The Coaching Pool Thread #1: discussing coaches and coaching qualities we like for the USMNT [R]

I'll take a crack at it. In order of most important to least:

• Ability to build a team that's greater than the sum of its parts
• Ability to identify our best talent and use is efficiently
• Ability to develop a coherent, workable tactical strategy
• Ability to make in-game adjustments on the fly
• Ability to game-plan for tournaments
• Knowledge of US player pool
• Knowledge of Concacaf

With the exception of Arena, Kreis looks like the current MLS coach with the best credentials. However, I'd worry about taking a chance on him before he proves that he can do it without Javier Morales. There seems to me a good chance the Kreis bandwagon could derail in much the same way the Kinnear bandwagon derailed once DeRo left.

 

Hans Backe? I like what he has done with the Metrostars.

 

I like that option too because he's had experience coaching in Europe and bring another dimension to MLS. I think it would translate well into the national team since he'd have knowledge of how things work in the US.

 

Backe fulfills some of the criteria, but it can't really be argued that he's achieving with a limited talent pool relative to the competition. And he deserved straight "F"s for last season's tournament showings - both the Open Cup and Playoffs (Yallop took him out behind the woodshed).

 

San Jose did play very well in the playoffs. But I think it had more to do with Convey being in brilliant form than Yallop out-coaching Backe.

Backe did make a strong early impression on me with his "hyping" of Tim Ream in the 2010 pre-season. If you go back to the early interviews he gave last year it does show that he knew he had a very talented young player. So at least in that instance he would seem to have a discerning eye for relatively unproven talent. He was also very positive last year on Agudelo and seems to be handling his development properly.

 

I love what Backe is doing with the Red Bulls. He appears to be the most capable coach that franchise has ever had. But keep in mind that he isn't doing this with Americans. Other than Ream and Agudelo, the Red Bulls are dominated by non-US players. Backe is actively and assertively seeking non-Americans to build around, which is something national team managers simply cannot do.

Matrim's bullet point list looks sound.

 

You're right that a national team coach has less freedom in looking for players. At the same time, I would give Backe credit for deciding that someone such as say Jeremy Hall (who is a decent enough player) is not going to cut it as the type of player he is looking for.

The Metrostars do have some relatively unknown young American players on their roster--da Luz, Hertzog, Hot, Kassel, Lassiter. It will be interesting to see if Backe is able to develop one or two of them and integrate them into the team over the next couple years.

 

Neither is Kreis, for that matter.

Of the few US born players on his roster, both Robbie Russell and Nat Borchers have some Euro experience.

After that, it's Beckerman and Rimando.

But the team's strength is its attack of Saborio, Espindola, Morales, Johnson (and, occasionally, Williams or Grabavoy).

Having seen RSL and Monterrey, I'd want neither Kreis nor Vucetich. Both come from substandard leagues and play a wholly inadequate ball.

So, yes, I want someone with a successful coaching experience in the European top 6-8 leagues, preferably with a Champions League or UEFA/Europa League string of successes.

Other international experience - i.e., successful coaching experience of international teams or tournaments - could be considered in lieu of Euro club success.

Since the very top tier managers will be gainfully employed and highly compensated, I would settle for the Claudio Rainieri - Martin Jol - Huub Stevens - Martin O'Neill - Steve Coppell type.

 

Honest question, you seriously want Steve Coppell, or Jol, or the guy that just got fired by RB Salzburg, to manage the US NT? You think they'll get us to the WC Semis?

 

well, probably we could get good coaches from mexico, like aguirre, but i think dutch, french or spanish managers that are available could become interesting coaches. one important thing is that in MLS the coaching could be improved with the recruitment of good coaches from those countries , i am tihnking of co adriansee, deschamps, michel preudhomme, good managers from midle teams from germany, former youguslavia ( usually very well balanced teams that are hard to beat)..with better coaches we can develop better players. form portugal there are also good coaches, like carlos azenha, but the language would be a great disavantadge.
After coaches heve experience in MLS then we should pick the best ones to the USMNT
No more british or scotish managers( except alex ferguson, of course) because they are outrunned in time.

 

Red Bulls lineup -- 1 US starter (Ream):
http://www.football-lineups.com/lineup/210765/
http://www.football-lineups.com/lineup/210508/

Salt Lake lineup -- 6 US starters (Rimando, Borchers, Russell/Beltran, Wingert, Gravaboy, and Beckerman:
http://www.football-lineups.com/lineup/208976/
http://www.football-lineups.com/lineup/210590/

These coaching choices are fundamentally different. Try a better comparison.

