The future of U.S. soccer development in 2011: 20 interviews with top U.S. coaches and executives

In 2011, MLS academies will provide dramatic evidence of real growth in U.S. development, but also making press will be controversial issues such as the American “winning” mentality, the destructive big-money cycle of club soccer, the NCAA’s crippling restrictions, the white/Latino cultural divide, the new American poor, and the sleeping giant of U.S. recreational youth soccer, vastly underestimated as development. These are political issues, in the gentlest of terms.

Like everything else in life, many of these issues boil down to money, but also to poor communication between the thousands of different organizations comprising U.S. soccer. Administrators of MLS, WPS, U.S. National Teams, USL, NASL, college soccer, club soccer, and youth rec soccer defend their separate turf like Afghan warlords. Media is left to connect the public to the broad reach of the sport, but due to the worst U.S. recession in 100 years and the “free” Internet, news is mostly delivered through private interests with no incentive to portray a bigger picture.

Everyone wants to know where the next Landon Donovan or Mia Hamm is coming from. Over the past year or so, I’ve interviewed many top U.S. soccer coaches and executives about development - the systems, economics, philosophies and their personal feelings about how the systems need to change. Surprisingly, most of the answers come down to a way of thinking, not just about soccer, but about how people should be treated and treat others. It’s clear that the current U.S. philosophy of “winner take all” isn’t working in soccer development or playing to its strengths. Emerging from these strongly-voiced opinions is the reality that a new American approach to the game is taking shape.

Below is a list of 20 interviews I conducted with more than 30 top U.S. National Team, MLS, WPS, college and club coaches and executives with their candid insights and proposals for development. There’s something here for everyone, whether it’s MLS academies, national philosophy, Generation adidas, NCAA restrictions, developmental territory, European-styled residential academies, youth transfer fees, or any the United States’ impressive new attempts to reach and even exceed international standards.

Many thanks to these individuals for sharing their thoughts and experience with me. Their passion and commitment has grown the sport in the U.S. from the ground up and their ideas are the future.

LE Eisenmenger articles on soccer development in the United States

World Cup Champion coach Tony DiCicco rips U.S. soccer development - Examiner

1999 World Cup Champion coach Tony DiCicco, the all-time wins leader in U.S. Soccer Team history, opens up about the disconnect between winning soccer games and developing players. He talks frankly about the frustration coaches experience as they struggle to keep their teams competitive and still give promising young players a chance to blossom, which can take years. DiCicco sees the preference for athletic development over technical development as a major obstacle in the U.S. system.

Notable quotes:

DiCicco: Youth soccer is big business. If I don’t win, it doesn’t matter if I’m developing players, my business is going to hell.

- I personally think [Brian] Ching should have been on the [USMNT World Cup] roster.

A chat with Real Salt Lake's academy director Greg Vanney on changes in U.S. soccer development - Examiner

Former U. S. Men's National Team, French first division, and LA Galaxy defender Greg Vanney is now director of the first-ever MLS residential academy Real Salt Lake in Arizona, launched in August 2010. The program draws from across the United States, challenging MLS rules about developmental territory and has early success: December 3, the RSL U-18’s defeated bastion of U.S. talent Bradenton IMG Academy 7-0 in the MLS Winter Showcase. Vanney also expresses opinion on youth transfer fees, a new concept to the U.S.

Notable quotes:

Vanney: There has to be a way for the clubs who are funding [young players] to protect some of their interests, otherwise the money isn’t going to get pushed down into the youth game, which is ultimately where we need to press forward. What that protection is remains to be seen. But for any MLS club, particularly from a residential standpoint, it would probably cost you $20,000-$25,000 a year to host a player, feed him, train him, travel him, get them the proper games that they need, all of those things – it becomes fairly pricey and if somebody can just come and take that player away and not compensate the club for it (!). . . It doesn’t have to be a transfer fee, but if a club pulls a kid out of a club, FIFA has a rule where there has to be a developmental fee paid back to the club to help offset the cost of the money they’ve put into that player and that gets paid by whatever club takes the player.

