# has US Soccer hired a new u14 team coach yet?



## Kante (Sep 17, 2018)

US Soccer does not have the job open on their careers page anymore. Seems like progress was stalled - relative to previous years - for the age group while they looked for a new coach.


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## R2564952 (Sep 23, 2018)

Kante, this post leads me to believe you believe your son will make the national team. There is too much talent out there for one to be 100% sure. Too many factors like speed, size, chemistry and coach personal preference  come into the picture. I’d humbly wait if I were you and prepare for the best expect the worst


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## Kante (Sep 23, 2018)

R2564952 said:


> Kante, this post leads me to believe you believe your son will make the national team. There is too much talent out there for one to be 100% sure. Too many factors like speed, size, chemistry and coach personal preference  come into the picture. I’d humbly wait if I were you and prepare for the best expect the worst


Fair points. however, to be clear, zero expectation that my son will make the national team since he's too slow and small.

Seems US Soccer items for the 05 boys  have been on hold for a bit relative to what's happened with the girls u14 team having three camps already in 2018, and with the u14 boys, who already had four camps by this time last year.

At the same time, US Soccer has had a number of open positions on the youth soccer side, including hiring a new u14 coach. So, likely, there's a correlation between the two things.

In times of organizational transition (new president etc), items will be delayed as new priorities are sorted, but it would be nice to see US Soccer moving forward again for the 05 boys.

Sometimes, folks on this board have decent info about what's going on, so any insights/updates on status of this item would be appreciated.


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## R2564952 (Sep 23, 2018)

Many 05 girls are fully grown where 1/2 of the 05 boys still have a few years to grow. I think that’s why they focus on girls earlier in comparison to boys. My son in particular struggles to compete with every growth spurt then comes back stronger than before


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## Kante (Dec 7, 2018)

Favor to ask. Have been posting a variety of things. It's all interesting to me and relatively easy to do. But, I don't want to waste people's time and clutter up the forum with information that is not useful. In the poll below, there's a number of ideas for post. If you could vote on what you prefer, that would be helpful. Thanks! Feliz Navidad!

http://www.socalsoccer.com/threads/poll-what-are-the-most-useful-postings-here.16377/


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## Kante (Jan 18, 2019)

here's an interview Tab Ramos just did with Socceramerica. reading the tea leaves, there may be some interesting bit of news. three things jump out. 

1) Tab Ramos and the youth development program seem to be on the outs with the current US soccer decision-making structure. 

Ex. Ramos makes a point of stating that they only have three coaches for seven teams and no goalie coaches. This has been the situation for at least a year after an exodus of coaches earlier in 2018. Seems like there's bene some house cleaning, which makes is understandable given a new GM and new head USMNT coach. TR is legacy from the previous folks in charge, but he also has done a great job with the u20 and the YNT program, so ideally, folks can work together to figure it out sooner rather than later without penalizing the program due to internal politics.

2) The Chicago US Soccer administrative folks are delaying (purposely?) the hiring of new YNT coaches, including for u14

Requiring team coaches to live in Chicago in this day and age and when none of the training camps are there? Come on. 

Have had to hire for important positions and if there was a qualified person who lived somewhere else, HR needed to understand/would have it explained to them the need for flexibility. 

The 05's YNT, for example, has already lost a year in 2018 (five u14 YNT training camps 0 in 2017 vs 0 in 2018...?). 

It's these kinds of things that add up over time to bad outcomes later on. From the sounds of it/reading the tea leaves, Ramos is frustrated with the situation but has his hands tied.

3) MLS teams will not leave DA.

Seems like this threat to leave DA is a tactic to win concessions from US Soccer. Ramos says that the $ spent on travel for a DA only league would be prohibitive. 

Looking at the numbers, for a trip from LAX to DFW  booked three months in advance, it's $326 for flight and hotel. Multiply by 18 player roster + two coaches, it's about $6,500 per away two away games. Assuming the trip to DFW is the average for all travel, with 17 MLS clubs, that's about an added $60k annually (being conservative) in travel costs for DA only league. This assumes that each trip would have two away games.

From the outside, it may seem like the MLS clubs are awash in $, but if $60k per team per year is a significant disincentive, or even $120k per team per year, then purse strings are pretty tight around the MLS academy programs, and the MLS clubs don't have as much leverage as one might think.

