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Pretoria - His no-nonsense approached struck a chord in the corridors of Loftus Versfeld and earned coach Nollis Marais the Bulls’ Super Rugby coaching job for the next four years.
“The board has appointed Nollis Marais as the Super Rugby coach at our board meeting on Friday for a four-year term,” Blue Bulls company chief executive Barend van Graan said on Friday evening.
“With Nollis what you see is what you get. He is a straight shooter and coached at every level in Bulls country.
Since Marais’ appointment as interim coach of the Currie Cup side, the team has gone through a metamorphosis in terms of playing style and winning seven of their nine matches so far this season.
The Blue Bulls have impressed with their expansive playing style while the team is on the cusp of clinching their first home semi-final since 2008.
His uncompromising style has earned him the nickname ‘Chuck Nollis’ with his fearless attitude one of his key qualities.
“One of his biggest attributes, he is fearless and you can see it in his approach, the way he dramatically changed the game plan,” Van Graan said.
“He is fearless when leaving players out of his team whether they are junior or senior players when they do not perform.”
His approach is in stark contrast to the culture that existed where the coach persisted with what he felt comfortable with both in terms of the personnel and game plan.
“A brand like ours it is not the CEO that changes the direction of a company the core of our production machine is the head coach,” Van Graan said.
“He needs to supply the energy and life to the brand and the rest should be there to support him.”
Van Graan said the remainder of the coaching teams will be announced during the course of the next two weeks while Marais would be given carte blanche on his management team.
His current assistant coach David Manuel should have the inside track to get the backline coaching position.
Manuel has been responsible for injecting flair into the Bulls backline that has been one of the defining features of the team.
Van Graan said the transformation of the team since the start of the Currie Cup and the surge in attendance figures contributed to Marais’ appointment.
“What he’s done with our team over the last 12 weeks taking them to our supporters with coaching clinics and having signing sessions after matches,” Van Graan said.
“We could see how the tide has turned over the past few weeks, you could see it in the attendance figures doubling from last year.”
