Australian, South African or Dutch, who cares? Despite popular belief, foreign coaches aren't the ones causing the main problems in Australian sport.

Chris Wilson has spent the week calling me unpatriotic and if he got his way, border security would have turfed me out of the country quicker than Jake White went back to South Africa.

But I'm all for Australian sport. I'm just a believer they should be smart with coaching appointments.

Why should Australia restrict its search for new coaches to local competitions?

No one else in the world is that crazy and we shouldn't be either.

For the record, I'm a fan of Ewen McKenzie as Wallabies coach. I like that Darren Lehmann is the man trying to pioneer an Australian cricket revival.

I like them not because they're Australian. They're the best men for the job.

The biggest mistake the Australian Rugby Union made when appointing McKenzie as successor to Robbie ''Dingo'' Deans was chief executive Bill Pulver said he wanted a coach who knew how to play ''the Australian way''.

It was narrow-minded. The Wallabies need to win and then the fans will come.

Australian rugby's decline isn't Deans' fault, he led the Wallabies to third at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

In 2007, with John Connolly (yep, he's an Aussie) in charge, the Wallabies were knocked out in the quarter-finals.

South African Mickey Arthur wasn't the problem in Australian cricket. Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and David Warner can stand up and take the blame for that.

And Holger Osieck, he led the Socceroos into a third consecutive World Cup with an ageing roster and players well past their prime.

To suggest foreign coaches can't coach Australian athletes because they don't understand the culture is rubbish.

Here's a few facts: ''Aussie'' Guus Hiddink (he's actually dutch) broke the Socceroos' 32-year World Cup drought; Frank Farina (yep, an Aussie) and Graham Arnold (Aussie again!) had their Socceroos chances, but they failed. ''Aussie'' Leigh Nugent (he's actually Australian, too) broke Australia's all-conquering swim team and they ''belly-flopped'' at the Olympics.

South African White led a revival at the ACT Brumbies, mostly a bunch of rag-tag forgotten-about Australians. He achieved what no Australian coach had been able to do in a decade, make the Super Rugby finals.

He did what no Australian coach had done in 42 years when the Brumbies beat the British and Irish Lions.

If the government is investing so much money in the ''Winning Edge'' program, why limit the chance of success?

Call me unpatriotic and ask for my passport to be revoked, but I'm Australian and I like winning, so get me the best coach. I'll worry about what country they're from later on.

Chris Wilson

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, ploy, ploy, ploy! Call me patriotic, call me old-fashioned, but I like Australian coaches calling the shots for our national teams.

It's not racism, I believe in multicultural Australia. No matter how many syllables in their names or the different ethnicity in their family trees, it's good to see the credentials of Ange Postecoglou, Graham Arnold and Tony Popovic being measured up as the best local coaches to take over the Socceroos.

And why shouldn't Football Federation Australia put faith in them?

The highest honour for an Australian athlete should be to represent their country, that same opportunity should be afforded to coaches.

Guus Hiddink will always be celebrated as the coach who broke Australia's 32-year drought at the World Cup, qualifying the Socceroos in 2006.

But there was even some cultural cringe about that, giving the Dutch mentor the ocker moniker of ''Aussie'' Guus.

The Australian cricket team tried and failed with South African Mickey Arthur, replacing him with ''Boof'' Lehmann.

The Australian Rugby Union has been criticised in some circles for appointing Ewen McKenzie as Wallabies replacement for sacked New Zealander Robbie Deans because he would coach ''the Australian way''.

To supporters of South African Jake White, where is he now? Back in his native South Africa, ditching the Brumbies halfway through his contract because he missed out on the Wallabies job. White had self-interest at heart, not the nation's.

Farcical eligibility rules in different sports can be cleared up. If you want to represent Australia - as coach or athlete - then commit. It's called citizenship.

Former Boomers coach Brian Goorjian was born in America, but did just that. Yep, give me a coach who knows Australia is girt by sea when the national anthem plays. It doesn't mean Australian sport cannot consult with and learn from world-best coaching practice. But that requires Australian coaches to be backed and invested in.

The federal government is investing millions in its ''Winning Edge'' program, which aims to return Australia to the top five of the Olympic medal tally. It realises the benefit of success on the national psyche.

But Australian coaches have been defecting to other countries for years, often because they're more revered internationally.

Australian coaches helped win twice as many gold medals for other countries at last year's London Olympics than Australia won as a nation. Shane Sutton was poached to head the successful British cycling program. Canberra's Paul Thompson coached Great Britain's women to three of that nation's four rowing gold medals.

Our answer to an Olympic belly-flop in swimming was to appoint a Dutch coach.

To those who argue best person for the job, maybe we need a foreign prime minister, too?