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Cape Town - New Proteas coach Ottis Gibson wants to take his players to a place where they have never been before.
The new man in charge of the national cricket side gave a revealing account of what he would be all about in Johannesburg on Tuesday where he met the country's media for the first time since taking the job.
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The 48-year-old acknowledged that fast bowling was his forte as a coach, that he could be a moody individual on the back of defeat and that his overall aim was to take the Proteas back to the top of the pile in world cricket and win the World Cup in 2019.
But there is a deeper element to Gibson's coaching technique that centres around the relationships he forms with his players.
"When I got involved in coaching I wanted to improve, not just cricket, but people," he said.
"As a bowling coach I wanted to take people to a place they had never been before. It’s the same for the team."
Gibson points to the time he has spent with England's Stuart Broad and the strong relationship he has built up with him.
"I was there when Stuart Broad made his debut," Gibson said.
"I am fortunate in that, everywhere I have been, building strong relationships with the players has come easily to me."
Now, Gibson must start fresh in a new set-up and begin working on new relationships. He has already started that process with captain Faf du Plessis.
"We've spoken plenty. Part of why I’m sitting here is that over the years I’ve been able to build and maintain strong relationships," Gibson said.
"Last night we spoke about rib-eye steak and red wine ... we were both having dinner.
"That relationship is starting to develop now."
Other relationships that Gibson will have to define sooner rather than later are those with his backroom staff.
He has decided that he will be keeping Charl Langeveldt (bowling coach), Neil McKenzie (batting coach), Claude Henderson (spin bowling coach) and Adrian Birrell (assistant coach) as his backroom staff.
But there is no guarantee that they will stay on beyond the upcoming Bangladesh series.
"Cricket is not like football where the manager gets fired and the next person that comes in brings in their whole new support staff," Gibson explained.
"I’m very aware that I’m coming here and I have a game in two weeks so I don’t have time to go and pick people and tell them to come do this thing with me in South Africa.
"What I’ve decided along with Cricket South Africa (CSA) is to keep the people involved for the moment so that it gives me time to assess them and see what else is out there so that by the end of the Bangladesh series I can tell CSA what people I want."
The first of two Tests against Bangladesh gets underway in Potchefstroom on September 28.
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