USSF has had 10 months to stew over the fact that we're not in the WC, and to find a coach better than Sarachan. The fact that they waited multiple months, then had a presidential election, then made a GM position of nebulous authority, and then made him start on August 1st for no reason, does not mean that the Federation gets a pass because they created arbitrary hoops to jump through. EDIT: Re-reading this, I do see your point, Earnie is not "to blame" for this. The Federation is. But the fact remains, Earnie and Cordiero are now at the helm of the ship. Cordiero gets some unspecified amount of credit for not bungling the United 2026 bid. Earnie has done nothing so far, and "nothing" is exactly what is frustrating and troubling about this managerial search. So he's at an "F" until he turns in his homework and gets us some shortlist ideas...
He doesn't owe any of us anything............. The fans likely are not going to know if there is a short list, let alone who's on it. We'll find out a day or two prior to the announcement. Seriously, the guy hasn't been on the job two weeks yet and everyone is expecting him to have completely gutted, re-designed, and completed a remodel of Soccer House!!! Ya'll have unrealistic expectations. You say that they have had 10 months. Would you have preferred that the previous regime had made the decision on the next USMNT coach???? The USSF wanted to elect leadership, put a different structure in place (GM roles) and nail down the 2026 WC bid. The USSF clearly stated the the new GM would be in charge of putting together a list of candidates for the board to review. The federation is doing exactly what they said they were going to do.
Why do so many feel the need to be apologists for US Soccer? Is there a feeling out there that we owe them something? Are we being bad fans or unpatriotic if we rightly criticize the federation for incompetence at best and institutional corruption at worst?
I think it's quite fair to criticize them, they've certainly made mistakes, but I also think that much of the criticism here is off-base, likely from not appreciating the difficulties of running this kind of organization. The USSF has certainly dug themselves a hole, but I think one defend (or criticize) their efforts to get out of the hole. The plan of (1) hiring a GM, (2) the GM hires a head coach, (3) the coach and the GM hiring the other coaches, seems like a reasonable plan. For whatever reason, hiring the GM took longer than expected which slowed the whole process down. What's the alternative? In the past it seemed like Gulati made the coaching decision. Were you happy with that arrangement? Do you want Cordeiro to interview the coaches and make the decision? I don't think criticism for criticism's sake is very useful. And at it's worst, it leads to things like the conspiracy theories that float around here involving SUM, which doesn't help with understanding the situation at all.
Can we wonder about the youth setup? I thought it was long established that Tab would manage that himself. If that's true, how can they explain the vacancies there? If not, why not clarify and put their cards on the table?
I'm going to wait and see who the hires are before criticizing. If they do good I agree I will have wasted a good chance to gripe beforehand but I already did that after the WC elimination. Anyway the US usually punches above their weight so management gets a tiny bit of credit even though this last cycle deserves all it's gotten. IMHO the good player pool is now very young and the missing generation and starters who failed don't deserve to be back so getting the right fit for the youngsters is paramount. Then decide on the youth coaches who will run a similar system and players. There's a chance this group can be similar to the current Belgium group - good at the next WC and really good in 2026. Don't blow it by rushing and settling. Get it right.
My criticism against the ussf has and will probably always be transparency to prevent the kind of conspiracy theories you speak of. It would be easy to open the books and stop that, they don't so it fuels it. Specifically in regards to the GM process, they don't define the role, and reshuffle the power structure. In what I have read, Earnie is going to come with a list and then get his choice to the board who then makes the final call. It's not Earnie or anyone else other than who it always has been. Sunil was the public face because he liked the media, but it was always the board. Nothing really changed and its taken over a year and will probably be close to 2 before its settled. So the issue is, at least for me, it's a failure to really do anything when auch a faikure of a cycle happened. The secrecy doesnt help, but it is what it is there.
I'm with you on the transparency, but I think with Earnie the problem is something else. I don't think anyone at the USSF knows exactly what the role of the GM should be. Probably the best person to figure this out is Earnie himself so I expect more specific info about his role to be released in the future. I liked Kathy Carter's suggestion of bringing in a blue ribbon committee of outside individuals to address youth development and you could probably do the same thing for the USSF structure. Organizations, particular non-profits, are hard to change from the inside. That's one of the reasons companies bring in consultants. Deep down they know what they need to do, but they need someone from the outside who is free to state the harsh facts.
Maybe Earnie makes the choice and the board negotiates financial terms if possible. If that doesn't work out they move on to #2.
Would have no qualms but I do believe that would mean opening the books so to speak, and Im not sure they will ever do that. I mean did we ever really hear anything substantial from Double Pass, and that was what nearly 2 years ago now? Perhaps, but from the outline laid out it's not really looking that way. Again they are scrambling to really tell him what his role is (at least publicly, and from the leaks and interviews given). So its possible it goes this way, but I don't see it. I much see it more as a GM in basketball, the President (in this case the board) dictates a list of possibilities of say 10, Earnie interviews and narrows to 5 he thinks is good based on what he comes up with. The board reads Earnie's perspective and then makes the call on who to hire. Don't see them giving up that power, when they did all they could to hold that in the last election. We will definitely see how it plays out, and I hope its more like you say.
Definition of a consultant: "Someone you pay to come in, read your watch, and tell you what time it is." (And I agree with you 100%. But this presumes a Board with a modicum of self awareness and perspective on the core problem. Not seeing a lot of evidence of that.)
