Article on Bruce Arena

[chessplayer]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/soccer/mls/kansas_city_wizards/14643727.htm

This was in today's news summary, it is a neat article on Arena's life and influences. I had not known a lot of his background. His one US cap as GK came vs Israel in 1975 I think.
I also didn't know that (UConn women's b-ball coach) Geno Auriemma was an assistant at UVa and so was (GMU men's b-ball coach) Jim Larranaga. Anyway, this is a good article to read, I thought I'd put it out there. It makes a pretty good case for Shep Messing's bestowment of the title "greatest US coach in any sport."

[VBSoccerFan]

[url] It makes a pretty good case for Shep Messing's bestowment of the title "greatest US coach in any sport."

I would put him in the top five. Greatest is really hard to determine.

[appoo]

I would put him in the top five. Greatest is really hard to determine.


Wooden would be a pretty good nomination I think. Paterno because of longevity and going undefeated in 5 different decades and his Grand Experiment, Phil Jax has to be be up there to for what he has able to work with the Bulls and Lakers, Eddie Robinson because of his ground breaking in college sports with the black athlete, Dean Smith is the Dean of modern day basketball, and then you have to talk about the liked of Knute Rockne, Jim Torre, and Vince Lombardi.

To be honest - I don't think Arena comes close. Not yet. Let's see what he does in this world cup, and if he can make his mark in Europe - where no American coach ever has - then I think he gets consideration for that.

[swedust]

In Bruce I Trust

[turbostevo]

Very interesting article. I like Bruce even more after reading it.

Great find!

[Reignking]

Yes, another great product from the University of Virginia :)

[VBSoccerFan]

Yes, another great product from the University of Virginia :)

HOOs yer daddy!

WAHOOWA

[Adam Zebrowski]

wooden had alcindor and walton, and the days when the west regional was so pathetic they had a cakewalk to the final 4....

give me the guy who takes a team and bats you, then takes your guys and beats you again...

that's what great coaching is all about...

the guy who recruits well and has great talent could be a pathetic coach...

great ones...

jim leyland...all he does is win, takes medocre teams from pittsburgh to floriad to detroit, and what does he do....just wins, or improves them drastically....

that's the type guy I'm talking about

[IowaBoy]

There's a critical analysis of the article going on at the Wizards board.

Here: http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=356867

[appoo]

wooden had alcindor and walton, and the days when the west regional was so pathetic they had a cakewalk to the final 4....


I don't care who you have but to win 12 straight championships is ridiculus. look at Brazil...they have almost double the amount of talent compared to their closest competition. Yet not evern they have gone on a run similar to UCLA did.

[Adam Zebrowski]

the wooden run was like the unc womens soccer run...

did you see that ucla squad play??

christ, those were the days when the SEC had NO BLACK players...

it was a totally different world back then

[Maximum Optimal]

Interesting to see Wooden, Arena and Lombardi grouped together. Three very different personalities. Yet there must be some similarities in their approaches. Would make a good book.

[edcrocker]

Although Pete Gratoff’s article is interesting, informative and well-written, I'm a little concerned about the perception that it might contribute to. It might be a little too laudatory of Bruce Arena. For instance, Gratoff writes: "As the World Cup nears, more attention will be placed on Arena, who some say ranks with the likes of John Wooden and Vince Lombardi. In fact, Arena’s winning percentage as a college coach tops Wooden’s." Although Gratoff merely writes that "some say" Arena ranks with Wooden and Lombardi, in the context of the rest of the article the sentence creates a pretty intense impression. I have mixed feelings about whether it is reasonable to compare Arena to Wooden and Lombardi. On the one hand, Arena's contributions to US soccer are outstanding. He is an excellent coach, someone who I have learned from by reading and watching the decisions he makes and how he makes those decisions. It is also good how he treats his players with dignity and respect and helps them grow as individuals and as a team. Moreover, Arena is doing well with the biggest sport in the world. Soccer isn’t really even a sport in some parts of the world. It's an obsession. On the other hand, each of those coaches won many championships in leagues that were bigger and much more prestigious than MLS and college soccer. And the US only won two games in the last World Cup, one against a familiar foe that we match up well against and the other against a tired team that may have been slightly overrated.

Also, this comment by Shep Messing is too strong: "When you look at the Premiership or La Liga or Serie A, and you look at the pool of talent in the professional leagues there that those national team coaches work with — and I’m not critiquing Major League Soccer, I think Major League Soccer is has been an instrumental part of Bruce’s success, but it is what it is — he does a miracle with what he has to work with." First, Concacaf, the confederation the US qualifies from, is not as strong as some other confederations. Second, the US did qualify through competition for the World Cup in both 1990 and 1998, and Arena wasn't the coach of either of those teams. In fact, our 1990 team consisted of college players. Moreover, Arena has had a good pool of players to work with. Our players are fit and athletic. And at key spots we have some players with particularly good field sense and skill (for instance, Reyna, Donovan, Beasley and Mastroeni). Also, Arena has had a pretty strong MLS to help him develop players.

