I might have coached too long: Lehmann

Former Australia coach Darren Lehmann has encouraged Justin Langer to take his hands off the wheel whenever possible to avoid burning out like he did during his five-year stint in the top job.

In the wake of the Cape Town scandal that saw three players suspended and him quit as head coach, Lehmann conceded he perhaps should have stepped down sooner given the extraordinary time he spent away from home with the national team.

"I look back now and I had a fantastic five years coaching Australia," Lehmann, who took over in 2013, told Adelaide radio station FIVEaa on Friday.

"But I look back now and go ‘maybe it was a bit too long’. You're away 300 days of the year.

"I speak to Justin Langer quite regularly just making sure he gets some time off when he can because you're on the road and it's 300 days of high pressure trying to win every game.

"That takes its toll in the end."

Lehmann was handed the reins on the eve of the 2013 Ashes and in his time at the helm he guided Australia to a World Cup win in 2015, Ashes wins on home soil in 2013-14 and 2017-18 and the Test side to the No.1 ranking twice (2014 and 2016).

During his tenure he missed only a handful of limited-overs tours, either when ordered to rest or when he was recovering from a nasty bout of Deep Vein Thrombosis in 2016.

He was set to continue until the end of the 2019 northern winter, which includes the World Cup and Ashes in England.

But after seeing the distressing press conferences of banned players Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith and the unwarranted taunting his family endured after the events of Newlands, a visibly upset Lehmann said he could no longer coach the men's national team and resigned before the fourth Test in Johannesburg in April.

And it's only now that he's beginning to feel like his old self again.

"I was in a bad place like everyone for a little bit of time," he said.

"It's taken me the last three months, I'm starting to feel a bit more normal and enjoying watching the cricket again.

"It's been good days, bad days, but getting over it and (I’m) starting to look forward to the game of cricket again."

Lehmann will spend the summer commentating for Fox Cricket and Macquarie Radio, but his passion remains coaching, regardless of the pressure and scrutiny that comes with it, and hopes to return to it one day.

"It's 24-7, you don't sleep," Lehmann said about his time as Australia head coach.

"You're thinking about either the day, the coming day, six months ahead, who you've got coming up, what players you've got back from injuries, you're talking to everyone.

"It's literally the most demanding job I've ever had, but it's great fun.

"It's really stressful and 300 days away make it tough.

"It's a job I loved, I loved every minute of it. Even right to the end I loved it.

"Now it's Justin's turn to keep it going and win some games of cricket."