Looks like it wasn't fall. Looks like he got the gig in December 2006 on an interim and then afterwards got the full time gig. Forgot about that, bshredder was on a podcast and mentioned how nutty it was that the team basically went turtle for seven months after World Cup '06 before having a game with Bob in early '07. I don't know how I forgot about that but I did. I can wait in terms of landing the long term head coach till next summer if the fed is thinking big and going after a superb coach, if it's just a name a la Klinsy, or going back to the good ol boys trough, then we should just hire somebody asap. Depends, but I don't mind waiting. Reminds me of watching those crime shows, and seeing police departments go nuts over media pressure and from the attorney's office due to that classic s rolls downhill issue, and it leads to them in fiction, and in reality, sometimes making idiotic arrests, and stupid decisions (think OJ) in a rush to put out the metaphorical fire of the media/public/attorney's office pressure on them. In regards to that and hiring coaches, I've always felt, who cares about the pressure, just make smart, correct, efficient decisions and choices that are based on best practices, and not pressure. So yeah, whatever gets us the best coach and Tech director is what I want, that and firing Sunil.
Right, sorry, but he was Arena's assistant for the U-23 team at the Atlanta Olympics. He also was a Chicago Fire head coach, succeeded by (you guessed it) Dave Sarachan, before becoming interim US coach. So there are some parallels.
Who the coach is for the next few months isn't a concern - yet. I'm more worried about what young guys get called in. I'm worried they'll be too scared to go to teenagers and we'll get Hyndman and Polster and Will Trapp.
After thinking about it more, I think this is a "good" hire in the sense that nobody is going to mistake Sarachan for a candidate for the position full-time. Even if they beat Portugal, and he runs the greatest January camp ever, they won't have a problem asking him to step aside for a more qualified hire when the time comes.
The main issue is the USSF didn't want to pony up money for nothing. These guys are under contract until the end of the year. Theyd be paying them regardless. So they couldn't get Tab and just decided to let the most experienced guy on the bench guide them. But I get the frustration, these were the guys who contributed to a disgrace and seem to be getting rewarded for it. But it's more just a quick way to make money off a friendly to give game tape to the next coach. As long as it doesn't translate to a full time gig for any of them, it won't really matter. Glad Tab didn't take the job, and hopefully Sunil gives up his man crush this time. Tab barely belongs as a youth coach. Best idea would be for someone to usurp Sunil and start fresh.
One POV: They could not pass on such a great opportunity to reinforce that US Soccer is a Good Old Boys network, where who you know matters a lot more than what you know. Another POV: Nobody is empowering Gulati to make a decision on the head coach, until at least after he is re-elected. Even then, there are serious efforts afoot to create a committee made up at least partially of people who actually know something about soccer to screen all coaching candidates. Until then, Gulati had to pick someone who is available.
if any us players wanna play in epl...then the 75% requirement isnt on pause. players can still use these games to further their club careers....which is not an insignificant thing. its pretty much the main reason why almost all socfer playes play international soccer. yes, friendlies cant compare to a WC in terms of helping a career...but they are way better than nothing. i would callup and play only those players who stand to beennfit from usmnt inclusion i.e. club career - basically mlsers looking to leave and euros not getting time. i'd also include some of the mlsers who havent gotten a chance under arenajk - opara, feilhaber et etc.....
This is disappointing. But.....entirely predictable. Only bright spot is that it means Sunil won't be picking the permanent coach - unless he gets reelected. In that sense it does make sense to hold off hiring a permanent coach until after that election. However, if we are bringing in guys already on contract I would have preferred anyone (other than Wrong-Again) that is in the current youth set up at least for the january camp. We need someone familiar with our youth players to start to move them through and hiring anyone on BA's staff for this role is exactly the wrong look. Personally I think Tab is making a mistake by not taking this job because there is no way he should be a permanent hire at this point in his career. It would have been a real opportunity for him to step out on the adult stage and a good audition to move his career forward with a club gig.
They could've brought someone in short-term to give an independent look at some players and an outsider evaluation. Bringing in Sarachan accomplishes nothing. Unless the plan is to continue only hiring people in the old guy club. Do you have thoughts?
I repped this post because it advances the discussion. I see your point about evaluation. If the contracts and what not can be done in a proper way, sure. Bring in an old Euro to look at McKennie, Danny Williams, maybe Keaton Parks, etc, along with any young MLSers whose teams are out of it. Maybe even combine that with a consultant’s report on what we should be looking for in our next coach, like happened after ‘98. But I think as a pure stand alone event, bringing in a Capello to watch 3 days of practice and run a match is pointless, and possibly worse than Sarachan.
I don't think Capello would take a job like that or even that he should be hired as permanent coach but there is no way even a minute of Don Fabio wouldn't be better than Sacharine.
It's a nice enough idea in the abstract, but I can't see anyone worth doing the evaluation as being willing to come in and do it on such a short term basis unless you pay them an amount the Fed would likely be unwilling to pay. At best, you get 3 camps with the NT. One short one next month in Europe, and the longer Camp Cupcake in January, assuming we have one along with whatever sad sack friendly we schedule for March 2018. Not a lot of time to draw a meaningful conclusion. And even if you can find someone to do it, that's worth half a crap and has a brain about player evaluation, what good does that really do the next coach we actually hire? Is he going to take those evaluations as being worth anything, or is he going to be like 99% of coaches and want to see players for himself before drawing conclusions? If you want to self-scout, you'd have a better argument for hiring a full time Technical Director who can go watch the pool play at club level live and on-tape, evaluate the 3 lame-duck friendlies and then base his hiring decision on whatever conclusions they draw and give their hire a mandate to play in such-and-such a way or to not call in so-and-so because their legs are shot or they suck. But then you have Sunil Gulati hiring that guy, and Gulati has no business hiring anyone unless and until he retains his position, which we shouldn't want. So you're really back to square one. We're in a holding pattern until at least the election in February and probably beyond that.