Presumably, they went in, made a report, and the USSF has not released their findings. They're already onto phase 2: https://www.doublepass.com/next-phase-of-usa-project-launched/ We shall see if they release those findings. Methinks USSF will sit on them unless they are flattering.
Double pass!? Let us just work on one freaking pass first, can’t even do one! How about hire a coach 10 months later!
Really interesting read, apparently DA clubs are implementing Double Pass's plan. I don't think that USSF will be releasing any findings, just money (elaborated on below). >"80 full Development Academy (DA) clubs will be revisited for a second assessment in order to track progress." Looks like they are using a subsidy model to help some of the hurdles we have in the United States. Sounds similar to how public schools receive more money if their students perform better on standardized tests. >"better DA clubs will also be rewarded by quality labels and a U.S. Soccer Incentive Fund." Essentially if the DA is meeting metrics that look like they are developing players that would benefit the national team then USSF will give that DA some money. It doesn't sound like anything Earnie Stewart has control over. USSF will probably use data from Double Pass to give out their subsidy. He has no control over DA clubs, Stewart only controls the National Team and Youth National Team programs (link below). https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2018/06/06/17/49/20180606-news-mnt-general-manager-job-description
Maybe Stewart has input, maybe not, but the fact that the initial reporting (publicized back in 2016 as part of how we'd improve as a soccer country) has remained unpublished makes me wary that it was something unsavory that the USSF would rather have swept under the rug. We'll see if anything comes out of "phase 2" or not.
With recent changes to MLS Academy rules, I wonder how the DP will affect recruiting, especially in markets with a diverse national team pool. So, for example, if Houston trained a disproportionate amount of players for the Honduran, El Salvador and Mexico NTs vs US, all whom go pro, would they not be eligible for these funds? Just a thought experiment.
I'm a lot less concerned about not having an NT head coach hired than the fact that we haven't hired anybody to oversee any of the YNT's.
So the money making scheme of pay to play will be a better business for all these clubs. Oooh boy, we just don't get it. Build public futsal courts across the country and public soccer parks in low income area where kids cannot afford to play PS4 and see what comes out of it.
Since we're going on two weeks now of radio silence, I am going to throw out there that silence only increases the pressure on Stewart to choose wisely. You're effectively tuning out the press and fans and their feedback. A certain amount of trial balloon PR could be understood as seeking press and fan feedback. If you float choice x and they are irate, woah, pause, maybe we messed up here in the bubble. But the way this is being done is strictly bubble.
Do we really need some sort of overall concept? I don't actually see a self-perpetuating pipeline of players trained up to play roles within a set senior system. Or even a next man up preparedness where if the senior team needs position x players we have a few in U20 and U17 ready on purpose. This is not like good farm team baseball where if the majors team needs shortstops you have a few in AAA being groomed. I mean the primary reason we missed the world cup was a whole 10-year generation of junk defenders. If you were really in constant effort developing the next men up then how do you not have the necessary replacements. So while perhaps on paper we are developing players to play the way the senior team does, in practice it would be more like my Dynamo where you are really developing what "talent" you find but not necessarily for a role the team needs. In which case why obsess like we're training people up in a "way" or "identity?" Focus on scouting and developing the best players we can. Free the coach to field them as he sees fit. And then we'll do "system" at senior level.
Having Sarachan in the room to discuss the player pool, with no friendlies for a month at the time, suggests they expect the process to take at least that long. Heck, the length of his caretaker extension suggests multiple months. After all, if you were going to have the new coach hired by the September dates then you defer to that. I get that at any time after that -- or even before -- Sarachan can simply be pushed aside in favor of his replacement. But going ahead and having the meeting with him as the coach figure is a clear sign near term it's his pool to pick.
They are doing that. Plans are to build over 1000 by 2026. https://ussoccerfoundation.org/programs/safe-places-to-play https://ussoccerfoundation.org/blog/post/the-mini-pitch-connection
Sorry, this is an infrastructure campaign that doesn't get at the real issues. Let's raise and spend some money to act like we care. The real issues are coaching and visibility to the "anglo" mainstream world of soccer. In college and my 20s I would play in hispanic leagues, among my grabbag of "games" each week, with hispanic friends I knew in my hometown. They would find me and rope me in. They knew my friend and I in the neighborhood could play. We'd go play games at fields where anglos rarely appear. There are all sorts of fields around town. How many parks around town have empty soccer fields? You're just repeating this infrastructure. What they need is visibility to the mainstream soccer world. I see your park. I see your league. I see your interesting players. I bring them into the club/college/ODP pipeline. That, to me, would be more like my Dynamo went down to south Texas and set up academy teams. They have never seen serious select soccer. They surely have players interested in soccer. That is an actual untapped resource. You are finding new players in new areas, coaching them up to the same level as suburban club teams, and then exposing them to college coaches and pro scouting. They then need coaching. I don't know how many teams we'd run into in HS where you'd see raw talent but it wasn't fit and it wasn't coached to play a team game. A college coach if he ever saw any of that might or might not even see something useful. But to club players like me it was like, wow, that dude could play if he did something besides dribble fancy in circles. Or if that team was made 90 minutes fit that could have been a game. That in reality we would win the HS state playoff game 6-0 belied that there was something interesting there, just not ready to compete in a competitive environment against drilled coached teams. That is your real untapped resource. This is not urbanized Europe, the issue is not parks and fields. The issue is getting this like whole other set of players and leagues on ramped into USSF's pipeline at some point, where they can get coached up and improve academies, colleges, pro teams. As it stands it's almost like a dead end. I don't know where the guys I knew from hispanic league could "go" with talent.