An American Coach for the U.S. National Team

by user The Manly Ferry

Jeff Bradley, writing this time on USSoccerplayers.com makes what has to be the most novel argument I've yet read for hiring an American - or, an "American-bred" coach - to coach the U.S. national team. It's not a bad argument either. What is it?

"The shambolic state of American soccer would drive a foreign coach crazy, therefore, let's hire a Yank."

Or, in his phrasing:

"When you examine it closely, [former coach, Bruce] Arena did a great job coaching the U.S. because it was his dream job, and he believed in the American player. He was patriotic about the whole thing. He was willing to deal with a difficult system. He was willing to do whatever it was going to take. In short, he was the perfect American soccer coach."

"Mostly because he was American."

"Now, it's time to find the best American (born or bred) coach out there. A guy who will: look at the job as a dream job and not a stepping stone to something bigger and better. Not a guy who will throw up his hands when he's watching a mid-July afternoon game in Houston or Dallas and wonder what the heck it is he's watching."

I think I paraphrased that fairly...

Is Bradley's assessment correct? Possibly. It depends on the take we want to take toward developing the U.S. team. If the plan is to let the team grow organically along with Major League Soccer, an American coach should do nicely; so long as FIFA keeps allotting three World Cup spaces to our region (CONCACAF), qualifying for the finals shouldn't be that difficult; in all honesty, it should be close to automatic. But if we want to take a stab at accelerating the technical and tactical development of the American game, a foreign coach makes more sense; even on this path, we should still qualify for the Cup every four years. Bradley's case for an American gets at the risks of this approach: e.g. instability in the coaching position or, perhaps, a coach who sucks all the confidence out of our players by constantly dissing their capabilities.

I suppose this will get settled by those with the power to do so. Personally, I'm still leaning toward DC United's Peter Nowak for some dang reason.

Date

Wed 08/23/06, 10:31 am EST

Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1210 days ago

Score 1

Precisely this argument was made for a non-English coach of England when Erikkson was in charge. I think he took too much money, and did not understand what it meant to play for England, or English rivalries, or what the English like in a team. I think all teams should have a coach from their country, it makes the public feel they are devoted to the job. You can guarantee that the coach will give 100% to his own countries' team. I hope USA gets the right man, and they can improve on their 2006 World Cup performance.

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Bleeding GreenVarsity

1210 days ago

Score 1

This doesn't make sense to me.If a European coach came over here and was able to bring the American team to prominence and wake the sleeping giant that is US sports culture and get them behind soccer... He'd be a god. He'd be able to name his job anywhere he wanted to go. A guy could go from a great coach to "The Greatest" coach if he did with the American team. A foreign couch would most certainly work if it was the right guy.

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Kkfla737Soccer Kid

1190 days ago

Score 0

Limiting ourselves to an American Coach means we will not get the best possible person to move our national team and overall soccer program forward. I am dead set against limiting ourselves.

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