Really? How many MLS club presidents are coaching one of their academy teams? Maybe Chris Klein, maybe? I think that's awesome.
I'm with you on this. Kids at this age like to stick with the team they have been playing with and the friends they made on their teams. The team is currently coached by Bill and has been for a few years. His son is on the team.
Shane is a local. He played for Alta and I think he signed with the Blitz right before they folded. I think he also played for the Freeze.
What club? I'm guessing Sparta based on location. That'll go over well with other clubs. Note: it doesn't matter what club was picked, everyone has something bad to say about the other clubs. Thanks for the info - couldn't find anything on a basic google search so I just threw it on here. As for manning coaching - seems really weird. And if his son and Shane's son make the team (ha ha... if...) then this is a gigantic step in the wrong direction. No matter what you do, there is a conflict of interest in that situation. By that age, I feel parents and even relatives/friends shouldn't coach.
Makes sense. I've just seen him at the last few practices decked out in RSL gear - kinda threw me off
I'm a little surprised nobody picked him up. He's a solid goalie and could probably start for half the teams in the league, easily.
He's a class A licensed soccer coach, president of arguably the best MLS club and has won a USOC as a player. I think he and possibly his offspring are legit. Did your kids not make it or something? Your ruining my groove man.
Stuart Smiley is funny. The best is the one with Michael Jordan. Can you believe he is a Senator now? What relevance this has to Manning being a coach is beyond me.
I just don't like the conflict that a father/son setup brings. Prime example: Bradley's. Michael Bradley was/is a top notch player. People said he only played because his dad was the coach, though. It's detrimental to both sides.
Agreed. It makes it easy for people to overlook the talent of the player if they are the coach's son. Or, you can run into the problem of the kid slacking off and thinking it doesn't matter because his dad is the coach.
There are plenty of A license coaches that get outcoached by B and C licensed coaches. Hell there are plenty of pro coaches that suck. Lets say hypothetically, that maybe Bill is just an OK coach, and maybe his current club didn't feel like he was producing with the talented players he has. So instead of having a new coach come in and help with the team, he says I'll take all of these players and form a new team for them. And maybe he has some connections and calls this team Real Academy. This is all hypothetical of course. I've heard that he used to coach his son over at another club and maybe things didn't work out there either.
I have no problem with Bill coaching the team from a general perspective. Just wish there was this kind of initiative to get the club structure going without it obviously being connected to his kid.
I think people might be getting the causal relationship completely backwards on this coaching thing. I suspect most people end up coaching their kids team because their kid is playing, not that the kid plays because the parent is a coach. Let's say your son or daughter plays soccer and you are somewhat inclined to coach. Are you going to miss going to all of their games because you have a commitment to another team. Seems unlikely. I doubt that there are dozens of world class coaches clamoring for the opportunity to coach youth soccer. So it's probably pretty important for parents to be involved at various levels of the organization in order for it to be properly supported. That's not to say that there aren't abuses, but I would guess that parent involvement with the team is more the norm than the exception. Others on this forum could probably better speak to that from experience.
Hold it, didn't you just provide the best example of where it wasn't nepotism. Michael Bradley was exceptional and he is arguably one of the best US players ever. You guys just see a conflict of interest & nepotism. I'll continue to be cool with the fact that our decorated and properly trained president involves himself at the youth level.
You are correct with a lot of this post. The problem comes when the coaches kid is treated differently because dad is coaching. The other kids on the team notice this.
Go back and read articles from the road up to and through WC 2010. Many people constantly critics inc Michael and attributed him playing because he was the coach's son. It wasn't until after Bob was released that people qued in on how good Michael actually was.