey readers say:

The consensus was that Guus was the man. One reader who disagreed was David Booth, who chose Melbourne Tigers’ coach Allan Westover for his achievement in winning the NBL championship in his first year as coach.