- I’m 100% for finding ways to make [soccer development] less expensive - free even, because that’s the only way you’re going to get some of these players. It’s relatively expensive and alienates a lot of people who can’t afford it and are very talented players. It also creates animosity between those communities sometimes…. In a lot of countries it comes from the massive professional game and it comes from government funding those types of sporting endeavors.

McCabe Explains Generation adidas - US Soccer Players

Prominent player agent Patrick McCabe explains the successful adidas/MLS/college program that fast-tracks talented players from high school and college into MLS by setting aside tuition so they can play pro soccer now and complete their degree in the future.

Notable quotes:

LE: Who picks them?

McCabe: MLS teams make the recommendations to the MLS League office to extend the contract offers. Adidas obviously has some input, but in the end they’re not having the final say in terms of who gets offered a contract. It’s the MLS teams themselves.

LE: Is the GA pay in the locker room a problem? When you get a guy like Amaechi Igwe who’s making about $105k on the bench and Jeff Larentowicz is making $30k-plus and starting every week, is that a problem?

McCabe: I think it is. It’s going to continue to be a problem, but there’s always going to be players who make more money than other players and that dynamic is not going to change. What is hard for all the players to swallow is, why are these younger guys who haven’t proved anything getting this money?

MLS Player Development: Chicago Pushes South - US Soccer Players

John Dorn is Director of Player Development for the Chicago Fire, the first MLS club to have a youth program running from U-8 to a U-23 squad playing in the Premier Development League. Now the club is expanding its reach by selling the Fire brand to youth clubs in Mississippi and Louisiana, under-developed MLS territories, both expanding interest in the FIre and scouting players.

Notable quotes:

Dorn: You’re allowed six age levels to put a homegrown talent list together all the way from U23, U20, U18, U17, U16, to U15. You can have approximately 150 players on your homegrown list, four a year for each age level and they have to be in the program for two years. [MLS recently expanded the number of Homegrown players teams can sign] However, they only have to be in for one year before college, but you can’t protect people in college unless you’ve had them on the list a year before then.

LE: How long has the Fire's out-of-state affiliation trend been going on?

Dorn: I think we were the first, we began doing this about four years ago. We went down to Mississippi in 2005 and we picked up New Orleans earlier this year.

LE: You said there are some players in the New Orleans club that you’d like to play in the Fire academy, yet they’re not from your region. How would you arrange that, boarding schools?

Dorn: You went right to where we want to go. But the path of bringing them up here and putting them in a boarding school, realistically, you’re not going to be able to do that with players unless you have a built-in program. It’s no mistake why Europe and South America are so far ahead of us, and it’s because they have built-in systems.

Is it time for youth transfer fees in the US? - SoccerLens

After publishing a story for US Soccer Players about the Colorado Rapids’ approach to development, I was contacted by Real Colorado GM Lorne Donaldson, who took issue with their approach. The subject of youth transfer fees, uncharted territory in the U.S., emerged. In a system like that of Uefa’s, youth clubs would be paid tabled fees for transferring young players they’ve developed to a professional club, thus being reimbursed for developing talent as opposed to winning results. Youth transfer/development fees is likely become one of the biggest issues in the next decade as it affects the viability of established clubs, who have been producing the nation's best talent all along.

Notable quotes:

Donaldson: If a major league club wants a young player from an amateur team, like they do in Europe, the club should be rewarded for spending time in developing that player. It might not be a big sum of money, but there should be something given back to the club. Here, MLS wants everything for free, MLS has its own rules, that’s how the system is set up. It doesn’t benefit the youth clubs.

Take a player like Jozy Altidore who was playing in Florida and found there by a guy. If you take a player of that stature and he goes through major league, that’s one transfer fee for a youth club. But if he goes on to England and plays, then the Red Bulls are going to get money, but at least the youth club should get a little piece of the pie. Just two-tiered, from his first club to the next, it’s a final transaction. He might go to Everton, then Real Madrid, but no, once he gets to the second transaction it’s done, there’s no more money. But then the club can go back and start again with another player, because that money goes right back into scholarship.

The Crew's Brian Bliss explains what makes an MLS rookie successful - Examiner

Former USMNT and Bundelsliga defender and now Columbus Crew technical director Brian Bliss spoke with me about the challenges rookies face entering MLS and what makes some rookies more successful than others.

