I love my city and having a geographically centralized base of operations that can implement a coherent culture across the many arms of US Soccer makes *some* sense, and in the grand sweep of history you wouldn't want to have the USMNT program operate perpetually and completely separate from the sporting and institutional culture of US Soccer writ large. And I am sympathetic to the notion that Stewart's focus above all when hired was getting the nitty gritty ground level basics of running a modern federation to be done right, because that was a major glaring problem. (It also sounded way less stupid pre-Covid, to be fair) All of that said, it basically goes without saying that THIS hire, for THIS cycle should not be forced to live in Chicago or jump through any other arcane hoop that would serve to detract from the quality of available candidates.
Maybe, though he just turned down being sporting director of the Netherlands. And he also announced the decision to axe Brian McBride. This rings as some new bit of intrigue or information that, at least in the higher ups' mind, made his position untenable.
Hardly. Unlike the club sporting director, which dealing with contracts and signings, this guy is doing basically nothing. Stuart's achievements: Gregg as the only candidate, Chicago, The same system for all the teams. All 3 were idiotic. Good riddance. Brian at least was harmless.
Yeah all is not clean and stable in the background here, that's crystal clear. Makes it slightly tougher to be optimistic about what otherwise feels like a beneficial clearing of the decks for a new opportunity with a player pool that's very different from when the old regime was put in place.
you could absolutely be right, but its going to take quite a bit of retconning to build a narrative that earnie wasnt here for at least somewhat of a long haul- and leaving after one cycle before a cycle where we host the world cup is pretty mercenary on paper. im not trying to paint a picture here. he could have signed on with every intention of building the program long term, the psv job could just be a dream gig for him that happened to open up- his entire plan may have been to right the ship. i just have always had the sense this was "the" job for him, the rebuild was a success, stage two hosting the cup etc. i think that possibility that the direction he, and berhalter under him, took- aided by the absolute shit show since the world cup- wasnt enough for parlow/whats his face and they made it clear finding another gig was a good idea. im not saying anything sinister or underhanded was/is going on, it just makes as much sense (to me) as the idea usmnt sporting director was just another rung on the ladder.
Though McBride apparently decided he was leaving in October on his own and held off on announcing for a number of reasons. I do think the PSV job is more attractive than the Netherlands job.
I guess for me I just don't get the sense that Cone or Batson wanted him gone. It's possible the Reyna situation prompted a rethink on his part and he just didn't want to deal with it.
These are really good points. A background fact I don't know and would be illuminating is how in demand is Stewart as a club DOF in Europe, actually? This PSV job sounds pretty appealing and like something that could be an on-ramp to a similar role in the Premier League or something and may be way a more interesting and remunerative path than being a suit with a national federation, but I feel like I don't know enough about the European DOF market to say that with confidence.
Berhalter for coach/GM, obviously Either one EDIT - Either Berhalter, that is. Whichever it is, he must take both positions simultaneously. Tough times demand a dictator
Apparently a company called Sportsology Group is handling the Sporting Director search. On one hand: Sportsology has a lot of people based in the UK and no obvious good ol boy links that I could find. That’s positive I guess. 🤷♂️— HalfSpaces (@blharreld) January 26, 2023 But on the other hand, in a now-deleted tweet by Matt Doyle: So, I can't say I have a ton of faith here. It's not that Sportsology works with MLS, that's fine, it's that IMO those franchises represent some of the least ambitious clubs in the league. Again, its just my opinion, but FCC's been a bit of a backroom dumpster fire for a few years now.
I don't know how in-demand he is or is not, but I was never really impressed with what he did with the Philadelphia Union. His successor, in my opinion, has been a little more effective.
We need someone familiar with the national team, MLS player development, and top-level European experience. Alexi Lalas: the only choice
Just a bit of googling, Stewart was born and raised and played his entire club career in smaller cities and clubs in the south of the Netherlands that are sort of provincial offshoots of the big city of Eindhoven and the big club of PSV. Guus Hiddink's PSV were European Cup winners in 1988 when Stewart was a 19 year old making his debut in pro soccer. He's a dual national and there's a whole American Stewart he's walking away from here, but it looks like the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition in the sport for Dutch Stewart, finally stepping up to the top table in Dutch soccer. (To say nothing of French Stewart )
Here is how I would fill out the staff: GM: Claudio Reyna Technical Director: Danielle Reyna Co-Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter Co-Head Coach: Danielle Reyna This staff could help the team make a big run in the 2026 WC. That is all.
in light of this mystery position mcbride was holding out for, if we make up a director of vibes/lead recruiter position im totally down for keeping gregg on...
They also did the Ten Hag coaching search for Man U. Their work with San Jose is mentioned here https://theathletic.com/2739425/2021/07/29/san-jose-earthquakes-gm-search/ Shawlee also confirmed that the Quakes have hired consultancy firm Sportsology to assist in the hiring process and help build out the club’s soccer operations department after the new GM is appointed. Sportsology worked with Chicago, Miami and Cincinnati — all sitting near the bottom of the MLS standings — to hire their current CSOs. The organization also helped LAFC build its sporting department ahead of the club’s expansion season of 2018 and has worked with a number of NFL and NBA teams. San Jose worked with Nolan Partners, another sports consultancy firm, in the hiring process that led the club to Fioranelli. “(Sportsology) has a different approach than just a traditional search firm,” Shawlee said. “The relationship with them is really going to be a longer-term consultancy with the team that goes beyond this search. We really did like the work that they’ve previously with LAFC in their sport-side build and also with the San Francisco 49ers.” Most of the press I've seen about them is NBA related though and the ringer article does a good job of talking about alot of that, including some of the criticisms in terms of how they operate. (https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/4/14/22380676/nba-general-manager-mike-forde).
Was it confirmed that Stewart took the sporting director role at PSV? The way these reports are worded (at least the ones I’ve read) only say he’s leaving USSF for PSV. The assumption is that it’s a Sporting Director role, but I find it odd that I haven’t seem that specified. Also, I winder what other job at USSF McBride was waiting to fill? The only two we know are open are Sporting Director and… Head Coach. The appointment of the latter being, as McBride said in his letter, indefinitely delayed. It’s all so painfully vague…
https://www.psv.nl/english-psv/news/article/news-earnest-stewart-director-of-football-psv.htm It mentions that he's being hired by PSV CEO Marcel Brands, who is a DOF-type himself, recently of Everton (where he did a, uh, less than stellar job), so who knows what that title exactly entails I guess.
Yeah, PSV confirmed that Stewart will be their new sporting director. Per 1 maart 2023 treedt Earnest Stewart (53) in dienst bij PSV als Directeur Voetbalzaken. Zijn contract loopt tot medio 2027.Welkom bij PSV, Earnest! 🔴⚪— PSV (@PSV) January 26, 2023 Apparently there was some previous controversy with the last person to hold this position John De Jong? https://netherlands.postsen.com/spo...g-as-technical-director-at-PSV--Football.html Stewart is the successor to De Jong at PSV, who suddenly had to leave PSV in September. The Supervisory Board had insufficient confidence in further cooperation due to disagreement about the sales policy. De Jong had ignored an urgent advice from the supervisory board to sell Cody Gakpo last summer. The attacker stayed and then impressed at the World Cup in Qatar. Gakpo left for Liverpool this winter for 50 million euros.
PSV sent out a press release that Stewart would be director of soccer, which I assume is their version of sporting director. PSV sent out a release at 10:30 am ET that Earnie Stewart would become director of soccer, starting on March 1. https://t.co/SVpGOElzuL— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) January 26, 2023 I too am curious about what job McBride was interested in that was put on hold. Maybe U23 coach?