I’ve heard not only is Jay leaving, but some of “his people” are leaving with him.Who? How many? Don’t know. But Jay isn’t the only one leaving at the end of the month.— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) February 7, 2020
Yep, this is nothing but good. Obviously, the USSF nonsense is so deeply ingrained, this isn't the complete solution, but it's certainly a start. Would not mind at all if Egg followed his brother out the door, and we simply started fresh with all this young talent ready to break out.
i guess we are gonna find out in the coming months if it was jay or earnie thats been the problem, huh? i credit mcbride- cleaning house, baby, takin out the trash!
Earnie is a figurehead. The only his responsibility is to verify whether a coach actually moved to Chicago.
I don't know why anyone would think this? It's pretty clear we are seeing Earnie implementing Earnie's vision on the soccer side. This housecleaning of US Soccer started a while ago under Cordeiro. Gulati was like a start-up founder - he did a ton with a shoe string budget and a makeshift cast of characters, but he couldn't take the organization to the next level. He had a ton of people who had no qualifications outside of US Soccer, but had grown up with the organization and were loyal to him and he was loyal to them. And they did a ton for US Soccer. But it's hard for that kind of organization to grow past that. There's no new ideas; no outside perspective from big, better organizations to help grow. Gulati tried to basically bring it all in in the form of Klinnsmann, but he made the obvious mistake you'd expect a start-up type guy to do -- he went for the charismatic vision man when he needed someone who could build an organization from scratch. Boring shit like strategy docs, goals metics, processes, frameworks, succession plans, and so on. Cordeiro didn't say much publicly when running, but he won because he appealed to the athletes that soccer guys would run soccer. He also made statements about upgrading the business side -- that we weren't getting the most out of media rights, for example. That's a direct criticism of Flynn and Berhalter. And he was US Soccer VP -- but it's clear he was a dissenter to Gulati. Gulati and Garber wanted Kathy Smith, not Cordeiro. We've already seen a massive turnover of staff both on the soccer side and we're going to see more on the business side. It's not to say those people were bad or the replacements will be better, but you could see this coming a mile away. Earnie sold his vision for the soccer side and is in charge. I know people think there was nepotism; I don't think so. I think Earnie wanted an American, who would believe in his vision and coach to his program. This is conjecture, of course, but I actually don't think there's a ton of reason to believe Earnie would take this job if he didn't have control. I expect to see someone from the NBA, NFL or similar angle on the business side be hired. I don't think Berhalter was good at his job, but even if he was, it's best for US Soccer to get an outside perspective. This is all good news for US Soccer, but I don't think this affects Earnie or Gregg at all -- I think they are essentially Cordeiro era hires and safe. But I could be wrong.
From the front runner for the new CEO to exit stage left. Damn, he must have gotten obliterated in those employee surveys. Looks like the Glassdoor reviews from months ago weren’t just a couple people’s views.
This makes some sense. If GB survives and supports this purge, respect. If he survives, then resigns, more respect. I hope your reading is correct. I think it is just as likely that it is still just a great big clusterflock in over its head.
i think the truth is somewhere in between. but heres the important part- i dont really know. thats why i said we will find out, to some extent, now. if our rosters start regularly dropping and are 70/30 euro/mls, or we go absolutely nuts and play like four direct balls in a single match well- its gonna look an awful lot like jay was the problem. if we continue just stumbling along making minute changes, fill the seemingly 90 open youth coaching positions with whoevers willing to move to chicago (while implementing "the system" for the u14s or whatever) then maybe jay wasnt masterminding the downfall of us soccer from the inside after all. i dont think the (gregg) berhalter hire was a worse decision than one under different leadership might have been by a ridiculous, got-to-be-a-conspiracy margin. i still think columbus crew berhalter was a decent selection if youre limiting your pool to american coaches. we have hired one non-american in 30 years, and part of the draw of klinsmann was how "americanized" he was. i suspect earnie is the biggest driver of what weve become. again- i dont KNOW anything, but thats just how its seemed to me. gregg came in as a decent/acceptable domestic option and sets up the team in a vaguely recognizable way (to his crew teams) but with a HUGE bias for mls players, and playing in possession out of the back, and weirdly defined roles (non-defensive 6, hybrid rb/cm). where did that come from? it seems a lot like (terribly conceived and implemented) dutch football concepts to me- for a team NO one believes is suited for any of it. so, did jay rig the job for his brother? maybe. did gregg change his managing style (fairly drastically) without any outside influence? is earnie the guy behind the curtain? who knows? but im all for finding out by removing one variable at a time- and as disastrous as i believe gregg has been, id rather earnie be next to go.
Totally disagree. There was nepotism of course, Earnie didn't sell anything. What a coincidence between thousands of coaches he just choose Jay's brother. Give me a break. Jay picked up Gregg with his system and shit and put in between a figurehead who has absolutely no responsibilities. What exactly Earnie is doing? I don't even care about Gregg, Earnie should be fired tomorrow.
Great post. Procedures have changed. They may not have changed in the right way or to the right extent, it's hard to tell as of yet. And they certainly haven't changed all at once. But same-old-same-old is not what I'm seeing here. I would add Flynn in the same vein to this. On the finance side, he did a tremendous job like 10 or 12 years ago growing this from something basically run out of a garage to a small business. But like many a small business, it can be clubby and based on hiring friends. Cordeiro & Co view their challenge as growing it from a small business to a big business, this to me is reflected both in what he's said and what has been done so far.
This is a great post and if true could be the most positive thing I've read about the program in at least a year. Not the Jay-specific decision. But the idea that the program is actually changing, if slowly. This tracks to what I've seen with lasting change in a corporate setting as well. New leaders build their leadership teams methodically, piece by piece, in the first 1-2 years. And real change is measured in years. Great book on this is "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. In the chapter First Who... Then What, leaders who transformed their organizations often took the view that "Look, I don't really know where we should take the bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to take it to someplace great." What sucks about the process is that it takes time. If they're successful, we'll look back and say "brilliant." And if they're not, we'll look back and say, %#$@, how could you have wasted another cycle like that?!
I have to wonder if Jay was told he wouldn't be considered for the CEO spot and decided to leave because of that rather than straight up being told to leave.
True. One thing I learned from the Army, Is always prepare for the worst. And never hope. Because it will always be worse. LOL.
A fairly concise summary ... https://www.prosoccerusa.com/us-soccer/ussf-leadership-shakeup-jay-berhalter-resigns-ceo-search/ "A steady stream of changes at the top of U.S. Soccer continues, with the federation announcing Thursday that Jay Berhalter, one of the most high-ranking and influential leaders at U.S. Soccer, will step down. .... For months, 48-year-old Berhalter was widely considered to be the front-runner to fill the vacant role of the federation’s top employee, CEO, since Dan Flynn stepped down last year. But a series of negative reports about morale at U.S. Soccer from outlets like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal specifically pinpointed his leadership as a problem, derailing his candidacy for the promotion. .... The exit of Berhalter, brother of current USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, is only the latest since the U.S. men’s national team failed to qualify for the World Cup at the end of 2017. Since then, Sunil Gulati stepped down as president, replaced by {Carlos} Cordeiro, and Flynn has stepped down. Asher Mendelsohn, the federation’s chief soccer officer, stepped down late last year. The federation also added new senior positions, with Earnie Stewart being named the men’s general manager and quickly promoted to sporting director, and Kate Markgraf becoming the first women’s general manager at U.S. Soccer."
What was McBrides part in all this, if any? It seems that his arrival is fairly close to the decision of Jay. I'm corporate illiterate, so if this is a stupid question, be gentle.