Pat Howard

Patrick William Howard, usually known as Pat Howard or Paddy Howard (born 14 November 1973) is an ex-head coach at Leicester Tigers and a former Australian rugby union international who played centre or fly-half. He was the General Manager, Team Performance – for the Australian national cricket team.

For other people named Pat Howard, see Pat Howard (disambiguation).

Pat Howard
Birth namePatrick William Howard
Date of birth (1973-11-14) 14 November 1973
Place of birthSydney, Australia
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
SchoolMarist College Ashgrove
UniversityUniversity of Queensland
Notable relative(s)Jake Howard (Father)
Cyril Towers (Grandfather)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre, Fly-half
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1998–2001
2002–2004		 Leicester Tigers
Montferrand		 92
22		 ()
Super Rugby
Years Team Apps (Points)
?–1996
1996–98
2001–02		 Queensland Reds
ACT Brumbies
ACT Brumbies		 ()
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1993–1997 Australia 20 10
Teams coached
Years Team
2005–2007 Leicester Tigers

He was born in Sydney. His father Jake Howard played prop for Australia and his grandfather Cyril Towers also played centre for the Wallabies.

Early life

He attended Marist College Ashgrove, Brisbane where he played 1st XV Rugby. He started his career playing for the University of Queensland Football club. Studying pharmacy at the University he was a recipient of a University of Queensland Sporting Scholarship.[1]

Playing & Coaching career

Howard started his career in the amateur era playing for the Queensland Reds while at Queensland University, he made his international debut for Australia on 17 July 1993 against New Zealand at Carisbrook, Dunedin.[2] In 1996 Howard signed for the ACT Brumbies in the inaugural Super 12 season. Howard made the last of his 20 test appearances on 22 November 1997 against Scotland at Murrayfield.

In 1998 he signed for Leicester Tigers, displacing Will Greenwood, who was forced to return to Harlequins for first team rugby. Howard became a pivotal part of the Tigers' championship winning side. Howard started the victorious 2001 Heineken Cup Final for Leicester.[3]

After the departure of Joel Stransky in 2000, he was appointed as the Tigers' backs coach, however he had his sights set on regaining a Wallaby jersey ahead of the 2003 World Cup so rejoined the Brumbies in 2001, swapping his playing position with Rod Kafer.[4] He was unable to make the squad for the World Cup and returned to Europe, playing for French side Montferrand for one season in 2003/04.[5]

After retiring as a player at the end of the season in 2004, Howard returned to Leicester Tigers, once again becoming backs coach. In 2005 he was appointed as head coach succeeding John Wells.[6]

He guided Tigers to the Guinness Premiership and EDF Energy Cup finals in 2007, winning the domestic double. They also made the final of the Heineken Cup but were denied an historic treble – succumbing to Wasps 25–9.

On 28 December 2006, he announced he would resign as coach of the Tigers at the end of the 2006/7 season.[7] Marcelo Loffreda was named Howard's successor, who took up his new role after the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Cricket management career

Howard returned to his native Australia to manage his family's pharmaceutical company, however quickly became general manager of the Australian Rugby Union's high performance unit.[8] He also worked as Chief Operations Officer at Cromwell Property Group prior to his move to rugby management. [9]

On 13 October 2011, he was announced as the General Manager, Team Performance – for the Australian Cricket Team.[10] This role, created to focus solely on team performance, was one of the key recommendations of the Don Argus led Australian Team Performance Review adopted by Cricket Australia's Board in August.

Howard has received some criticism for this role. Shane Warne said in 2013, Cricket Australia should "please put current cricket people in charge to run the game,select teams, not ex rugby or any other sports people" and called Howard a "muppet".[11]

In March 2013, following being temporarily dropped from the national team Shane Watson said Howard had not been involved in cricket long enough to pass comment on his commitment to the Australian team.[12]

References
  1. "UQ world-class scholarship holders". UQ Sports. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  2. "New Zealand 25 Australia 10". ESPNscrum. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  3. "European glory seals Leicester treble". BBC. 19 May 2001. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  4. "Patirck Howard profile". ARU. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  5. "Fiche de Pat Howard". Cybervulcans. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  6. "Pat: 'Every Club Goes Through Change'" (Press release). Leicester Tigers. 15 March 2005. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  7. "Tigers step up hunt for new coach". BBC SPORT. 29 December 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  8. "Howard handed ARU high performance role". ESPNscrum. 2 August 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  9. http://www.mcmahonclarke.com/articles/conversation-pat-howard
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. http://m.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/shane-warne-labels-cricket-australia-high-performance-manager-pat-howard-a-muppet-in-twitter-tirade/story-fn2mcu3x-1226563891304
  12. http://m.theaustralian.com.au/sport/cricket/shane-watson-hits-back-at-cricket-high-performance-manager-pat-howard/story-e6frg7rx-1226595922383
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