When Franco Smith revealed towards the end of last year that he had never applied for a job in his life, it came as something of a surprise.
The Glasgow Warriors head coach, after all, has cultivated a reputation as a master planner, a man so organised that he often selects his match line-ups months in advance.
Could a man with such a meticulous mind and detailed diary really leave such major career choices to the whims of fate?
Perhaps, though, Smith has no need to push his CV under the doors of would-be suitors when his work evidently speaks for itself.
For if the South African’s arrival at Scotstoun in the summer of 2022 had been low-key and underwhelming to say the least – only two reporters turned up for his official unveiling – then it will be a vastly different story should he end up moving on from Glasgow given all he has achieved in his two-and-a-half years in charge so far.
Smith, a deeply devout man who is also guided by his religious beliefs, took over at a time when the spirits of the Warrior Nation could hardly be lower.
Franco Smith and his captain Kyle Steyn with the URC trophy last season
The former Springbok is now a man in demand after his success with Glasgow Warriors
His predecessor Danny Wilson had exited on the back of an almighty 76-14 shellacking to Leinster in the URC quarter-finals, the sort of result few head coaches survive.
Smith had been in charge of the Italian national team before moving upstairs to become that country’s head of high performance but he wasn’t the big name that many Glasgow fans had been hoping for.
Quietly spoken but immensely driven, the former Springboks fly-half didn’t take too long before starting to win over the doubters and the sceptics.
When just a few months into the job he named what looked a weakened side for a difficult Challenge Cup tie away to Bath, there was a collective murmuring over whether the new guy had underestimated the toughness of such a fixture.
Instead, Warriors won that match 22-19, setting in motion the long-standing process of Smith rotating his line-ups almost every week in a bid to build squad depth.
The old maxims that you never change a winning team and that consistency of selection is vital to consistency of performance have both been debunked by the South African who has shown that it is teams who win matches, not individuals, regardless of their reputation.
Warriors went all the way to the Challenge Cup final that season. The subsequent defeat to Toulon in Dublin was a rare setback for Smith and his players in that maiden campaign but it would prove a valuable lesson in what was required in those situations.
A year later and faced with demanding URC play-off ties away to Munster in the semi-finals and then away to the Bulls in Pretoria in the final, Warriors demonstrated that they had adapted from that Toulon setback and prospered.
In just his second season in Scottish rugby, Smith had delivered a major trophy.
His third term in charge is also shaping up well, with Warriors second in the URC table – Smith is still to lose a regular season home league game during his entire tenure – and with a Champions Cup last 16 tie against Leicester Tigers looming in April.
The 52-year-old has achieved what has often felt like the unattainable dream of producing teams that are enthralling to watch, successful and, the tricky part, also filled with talent from the club’s own academy.
That last component might be the least important to many supporters but Smith has placed it at the core of his management approach, believing a key part of his role is to provide players good enough to represent the national team.
Many like Gregor Brown, Max Williamson, Euan Ferrie, Alex Samuel and Gregor Hiddleston would have found it far harder to get into the Scotland set-up were it not for Smith’s enduring commitment to giving younger players their place.
Every head coach talks about professional rugby being a full-squad game but Smith is one of only a few who have not only been true to that idea but who have also been able to bleed youngsters into the line-up without weakening the team’s prospects. It has been nothing short of remarkable.
Given all of that, it was something of a mystery that Smith’s success hadn’t yet brought him to the attention of a wider audience but now the speculation has begun and it might never stop.
Smith has helped Scotland internationals Matt Fagerson and Scott Cummings
Those same Tigers that Smith will look to defeat in two months’ time were the first to be linked with an interest, with head coach Michael Cheika leaving the club at the end of the season.
Smith is also thought to be a candidate for Wales as they look to replace Warren Gatland after a wretched sequence of results. And the longer Glasgow continue to punch above their weight, the more Smith is going to be considered for vacancies all across the world.
The 52-year-old’s contract with Scottish Rugby expires next year and it feels almost unforgivable that the governing body could let him slip away given everything he has done for the game in this country in a relatively short space of time.
With Gregor Townsend’s contract also set to run out around the same time, there will be a clamour for Smith to be installed as his successor.
And while that would be a hugely popular appointment – perhaps some Glasgow fans won’t agree at the thought of losing him – a better fit given Smith’s propensity for youth development might be as the long-term successor to David Nucifora as performance director.
After all, the South African has already produced more players for the national team than those who were actually doing that job in recent years.
Smith will address those rumours on Friday when he speaks with the media ahead of Glasgow’s URC match with Dragons on Sunday.
And once more he will smile benignly and say that whatever is meant to be, will be. He has never chased a job in his life, and with his reputation soaring through the roof, he certainly doesn’t need to start doing so now.