Notable quotes:

Bliss: For me, it’s not necessarily the ability because a lot of the players are very similar in terms of quality, in terms of their ability. It comes down to their mental make-up more than anything else. Players that have a strong character, a strong mental make-up can get by, seem to survive or thrive with more minutes at an early age.... Knowing that you’re going to make mistakes and to be able to mentally put that play behind you and move on to the next play is important.

LE: How will the new MLS reserve league improve the transition for rookies?

Bliss: If you lose a reserve game or you make three mistakes in a reserve game and some of that ends up costing you the result, it’s not as traumatic. Although it should be noteworthy, it’s certainly not traumatic in terms of wins-losses and the coach retaining his job or maybe the player maintaining his status on the team. It should be viewed as more of a learning experience, you look to discover trends of a player rather than judging him based on one performance.

Lenarduzzi at work in Vancouver - US Soccer Players

Bob Lenarduzzi, president of Vancouver Whitecaps FC, reveals that the institution of a residential academy was necessary for him to sign on with the club. The Whitecaps residential academy, funded by owner Greg Kerfoot for $1 million a year, has already sold a player on to German club FC Energie Cottbus.

Notable quote:

Lenarduzzi: The academy was a cornerstone objective when I got involved with the owner six years ago. One of the things I suggested to him was if he wanted to be in it for the long haul, we really needed to have a hand in our own destiny, hence, the start-up of the significant investment of the residency program.

Interview with USWNT coach Pia Sundhage on soccer development, World Cup 2011 - Examiner

Swedish U.S. Women’s National Team coach Pia Sundhage talks about the conflict of coaching the USWNT team when it competes against her native country and her philosophical differences with American soccer development.

Notable quote:

Sundhage: We [USWNT] won the Olympic Gold Medal in 2008, but for me [soccer] is much more than that. It’s teamwork, it’s about doing things together as individuals. It’s the physical part, it’s emotional, and it’s a way of living… It has so much to do with the coaches. What are their values? What kind of philosophy do they have when it comes not only to soccer and how you play soccer, but also to leadership. What could you teach your kids? What could they learn, what values?”

NCAA relaxes rules on professional development: FC Dallas Tech. Director Gorman explains - Examiner

FC Dallas technical director and former 21-year head coach at Penn State Barry Gorman talks about the 2010 NCAA rules changes that allow MLS Academies to develop players more according to world traditions.

Notable quote:

Gorman: In other countries they’re signing young men to contracts when they’re very young. They might not even be thinking about college or university, let alone coming to the United States to study. So the question is, do you go back and penalize a 14 or 15 year-old for signing a contract which may be very minimal, especially in terms of American terminology? Yet, you’re going to penalize him and his chance for an education and his chance for playing collegiately. So, those are the things that they’re going to look at.

MLS And Player Development: The Local Clubs - US Soccer Players

Colorado Rapids technical director and former USMNT's Paul Bravo spoke with me about the Rapids' attempts to unite local clubs under an umbrella. On a collaborative basis, the Rapids would provide technical expertise to these clubs and in turn assume the right to scout their players.

Notable quotes:

Bravo: There’s no transfer fee because they’re amateur clubs and you can’t even ask for training compensation nowadays as an amateur club. There are a lot of rules on the FIFA level that preclude amateur clubs being able to ask for money.

LE: But there are a lot of hours invested in player development. Wouldn’t a transfer fee like the UEFA youth transfer fee schedule encourage outside clubs to develop players more than just winning games?

Bravo: Those laws are typically set up for professional clubs, so it would be very difficult because [youth clubs] are not-for-profit organizations and do it under a tax status of non-profit organizations. Most of them, all of them are. Even our club is set up as not-for-profit - our Development Academy is a not-for-profit arm of our professional club.

MLS Youth Academies Signal Changes in U.S. Player Development - SoccerLens

In research first published on American Soccer News and later developed on SoccerLens, I spoke with Lee Robinson, Head of Sports Science/Education at EPL West Bromwich Albion FC, Robbie Mustoe, former EPL midfielder, now ESPN commentator, Alfonso Mondelo, MLS Director of Player Programs, Ed Kelly, Irish former USMNT and now head coach Boston College, Doug Williamson, Assistant Director of Coaching Education and Development for the NSCAA, Bruce Arena, former USMNT and now LA Galaxy coach, Mike Burns, former USMNT defender and now New England Revolution VP Player Personnel, and others about the new MLS commitment to player development and the obstacles they need to surmount.

