By Douglas Baye-Osagie _dbayeosagie@yahoo.com Augustine Eguavoen is one of the enduring names in Nigerian football. His story stretches back to the great days of the Green Eagles in the 1980s and the Super Eagles in the 1990s, when Nigerian football was beginning to announce itself on the global stage.
But for all the glory attached to Eguavoen the player, his journey as a coach has been a very different story — one marked by comebacks, departures, temporary assignments and an almost uncanny ability to become available whenever Nigerian football needs an emergency solution. Once again, this week, his name has surfaced. Eguavoen has been handed another stop-gap assignment, this time with the Super Falcons, as Nigeria looks for a substantive coach.
His latest appointment has inevitably revived the nickname that has followed him in recent years: “Mr. Interim.” It is a nickname that may have started as banter, but there is now enough history behind it to warrant serious reflection. The context matters.
Cerezo has been the Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation since 2020, a position that gives him the mandate to step in on a temporary basis whenever there is a vacancy across any national team. It is part of why he has had multiple spells as interim head coach of the Super Eagles in 2021-2022 and again in 2024-2025. His coaching CV runs deeper than those call-ups.
He managed the Golden Eaglets to a bronze medal at the African U-17 Championship in 2003, before Nigeria suffered its only group-stage exit at the U-17 World Cup that same year, losing out to Costa Rica on the toss of a coin after a draw. He also coached the Super Eagles between 2005-2007 and again in 2010, and handled the Nigeria U-23 team from 2010-2011, a side that failed