US Soccer Coach Search

I have followed the whole search for the new US coach with more that a passing interest. I have been very involved with soccer the past ten years both nationally and internationally at the professional and at the youth development level. Recognize that my perspective is from one whose responsibility and interest is in the physical preparation of the athletes to play. In that role it is unrealistic to not have some awareness of the technical and tactical aspects. That is necessary to do a good job of preparing the players for the style of play demanded of them. I had the opportunity to work with the 1998 US World Cup team for the final six months of preparation. I felt that the approach we were taking at that time could at best be described as naïve from all aspects of the game. For example in my area ten to fifteen minutes a day was not enough to prepare the players for the physical demands of the tournament. When I see that Mr.Gulati has listed the criteria as having someone who “would have to be familiar with the game and the players in the United States, be fluent in English, or willing to learn, and also be willing to learn Spanish.” This makes me question if we really have progressed, it sounds like the same naïve head in the sand approach we have taken before. We need to have someone who has great communication skills, someone the soccer community can rally around. This person should have extensive experience in player evaluation and long term preparation in all aspects of the game technical, tactical, physical, psychological and developmental. He should be given a long term contract, at least eight years. We are now no closer to top four in the world cup than we were in 98. The 2002 finish in Korea was an aberration that set us back more than it helped us. It gave us a false sense of the status of our devolvement. The problem was many of those young players failed to keep developing because they were not continually challenged. The new coach must be integrally involved with the developmental levels of the game. The whole youth system is corrupt (there are good programs, but there are not enough of them). It is a system not designed to develop players as much as it is to make money. At the youth level they play too much and train too little. As far as speaking English that is a must, Spanish would help, but I am not sure why from a soccer perspective. I do not think there was one Hispanic player on the World Cup and very few in the National team pool. This will be very interesting to watch. To me there is a clear choice between marketing and gaining some instant credibility and thinking for the long term development of the sport. It is not my place to even offer an opinion on the names that have been mentioned, but I do think we must cast a wider net and be willing to think more about the big picture to enable soccer to go where it is capable of going in this country.