Other Coaching Possibilities?

[jamesf24]

If Bruce Arena is not retained as US coach, who else should be considered a candidate?

IMO, the only MLS coach who should be considered would be Bradely, the only other possible American coach, would be John Eilenger, who is the top guy at Bradenton, and I think he would be a stretch.

I've heard rumors that Ruud Guilet would be interested, but I havent seen anything official, like quotes or anything.

What other names are out there?

James

[copaantl98]

Definitely not Octavio Zambrano.

[Ringo]

if I'm not mistaken, Steve Sampson is available.

[Red Card]

John Harkes would make a great coach-for-life.

[whip]

The only reason that I would be thinking about another coach for the NATS, is because BRUCE ARENA HIMSELF DOES NOT WANT THE POSITION NO MORE. Are we soccer fans promoting soccer or what? The only other coach that could REPLACE BRUCE COULD BE KOREA 2002 SOCCER COACH

[whip]

The only reason that I would be thinking about another coach for the NATS, is because BRUCE ARENA HIMSELF DOES NOT WANT THE POSITION NO MORE. Are we soccer fans promoting soccer or what? The only other coach that could REPLACE BRUCE COULD BE KOREA 2002 SOCCER COACH ( i forgot his name )

[The Wanderer]

Whip, you are thinking of Gus Hiddink.

John Ellinger is in no way qualified to coach the national team. He's never coached a team above U17 IIRC.

[jamesf24]

Originally posted by The Wanderer
Whip, you are thinking of Gus Hiddink.

John Ellinger is in no way qualified to coach the national team. He's never coached a team above U17 IIRC.

Like I said, that would be a stretch. The only real connection is that he has already coached, and had good success (and should be given alot of credit for developing) Beasley, Donovan, Quaranta, Buddle, etc. Not that all those guys would be givens for the squad.

Hidnick is a possibility, but I havent heard anything in the way of his interest.

Some may say Sigi Schmid, but I would be against that notion.

As far as Bruce is concerned, if he wants the job, and doesnt demand too much money, he should be retained. The idea of the thread is "What if he's not".

Some may say Jurgeon Klinsmann, he is here and has his "A" coaching license, and is familiar with the MLS. But has zero coaching experience.

James

[SeismicShift]

Originally posted by jamesf24


The only real connection is that he has already coached, and had good success (and should be given alot of credit for developing) Beasley, Donovan, Quaranta, Buddle, etc. Not that all those guys would be givens for the squad.



Ellinger did not DEVELOP those guys--if you want to hire the folks that developed those players for the nats, look to see who their club coach is/was. Ellinger simply assembles, he doesn't develop.

But before we get too high on Ellinger, remember this past u-17 WC disaster? We were embarassed by Egypt.

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by SeismicShift


Ellinger did not DEVELOP those guys--if you want to hire the folks that developed those players for the nats, look to see who their club coach is/was. Ellinger simply assembles, he doesn't develop.

But before we get too high on Ellinger, remember this past u-17 WC disaster? We were embarassed by Egypt.

Minor quibble--Eqypt beat us in the second round of the U20 WYC and then went on to the semi finals and won the third place game IIRC. Wolfgang Sunholz was the U20 coach.

[352klr]

Hiddink took the job at PSV so he's off anyone's list. Sunholz was the U-20 coach and did an awful job. THe U-17 had to deal with playing two days after 9-11 and in a group that included France and two other very good youth teams(I'm too lazy to look them up).

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by 352klr
Hiddink took the job at PSV so he's off anyone's list. Sunholz was the U-20 coach and did an awful job. THe U-17 had to deal with playing two days after 9-11 and in a group that included France and two other very good youth teams(I'm too lazy to look them up).

The U17s were in a group with the other finalists(Nigeria and France) and Japan.

[SeismicShift]

Originally posted by The Wanderer


Minor quibble--Eqypt beat us in the second round of the U20 WYC and then went on to the semi finals and won the third place game IIRC. Wolfgang Sunholz was the U20 coach.

oops. 17's lost to france, nigeria, and tied the czechs?

[Sandon Mibut]

While I think it is very likely Bruce will be back, here are some thoughts on some other candidates BESIDES Bob Bradley. It's not that I don't like or think highly of Jeff's brother - I do - but I just like to get some other names out there being mentioned and debated.

*Frank Yallop - as a player, was captain of the Canadian national team, played in the Premier League and first divsion for many years and finished his career in MLS, where he was an all-star. As a coach, turned SJ from perennial doormat to league power, winning MLS Cup last year and likely the Supporters' Shield, and perhaps another Cup, this year.

He's young, he has international experience as a player and he's been a winner as a head coach.

*Sigi Schmid - won the Open Cup and Champions' Cup and finished second in MLS twice. Before MLS, he won 3 NCAA titles, was an assistant on the 94 World Cup team and head coach of the 99 U20 team at the World Youth Championship.

He has a great track record as a winner (save for the actual MLS Cup games) and has international experience at the national team level.

*Dave Sarachan - assistant coach on the national team who has been through qualifying and the run to the quarterfinals. Also won MLS Cup, the Supporters Shield and CONCACAF Champions Cup as an assitant coach. Prior to MLS was a head coach at Cornell and played many years in the NASL and MISL.

A great record as an assitant but likely needs more head coaching experience before making this leap.

*Thomas Dooley - no head coaching experience save for a brief run in the German 2nd division but won a huge amount of hardware in a long career in Germany - German League title, German Cup, UEFA Cup, 3rd and 2nd division titles - and played for the US in 2 World Cups.