Notable quotes:

Lee Robinson: MLS have got it wrong, as players 16-18 will already be with clubs and will create resentment if they leave the club to go with an MLS academy. You need to get clubs around you too, but into MLS programs, not create problems …[if a player] has been tapped up by a bigger club and you have offered him a contract, then you will go to a tribunal if the two clubs cannot agree on a fee . . . this can be a very difficult situation indeed.

Ed Kelly: Charlie Davies left Boston College to go to Hammarby and Hammarby sent to papers to me and to [the club] to sign releases, but the Bolts would not sign the release and they demanded that they get compensation, and Charlie had to give them $10,000 of his [own] money so he would sign the release. Tri-Valley and Delco signed off, but the Bolts did not sign off. . . . Their view on it was that he was a scholarship player, that they funded him when he was playing for them for a year or two.

Peter Bradley: They want to see players like Wayne Rooney come through. Then eventually if he’s sold for $10, 15, 20 million, then job done – we’ve brought this boy up from eight, he’s now being sold for $20 million – that now substantiates our academy program for the next X number of years.

Alfonso Mondelo: There are selling clubs and this is how they survive, and they might not even be first division clubs. If they’re in an area where they have access to a lot of players, they take those players and develop them, and their goal is just to be able to move them on to sell them to higher clubs. That could be done if kids could be signed at a young age and they could keep the contact for a number of years. That model I think works in the United States. So, I think yes.

Doug Williamson: If a young person today wants to become a professional soccer player and has that goal, their best option is to get involved in the academy development programs and to look at options other than the college environment . . . The odds of becoming a professional player going through the traditional college route in this country are really poor.

Real Salt Lake launch landmark MLS residential academy, break open U.S. market - Examiner

Former USMNT, French first division, and LA Galaxy defender Greg Vanney, now director of the first-ever MLS residential academy Real Salt Lake in Arizona, talks about the making of the ground-breaking program.

Notable quotes:

LE: Ultimately, how many residential players would RSL like to take on?

Vanney: Ultimately, probably 80 in multiple age groups, not just U-16 and U-18.

MYSA Director Mike Singleton looks to improve soccer development: interview Part 1 and Part 2 - Examiner

If there's one story that can exemplify U.S. failures in soccer development, this is it, and Mike Singleton is the man who's been chosen to turn it around. Singleton is the Executive Director of Mass Youth Soccer Association, the second-largest state youth soccer organization in the country with over 200,000 members and representing the US Soccer Federation, US Youth Soccer and is a FIFA member organization. SIngleton's biggest challenge is to coordinate all 457 warring organizations in the Massachusetts.

Notable quotes:

Singleton: The root of the issue is we have 457 different organizations - clubs and towns - in Massachusetts soccer and that’s one of the most absurd things I’ve seen. The problem is, we don’t have 457 top quality coaches, we don’t have 457 top quality leaders.

LE: Some quality players leave their elite clubs because they'd rather play with their local teammates than remote clubs, stay true to the essence of the game, but the quality of local coaching isn’t there so they can’t progress.

Singleton: That’s a bigger issue. Here [in the U.S.] we have amalgamations of teams but not a club, so there’s a different feel to it. When you have a clubhouse, the feel that ‘we’re all part of this bigger organization,’ then you get the family feel, the friend feel, whereas if you’re just a whole bunch of teams that wear the same jersey and may not even train in the same space or play on the same home field or ever see each other, you lose that. Some stuff is bigger than what goes on, on the field.

Tony DiCicco on MLS clubs and the local factor - Examiner

1999 World Cup Champion coach Tony DiCicco, the all-time wins leader in U.S. Soccer Team history, head coach of the Boston Breakers, and director of SoccerPlus talks about the growing friction between MLS academies and established youth clubs and poaching players.

