Great Scots coach who was ‘way ahead of his time' dies

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

Dennis was born in Aberdeen in 1940, the second of four brothers born to parents James and Elsie. All four played hockey, following the sporting path set by their father, who played for Aberdeen Hockey Club and whose creed was to ensure his boys played as many sports as possible.
By a strange coincidence, Dennis shared his primary school years at Kittybrewster with another Denis. But that was about as close as Dennis Haw and Denis Law became despite playing in the same football and cricket teams. After primary school, it was off to Aberdeen Grammar School for Dennis, where his skills in hockey were soon recognised, with Scottish schools caps in 1957 and 1958 and selection for the North District men's team while still a schoolboy.
After school, Dennis trained as a primary and PE teacher at Jordanhill College, Glasgow, and then worked in the city, playing for Western, out of which he won his first Scotland cap in 1964 against Ireland. He then held posts at Melville College in Edinburgh, Perth Grammar School, Drummond High School and Balerno High School.
It was the start of a stellar Scotland international career that spanned 10 years, during which time he played at club level with Glasgow Western and then Inverleith in Edinburgh. In all, he won a record 63 caps for Scotland, a prodigious achievement at a time when there were far fewer international games than in the present era.
Two years after winning his first cap, Dennis was selected for the GB squad's 1966 tour to Australia, a sporting experience that came at the personal financial cost of one-quarter of his teacher's annual salary.
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Dennis also toured India with the GB squad, playing in front of a crowd of 30,000 in one game, and crowned a glittering hockey career by representing his country in the (infamous) 1972 Munich Olympics.
Additionally, Dennis played for Scotland's indoor hockey squad, representing his country in the first European indoor championships qualifying tournament in Paris (1973) and the finals in Berlin (1974), playing alongside such luminaries as Chris Sutherland.
His playing career was built not just on technical skills but on his ability to analyse moves. Dennis was the classic midfielder, able to read games skilfully and work out the tactical answers to achieving victory.
It was this forensic mind, allied to good communication skills, that made coaching the next natural progression of his career in hockey.
He was appointed to the role of coaching Scotland men at the European indoor championships in Novara (1975) and the finals in Arnhem (1976).
Then, in 1982, Dennis began a six-year term as head coach of the Scotland ladies' team, the highlight of which was playing in the Hockey World Cup finals.
Further recognition of his coaching abilities followed in 1988 when Dennis was asked to take charge of the GB ladies' squad for the Seoul Olympics, their fourth finishing place a testament to Dennis's skilful mentoring of the team.
Four years later, he achieved unarguably the apogee of his coaching career when he led the GB ladies' squad to their bronze medal finish at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
After retiring from his teaching post at Balerno, he accepted the invitation to become director of coaching at Edinburgh University.
There, he designed a multi-team programme and within a year Edinburgh University, whose status in hockey had diminished, was back in the top flight of the Scottish game.
Dennis is survived by his wife Anne, three sons Alan, Brian and Neil, and four grandchildren.
ALAN LORIMER