 

Kreis has also given Chris Schuler starts as well.

My two cents:

A coach with the inclination and ability to take advantage of the best qualities of the pool which are:

1. work-rate and 'lunch pale' ethos
2. diverse playing styles
3. adept goal creating ability

specific characteristics:

tactical adroitness
respect for MLS
has won with more than one set of star players

The top domestic candidate would be:
1. Dominic Kinnear

 

Is this a joke?

Kinnear's career took a nosedive when DeRo left.

 

I would toss in:

-The ability to effectively communicate with his players
-The ability to foster and develop relationships with the players' clubs.
-The humility to be able to abandon ideas once disproven

Domestically, the shortlist is basically Kreis and Kinnear, right?

 

Actually, the year after Dero left the Dynamo were still the best team in the league. They were eliminated from the playoffs in that game which had 2 "power outages" when the Dynamo had LA's goal under siege. In the power outages the power didn't even go out, the stadium lights just turned off.(And the TV showing Dom Garber in the press Box with a smirk on his face didn't help) Oh ya, the Dynamo had 2 good goals called back. The thing that really solidified the whole thing as suspicious was that they were playing LA and Dom Garber really just wanted to get his #1 signing Becks into the final. Point being that the Dynamo were just as good without Dero. After that Holden and Rico Clark left for Europe. The rest of the team was so old that they weren't playable anymore. So 2010 was a rebuilding year.

 

I would like a coach who could get the USMNT to achieve better results than the sum of its talent.

 

*Ability to dress like a grown man.

And after the Sampson-Arena-Bradley era, I'm not entirely kidding. Sorry, Steve Nicol.

 

How did his career take nosedive? He has lost Donovan, Mulruney, Ricardo Clark, Mullen, Stuart Holden, and Derosario. He's still coach of the team. The team is moving into a new stadium. The team currently in fifth place and that's before the major acquisitions play and before Ching returns.

 

The most important qualifications:

Understanding that you're working with a Fed which is ,and will be, more concerned with assisting the pro league to grow and answering to its well-heeled youth parent base than it is with winning a WC .

Accepting a salary and level of input commensurate with that view.

 

Tarcisio Burgnich wrote an article recently, exculpating Leonardo for his blow-out home loss to Schalke. In the piece, he said something like, "Coaching is only 20% of the package. The players are still responsible for the rest".

Well, I am not sure how Burgnich derived the 20% figure but, assuming it's in the ballpark, it'd probably mean 12-17 points during a regular pro season and an extra win in major competitive events.

PS. There was an old Tommy Lasorda line that a good baseball manager is worth about 10 wins a season.

In baseball, it'd equal to ~ 10/80 or 12%, which seems reasonable given the MLB result distribution.

And last season, Bakke started Luke Sassano and Ream and Conway and the nationally ranked Connor, etc. while Jason played the same few guys.

Personally, I'd prefer a coach who'd tell the USSF bureaucrats to go screw themselves.

I would also prefer the USSF bureaucrats to fire the coach, if he is not getting the results.

And, by results, I mean I want to be in Top 15 Elo on a consistent basis.

The "team unity", "professional attitude" and all that is a detritus of coach speak and bad football analysis. Good coaches make their teams better. Bad coaches make them worse.

And there are plenty of ways to flip that burger.

 

Which only strengthens my point. He inherited a squad with many starting US players, but once Backe had a chance to build a lineup he wanted, he got rid of the US players and added more non-US players.

He's made the Red Bulls better, no doubt. But I'm not sure he's the right guy to coach a squad full of Americans.

 

Ballouchy and DeRosario, and Robinson last year and maybe even Tchani, are quasi Americans. Culturally and in terms of mindset regarding soccer I don't see them as much different than the players on the US national team, some of which have spent much less of their lives in North America and whose command of English is not that great. It seems to me that the national team composition of the Metrostars is not that much of an issue. Consider that the US coach has as his players Chandler, Jones, Mix, Agudelo, probably Mwanga in the future, and others who come from rather diverse cultural backgrounds. It seems to me that any coach needs some ability to relate to players with a diversity of backgrounds. Bora, who was probably further removed from American culture than someone like Backe, did well. In addition, it is likely that any foreign coach would have an American assistant or two to explain the importance to American players of obscure expressions like "hold the fort" or "remember the Alamo," the last one of course being the key to motivating Clint Dempsey (but not to be used around Jose Francisco Torres).