He knows international soccer and the players will respond to his pedigree as a player but he may need some seasoning as a coach somewhere first.

DARK HORSE
*Bobby Clark - The current Notre Dame head coach turned Dartomouth and Stanford into winning programs before leaving for South Bend. Between The Dartmouth and Stanford gigs he coached the New Zealand national team. Also coached pro clubs in Scotland and Africa before coming to Dartmouth. As a player, he won a Scottish League title, Scottish Cup and was on Scotland's 78 World Cup team. He also spent seasons in the NASL and won a league title here.

He has a great resume as player and has been a great college coach but despite his international experience with NZ, he's probably been away from the pros too long to go from college boys to the senior national team.

And, one name I'm not mentioning - Ray Hudson.

I love Ray because of his enthusiasm and entertaining demeanor but watching him closely this season I've been less than impressed and he hasn't shown anything to me that says he could handle a job like this.

That said, this is a moot discussion as Bruce is gonna re-up for another four years.

[Bluecat82]

Originally posted by Sandon Mibut
*Thomas Dooley - no head coaching experience save for a brief run in the German 2nd division but won a huge amount of hardware in a long career in Germany - German League title, German Cup, UEFA Cup, 3rd and 2nd division titles - and played for the US in 2 World Cups.

He knows international soccer and the players will respond to his pedigree as a player but he may need some seasoning as a coach somewhere first.



I was under the impression that Dooley was still coaching the side even though it was relegated...did I miss something?

[Nutmeg]

I am not sure about any names, but one requirement I would have of any coach is the ability to win in the big games they have coached. They should have a track record of preparing their teams for success in the biggest games those teams have played. This is a carry over from the "3 phases" thread, but when you look at Arena's career, he has a history of winning big at each team he's coached.

For this reason alone, I would exclude both Zambrano and Schmidt. I like them both as coaches, but their teams have notoriously choked when the big competition comes around. That may be unfair criticism - there may be other variables that kept their team from winning the titles - but great coaches seem to win no matter what.

The short list of American Coaches who fill this requirement is just that - SHORT:
1. Bruce Arena
2. Frank Yallop
3. Bob Bradley
4. Jerry Yeagley

Different coaches excel in different aspects of coaching. I love Zambrano's eye for talent. I love Schmidt's ability to build a winner every year. I love Ellinger's ability to develop players. I love Hudson's ability to motivate his team.

But when it comes to coaching an International Team, especially in the US, there really is only one expectation:

Prepare the US for the World Cup.

[Bajoro]

I'm hoping that Arena is retained, and that he brings in Yallop occasionally on his staff. I hope we get Yallop involved in USSoccer before someone else (Canada?) gets him.

(I have no infomation whether Bruce is interested in Frank, or if Frank is interested in Canada.)

Also: I have lots of respect for Yeagley, but bringing in a college coach these days is a bit of a stretch.

[profiled]

I have a question, everyone seems to throw around Bob Bradley as the heir apparent to the national team coach, but i'd honestly like an explanation as to why. He's had sucess in MLS, although that's failing recently (yeah, yeah, yeah injuries, world cup call ups, etc), no doubt, but there are alot of other coaches who have done the same. I mean Sigi's done just as well (save for losing 2 mls cups...), with a whole lot less talent on the field (again I know the injury situation).

Maybe i'm just biased, but to me his teams are notorius around the league for their overly agresive style of play (read dirty, hack, whatever term you want to give it), something I don't want to see us use on the national level.

I'm not lobbying for Sigi as a coach, in fact I'd hate for him to be the coach, I don't think he's a very good coach at all, which furthers my point. If Sigi can be as big a winner (more or less) as Bradley, and that's his sole accomplishment as a professional coach (i know, dc assitant coach, but we've seen arena can do it without him.), then I don't think it's a qualifier.

If you tell me it's because we don't have any other american coaching options and thats the reason, then sure, but if i'm some how supposed to be mystified by his coaching record and thats his qualification, then hell no.

I say get the best person for the job regardless of nationality, if it'll improve our national team, improve soccer in america as a whole, he can be a mexican coach for all I care.

Sorry for a bit of a rant.

[Bajoro]

"I say get the best person for the job regardless of nationality, if it'll improve our national team, improve soccer in america as a whole, he can be a mexican coach for all I care."

Profiled, I agree. If Bruce weren't available, I wouldn't care one bit about the next coach's nationality. When Bruce was chosen in '98, I felt differently, but now we've proven that one of our own can lead the nation team into the later stages of the world cup. Plus, our players are now sophisticated professionals and a foreign coach wouldn't have as much to learn about the idiosyncracies of US players (products of NCAA soccer).

But since Bruce is available, I think he's the most qualified for this job, at this time.

[Elninho]

Objectively speaking, Bob Bradley is the best realistic candidate for the job.

Consider:

1) The most injury-depleted team in MLS this season is still doing fairly well. Bradley has relied heavily on A-League callups for most of the last 2 1/2 seasons, and his team has been more than respectable. The expensive foreign stars have spent most of this time injured.

2) Bradley can develop players. Jim Curtin, Evan Whitfield, Ante Razov. Consider that Razov was basically rejected by the Galaxy prior to joining the Fire. Whitfield has become a quality pro, which is more than I expected of him early on. Curtin came out of nowhere, started out looking lost and confused, and is now a player who would be a starter for any team in the league.

3) Bradley can motivate players - Jamar Beasley and Eric Wynalda come to mind.

4) The Fire has a history of stepping up in do-or-die games. Can anyone argue with their playoff record or their Open Cup record?