Dan McFarland’s exit from Ulster is “not a massive surprise” given the club’s recent run of disappointing results, says former captain Rory Best.
McFarland left his role as head coach on Wednesday after nearly six years in charge.
Best, who played under McFarland at Ulster before retiring in 2019, says the club must prioritise long-term success in their search for a new boss.
“They maybe needed a bit more of a reality check,” Best said of Ulster.
He suggested the team now need a figure “like Joe Schmidt” to lead them forward, while acknowledging former Ireland coach Schmidt himself is unavailable having been appointed to lead Australia last month.
Best said of the McFarland era: “Players and fans maybe won’t like me saying it, but this constant talk of winning championships, that was fine when he first came in, but really in the last 18 months, with the South African teams coming in [to the United Rugby Championship], how strong Leinster are and the re-emergence of the French and English sides, Ulster are a good distance away from winning something.
“I think every time Ulster went on a run of one or two wins, straight away the narrative was about winning championships and cups and, for me, that was a story to try convince people that Ulster were in a better position than they were.”
McFarland was unable to end Ulster’s long wait for a trophy and leaves Kingspan Stadium with the club eighth in the URC table after having failed to progress beyond the Investec Champions Cup group stages.
Following McFarland’s departure, Ireland Under-20 head coach Richie Murphy will lead Ulster on an interim basis until the end of the season once their Six Nations campaign concludes on 15 March. Current Ulster assistant coach Dan Soper will take charge of the side in their URC match with Dragons on 2 March.
But in terms of a long-term strategy, Best said he would like to see someone with the same qualities as Ireland head coach Andy Farrell and his predecessor Joe Schmidt in order to ensure Ulster have a pathway for young coaches to develop and the best chance of long-term success.
“I look at the coaching group; there are very talented young coaches in there and they need some guidance to allow them to grow,” added Best, who won a league title with Ulster in 2006.
“You see how Andy Farrell has done it with Ireland. When you throw an umbrella over a group and you allow them to grow and give them room to make mistakes, they become better.
“We can’t throw everyone out. You have to find a way to bring someone in, ideally someone like Joe Schmidt, although I know he’s at Australia.”
Best, who captained Ireland under Schmidt, said the next coach should be “someone who doesn’t have long-term designs to be the head coach forever but can come in and make sure that a coaching pathway is in place and make the best of the players Ulster have”.
He added: “For me, we must stop playing second fiddle and being content with taking scraps. We have to go ‘this is what we’re about and this is how we go forward’. We need someone who can shoulder that burden.
“There needs to be a long-term strategic route of how we get back what is good about Ulster and how we put someone in place who can safeguard that.”