In addition, we barely qualified for the 2002 World Cup. Remember that Donovan got taken down in the box against Jamaica at Foxboro. In fact, it took us until the final game to qualify for the final group stage in the last cycle. We had to get a result against Barbados. And Arena couldn’t coach in that game because he got a card in an earlier game.

Finally, perhaps Arena’s accomplishment in the last World Cup is a bit less phenomenal than it might seem to a casual observer. Portugal was tired and perhaps a little overrated. South Korea was no more talented than the US. Poland beat us 3-1. And we were somewhat fortunate to draw Mexico in the round of 16. Mexico is a team we know well and match up well with because of athletic, size and speed issues. Finally, though we played well against Germany, they did beat us.

An additional concern I have about this article is that it is the kind of article that can breed overconfidence. We have a very hard group in this tournament. We could lose all three matches. It is reasonable to say that Italy and the Czech Republic are more talented than the US. For instance, the Italian players excel for huge clubs in one of the best leagues -- if not the best league -- in the world. And from what I understand, Ghana is a strong, athletic, determined team. Ghana was the highest qualifier out of the African region, which is a good soccer region. From what I understand, Ghana is capable of beating anybody on a given day. In short, the US team has a huge challenge ahead of it.

Nevertheless, it is good to see Arena and the US players get recognition from the mainstream US press. They are positive role models; they are thoughtful and gracious. And they are involved in an activity -- soccer -- that is really good. It would be great to see soccer really grow in the US. However, it is important that we keep things in perspective and that we guard against overconfidence.

[appoo]

Interesting to see Wooden, Arena and Lombardi grouped together. Three very different personalities. Yet there must be some similarities in their approaches. Would make a good book.

It would actually.


I'm not up on my wooden history to be honest, but from my understanding JoePa isn't all that different from him. Lombardi had a style similar to Papa Bear Bryant. Tough love, didn't put up with any kind of shit and his players truly feared him as much asd they respected him.

Arena? He's a players coach. Some compare him to Parcells, because he knows how to get the best out of his players....but at the same time Arena's players really seem to like him. That's not true of Parcell's players...who was a prick to both the media AND the players. In trying to compare him to someone...I'm thinking someone like Joe Torre, but way more outspoken to the media.

[zman31]

the wooden run was like the unc womens soccer run...

did you see that ucla squad play??

christ, those were the days when the SEC had NO BLACK players...

it was a totally different world back then


I was just getting ready to post that Dorrance and DiCicco must be the best ever then....

[appoo]

I was just getting ready to post that Dorrance and DiCicco must be the best ever then....


Was basketball back then truly so uncompetitive?

[zman31]

Was basketball back then truly so uncompetitive?


Well he did have 2 of the most dominating players of the day come through there in a weak west during a time when the game was changing as well as the country during the civil rights movment.

There is no doubting Wooden is one of the greats, but doing what someone like Coach K has done with great players but not necessarily dominating ones while dealing with the academic standards of Duke is quite a feat.

My response was more tongue in cheek though.

[twh3]

Yes, another great product from the University of Virginia :)

Who is the other one?
:rolleyes:

[turbostevo]

And the US only won two games in the last World Cup, one against a familiar foe that we match up well against and the other against a tired team that may have been slightly overrated.

... etc. ...
I can understand you not wanting to vault Arena into legendary status just yet, but to act as if "only" winning two games in the world cup and "barely" qualifying for the 02 world cup renders those accomplishments less meaningful is a bigger mistake than overrating an outstanding coach.

on top of that - you seem to overlook that since squeaking into the quarterfinals of the '02 cup we went on to win our regional qualifying group and easily make the 06 cup. we also barely won the gold cup. our win loss percentage, not to mention our goals-against average, are remarkable over the past four years. in fact, you could say we have gone from one of the better teams in the region to arguably THE dominant soccer force in concacaf.

we've gotten quite spoiled under bruce arena. we didn't used to dominate like this. there's a reason some people might be overreacting.

[appoo]

Well he did have 2 of the most dominating players of the day come through there in a weak west during a time when the game was changing as well as the country during the civil rights movment.

There is no doubting Wooden is one of the greats, but doing what someone like Coach K has done with great players but not necessarily dominating ones while dealing with the academic standards of Duke is quite a feat.

My response was more tongue in cheek though.

his players were above the academic requirements at Duke. Coach K is the most over rated coach in the history of sport