“I was an idiot,” says Ryan Harris about his carefree life as a player before he became an assistant coach for South Australia.

Before he went back to South Australia, former Australian cricketer Ryan Harris talked about what he had learned in life. After 15 years, he will go back to South Africa to work as an assistant coach for Jason Gillespie, who was on his team and taught him a lot. Harris is currently the pathways manager and men’s team selector for Queensland. He will start his new job on June 1. On the same day, Luke Butterworth, who is currently the coach of SA’s bowlers, will become the head coach of SA Premier Cricket’s under-19 team.

Ryan Harris is getting ready to go back to his hometown, and South Australia‘s new bowling coach was quoted as saying that he thought Harris had been an “idiot” in the past but that he had learned a lot from his life experiences. He went on to say that, now that he was an adult, he had a lot more experience in both cricket and life.

“I was an idiot; there’s no doubt about that. But I’ve learned a lot, I’ve lived a lot, and I’ve grown up a lot. I’ve got a lot more experience, both with cricket and in life. I’m not that party animal… I went pretty hard, and I still enjoy having a beer every now and then, but not to the extent it was,” Ryan Harris told cricket.com.au.

“It almost cost me my job,” says Ryan Harris about how his laid-back lifestyle hurt his job.

Harris said that his mistakes and easygoing way of life had almost cost him his job. He also promised to make sure that the boys had fun, but not at the expense of their jobs.

Ryan Harris went on to say that everything he had done had taught him something, and that was the message he wanted to spread as a coach. The 43-year-old also said that he would make sure all the players had fun while playing.

“That’s part of me growing up and learning along the way, as we all do, and it’s probably a message I want to bring to coaching as well. I want to make sure the boys still enjoy themselves, but not as much as I did, because it almost cost me my career. That’s basically my life story around cricket. I got a lifeline, and I made it work,” he said.

After he stopped playing international cricket in 2015, he had a successful career as a coach. He worked with the national under-19 team at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, as well as Australia’s men’s team when Justin Langer was the coach.