Matthew Mott says he was interviewed as an option to replace Justin Langer, before he later decided the time was right to leave Australia's world-champion women's team and take up the white-ball role in England's men's program.
Mott announced last week he had finished up as Australia's women's cricket coach, after a seven-year tenure that netted four Ashes and three World Cup wins.
The Queenslander will take over as England's ODI and T20 sides, given 16 months to help retain the one-day World Cup trophy in India next year.
But while his decision in the month after the ODI World Cup win left even his assistant coaches surprised, Mott had accepted the time was nearing for him to move into a new role.
"I could have done the job forever, I was loving it. I loved the staff and all the players," Mott told AAP.
"We've had the nucleus of some of the greatest players of all time.
"But I think seven years is around the time where you have to make the decisions. Whether you are the right person to take the group forward.
"I didn't want to stay a year too long. I feel like it's slightly early. The Commonwealth Games would have been a great lure, but you don't get perfect timing.
"And I couldn't see myself signing another contract (beyond 2023), because I don't think that would have been in anyone's best interest."
Initially approached to interview for the men's head coach role, if he was interested, at the end of the summer before it was given to Andrew McDonald, Mott always believed the Victorian was the top candidate.
"I definitely thought about it" Mott said.
"On reflection, I'm not certain that if I got it I would have taken it (with a young family) in its form that it is now.
"At that stage there wasn't too much clarity around what the role would look like, there was talk of it being split.
"But when England made it clear from the start they were splitting the roles, once I set my mind on that I knew it would be a good fit."
Mott was also then positioned to move into a new role in the future mentoring coaches across both the men's and women's game after moving on from the women's team.
However when he was recommended for the England role after having previously coached county club Glamorgan, CA were supportive of his move.
"I feel like if I didn't take this opportunity now I would probably regret it," Mott said.
"I see so many parallels between (England's men and Australia's women).
"They (England) have openly said they want to achieve more. They have been a very good side for the past two years. They have great depth.
"But they want to be consistently renowned for being the best team in the world.
"Hopefully I can draw on a bit experience."