Not sure what concession MLS clubs would want when it comes to their DA academies, but am sure we'll find out in the next three-four months.

here's the interview. would encourage folks to subscribe to socceramerica.com. consistently some good stuff with USSDA news that isn't available anywhere else.
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*SOCCER AMERICA: How do you feel about your U-20 team after the first camp of the year, and four months away from the 2019 U-20 World Cup?*

*TAB RAMOS*: We, once again, have a very talented group of players competing for a spot on the team, which is what a coach would prefer every time.

*SA: Is the pool deeper than your previous three squads? If so, what do you attribute that to?*

*TAB RAMOS*: I don’t think that the pool is necessarily much deeper although I think it is deeper in attacking positions. The investment on youth development in general has increased as has the competition to get the best players. That makes the market in general more competitive and clubs feel the responsibility to deliver the best environments to players.

*SA: There's a lot of excitement about this group of U.S. U-20s. (Four -- Tyler Adams, Josh Sargent, Timothy Weah, Jonathan Amon -- have already been capped by the full national team. Some have seen a fair amount of MLS playing time -- Mark McKenzie, Chris Durkin -- while others have signed with European clubs, including Chris Richards, Alex Mendez and Richie Ledezma. Frankie Amaya was the No. 1 pick in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft.) Do you think this is a special generation of American players -- or is it too early to judge?*

*TAB RAMOS*: I am highly hopeful that this will be a class to remember but as always, what matters is how much playing time they get in the next two to three years. There are many _potential _10-year national team players in this group and that is exciting. They are skillful, focused, hard-working and have a winning mentality. They will do what it takes but they need a chance.

*SA: At the last U-20 World Cup, your team reached quarterfinals without U-20 eligible players such as Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Haji Wright and Nick Taitague. This time around, do you expect that you might not have all those who are age eligible, because of clubs not releasing them or because they've moved on to the full national team?*

*TAB RAMOS*: It seems like there are always players missing. That is just part of how this works. In some cases, missing the [U-20] World Cup works out for the players but in many cases, unfortunately, it doesn’t. My experience tells me that I have to do all I can for them to get released. We will be really competitive regardless. Our players see it as a great opportunity and they all have amazing determination to be successful against the best.

*SA: When we spoke in August of last year, I asked you about the head-coach vacancies in the U.S. youth national team program and you said there had been a hiring freeze at U.S. Soccer following the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. This month, U.S. Soccer in its press release about January camps identified U-15 coach Dave van den Bergh as the "acting" head coach of the U-17s and Curt Onalfo as "acting" head coach of the U-19s. What's the status of hiring of youth national team head coaches?*

*TAB RAMOS*: Looks like Dave van den Bergh will move from the U-19s to the U-17s with an announcement coming shortly. We have U-17 World Cup qualifying, the Concacaf U-17 Championship, coming up in less than three months.

*SA: Last summer, you had to fill in as U-18 head coach after Omid Namazi left to take the helm of top-flight Iranian club Zob Ahan. Are you still short of staff for the U.S. youth national team program?*

*TAB RAMOS*: At the moment, we have three head coaches for seven youth national teams. We have had to cut programming and continue to function without hired goalkeeper coaches. We have interviewed some candidates over the last four months so hopefully there will be some hires ASAP.

*SA: U.S. Soccer has announced that it is expanding its U-14 program. Do the U-14s have a head coach?*

*TAB RAMOS*: I'm very excited about expanding our base. This YNT/Talent ID combined project will be providing many more opportunities and will give us a chance to see a higher number of talented players at an important moment in their development. This will help our YNT [youth national team] environment and eventually our men’s national team. We do not have a head coach for this age-group yet.

*SA: I was told last October by a candidate for a youth national coaching position that U.S. Soccer is requiring youth national team head coaches to live in Chicago [home of U.S. Soccer's headquarters]. Is that true? Training camps are never in Chicago and we live an an era of telecommuting. Wouldn't this requirement be an obstacle to finding coaches willing to take the positions?*

*TAB RAMOS*: Some valid points but I cannot answer this question.

*SA: If MLS clubs take their youth clubs out of the Development Academy, would that have an impact on the U.S. youth national team program?*

*TAB RAMOS*: I think that MLS clubs should remain in the Development Academy. I don’t think it will have an impact on the YNT program. For MLS, I am not sure that the few extra competitive games they will add will offset the travel that the players will have to do at their young age and the added expenses that the owners will incur. Additionally, they would potentially separate themselves even more from their local clubs and communities.

*SA: Speaking of MLS, are you satisfied with how much playing time young American players are getting with MLS clubs?*

*TAB RAMOS*: I am very excited about seeing more American players getting opportunities. Real Salt Lake and the Red Bulls are providing a great pathway for their homegrown talent. Seems like FC Dallas will be doing the same moving forward.


