Grant McCann says developing Doncaster Rovers coaches 'makes you a wee bit proud'
Grant McCann says it makes him as proud to develop future coaches as it does players, in his role as manager of Doncaster Rovers.
Centre-back and captain Richard Wood is recovering from a second ankle operation of the season which is expected to rule him out for a further three months, but he will not waste the time as he looks to continue his coaching education during his rehab.
Like Wood, striker Billy Sharp had acquired some of his coaching badges before joining the League Two club (in his case for a third time), and McCann has been impressed with how James Coppinger, only a year younger than him, is continuing to develop having taken on a number of off-field roles since hanging up his boots in 2021.
When he picked up a calf injury last season, Wood stepped away from coaching in Doncaster's academy because he felt it was a bad look, but he has since come back to it.
"He's doing a bit with the younger age groups and he's been involved in the scouting," revealed McCann, who began his coaching career with Peterborough United in 2015, stepping up to caretaker seven months later before the first of two spells as Posh's full-time manager.
"He was at the Harrogate-AFC Wimbledon game (scouting) for us so we’re trying to get him involved as much as possible.
"He won't be able to do much after his operation for a few weeks but once he comes back we'll keep him involved.
"I think that's important for him because it's something he wants to go into so he needs to keep himself plugging away at that."
Wood had a spell as caretaker manager of then-Championship Rotherham United in the autumn of 2022, and although he has not made any concrete decision, it seems a player who captained the Millers and Sheffield Wednesday before taking the role at Rovers is heading in that direction.
Wood has his B license whilst legendary striker Sharp is an A-licensed coach who runs his own academy in Sheffield. Full-time Football League managers require an A license, but Premier League managers need the higher, Pro License, qualification.
McCann, who is six years older than Sharp and five older than 39-year-old Wood is looking forward to seeing how the pair develop as coaches.
"Developing staff is always a real bonus of your job," he said. "You don't ever want to lose any of your staff or players if you're developing them but its just the nature of it.
"Over the years many of my coaches and analysts have moved on to bigger clubs.
"It makes you feel a wee bit proud.
"We're about that anyway as a staff. We're about developing and if people get too good for us and other clubs come in for them it's part of life, part of football.
"Developing players to become coaches in the future like the Billy Sharp and Richard Woods will be great to see."
Coppinger has worked as Doncaster's head of football operations and currently heads up the recruitment department as well as holding a role on McCann's first-team coaching staff.