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## MWN (Jan 18, 2019)

The reason the MLS clubs would leave the DA is to form their own league is the coming fight with the players union regarding training and solidarity fees.  The MLS is now figuring out they need to become a "selling league" and inclusion of pay-to-play clubs (most non-DA clubs) plays into the player's argument against solidarity and training fees would be double dipping.  The MLS teams have also come to the realization that for the most part the Super-Draft is a monumental waste of energy with very few college players capable of supplanting the much higher quality academy players and the focus should be on Home Grown players, which are exempt from some of the restrictions.  The next step is for the USL to form regional academy teams that are fully-funded, which is in the works.  Then we might see the MLS and USL work together on the youth side.


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## espola (Jan 18, 2019)

Looks like they could use a US-based airline to sponsor DA.


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## boomer (Jan 18, 2019)

Kante said:


> 2) The Chicago US Soccer administrative folks are delaying (purposely?) the hiring of new YNT coaches, including for u14
> 
> Requiring team coaches to live in Chicago in this day and age and when none of the training camps are there? Come on.
> 
> Have had to hire for important positions and if there was a qualified person who lived somewhere else, HR needed to understand/would have it explained to them the need for flexibility.


I agree. I am guessing that moving to Chicago is a show-stopper for some. Unless US Soccer is prepared to pay these YNT coaches very well, it's asking a lot to have them uproot their lives.

Side note - I read that US Soccer just filled the U17 YNT job...Hackworth, which should mean the U15 job is now vacant. Musical chairs. No new blood, not yet at least. Having these many coaching gaps for over a year isn't good for continuity and doesn't show any real commitment to rebuilding for the future. Typical of many "high level" soccer organizations in this country...under-staffed, under-funded, poor player ID, poor player development, no top-to-bottom philosophy. It looks like the 2018 WC qualifying crash-and-burn did very little to move the needle. Pretty sad.


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## jpeter (Jan 18, 2019)

boomer said:


> I agree. I am guessing that moving to Chicago is a show-stopper for some. Unless US Soccer is prepared to pay these YNT coaches very well, it's asking a lot to have them uproot their lives.
> 
> Side note - I read that US Soccer just filled the U17 YNT job...Hackworth, which should mean the U15 job is now vacant. Musical chairs. No new blood, not yet at least. Having these many coaching gaps for over a year isn't good for continuity and doesn't show any real commitment to rebuilding for the future. Typical of many "high level" soccer organizations in this country...under-staffed, under-funded, poor player ID, poor player development, no top-to-bottom philosophy. It looks like the 2018 WC qualifying crash-and-burn did very little to move the needle. Pretty sad.


Half baked like somebody mentioned,  leadership problems, let's wait for the new president or xyz position cuz the new people may want to do something different so let's do nothing for a year+.

$$125 million dollar company they can't even hire more than three coaches.  Takes partners on like VW and millions but does very little besides a token program here or there like spending five years on studying about bio banding  and then comes up with a nothing burger...play (2) kids down and let's have a play down showcase for them


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## younothat (Feb 7, 2019)

*Ives Galarcep*‏ @SoccerByIves
U.S. Soccer has several youth national team head coaching positions to fill, including the #USMNT U-17 job, which I'm told remains vacant after Dave Van Den Bergh's talks with USSF fell apart (Did I mention Concacaf U-17 Championships are in 2 months?):
https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/sources-van-den-bergh-out-of-running-for-usmnt-u-17-job/wlgnksc4dqgs171xp7ek8e41l

*Paul Kennedy*‏ @pkedit 
John Hackworth resigned to take Lou City job. Shaun Tsakiris out of picture. Now Van den Bergh also out of picture. All in less than six months! Moving to Chicago: bridge too far.

"U.S. Soccer has a glut of youth national team head coaching vacancies, from U-15 up through to the U-23 head coach position, with Ramos' U-20 position the only one currently formally filled. One source tells Goal part of the delay in filling vacancies has been a negative response to U.S. Soccer requiring all of its coaches to move to Chicago to work out of U.S. Soccer headquarters. U.S. national team head coach Gregg Berhalter and USMNT general manager Earnie Stewart are currently working out of Chicago.

The responsibility for filling the vacant youth national team coaching positions falls to current chief sports development officer Nico Romeijn and recently appointed chief soccer officer Asher Mendelsohn

I hope they get it together and hire some coaches and come up with a real plan, style of play, consistency, more scouts, etc this has gone on for way too long,  the excuses are  not helping develop players or teams.


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