DiCIcco: Right now soccer in America is big business. [MLS teams] are starting from the top down – U-18, U-16, but eventually they’ll have kids  five, six, seven and eight years-old in their club and that’s how you become club and build that club system like the rest of the world. But to do that, now you offend many of your customers. You’d be taking their players, players that are in their market. And those established clubs are the people that MLS goes to sell tickets to. When you go after their best players competing for that stud athlete, when that stud athlete goes to Red Bulls Academy, when the three best players leave a club to go to Red Bulls Academy, you start to create competitive issues that could affect your fan base. I think MLS is too well positioned and established for that to happen, but I think that early on, you can’t just go and create your own youth clubs because you will end up cannibalizing your own fan base.

Money, winning, and U.S. soccer coaching: Gary Ireland calls it out - Examiner

In his 20 years of coaching, Gary Ireland was an academy coach at Liverpool and an assistant coach to Weil Coerver in Dubai before starting his own club PSV Union FC in Northern California. Ireland holds an “A” coaching license from the Czech Republic where he also played, and an MBA from the University of Liverpool. He trained with Barcelona at 15 and played for Australia’s National Team, although born in England. He’s frustrated with the for-profit system of coaching in the United States and trying to do something about it.

Notable quotes:

Ireland: Collegiate coaches are hired to get results, so they’re not going to pick players at 18 and 19 developing their game and forsake the pro game because they want to try to help develop players. It’s not a development system. What happens is - and if I’m a college coach I’d be the ultimate hypocrite - I’d say, of course I’m going to pick my 11 best athletes. I’m going to get fired in six months if I don’t win my games….And of course you’re not going to pick players who are pint-sized players because they won’t get it done physically for you, because coaches get paid for winning these battles - they get paid handsomely for it.

Unfortunately it plays out in the men’s game. The U.S. have never developed a world class, world renowned male soccer star. Mexico has developed 30-40.

Player representative Mike Wheeler explains Generation adidas - Examiner

Lawyer, player agent, and founder and president of MAE Agency Mike Wheeler explains Generation adidas program and contracts.

Notable quotes:

Wheeler: The money is broken down into essentially three components. It’s a salary, it’s a sponsorship component, and a marketing component. The total package can be in the low six figures. Nyarko was about $150k last year. But the salary component could be anywhere between $40-60k and the marketing and sponsorship component makes the rest of that contract.

The GA kids are obligated to fulfill certain marketing sides. Sometimes they travel abroad and market the GA program and MLS as well to the outside and teams abroad. They were in South Africa, for example, and that’s fulfilling the marketing side of the program for them. The sponsorship side comes out in terms of money somewhere near the marketing side. In general there’s not a huge amount of money for sponsorship in the U.S. for pro players. They all have a stipend as well, so if they want to pursue college in their down time, that’s part of the deal.

New England Revolution MLS Academy enters third year: interview with vice-president Mike Burns - Examiner

Former USMNT defender and New England Revolution Vice-President Player Personnel Mike Burns talks about the club focusing on their emerging academy program as it enters the third season.

Notable quotes:

Burns: We've been more than ethical in anything we’ve done thus far in attracting the best players. It’s a competitive environment out there, we’ve made no bones about it that this program is not for everyone and we’re trying to get the best players to play for our program….We’re looking for the best players. It’s a competitive environment and there’s a little bit of cut-throat to it.

US College Soccer at the Crossroads - SoccerLens

In a story first published on SoccerLens, I interviewed Sasho Cirovski, head coach University of Maryland, Bret Simon, head coach of Standford, Barry Gorman, then head coach of Penn State and now technical director of FC Dallas, Tom Jacobs, former Director NCAA Division I Soccer Championships, Doug Williamson, Assistant Director of Coaching Education and Development at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Todd Leydon, president of the NCAA Eligibility Center, and others.

I propose four major changes in the college program: switching to a two-season schedule; allowing increased contact with professional soccer; increasing the number of scholarships; and waiving the BA requirement for experienced foreign coaches.

Notable quotes:

Sasho Cirovski: I’m fighting to get an increase in scholarships. Our argument is simply that men’s soccer has the lowest number of scholarships as a percentage of the starting line-up and the lowest number of scholarships as a percentage of the roster size of any men’s team sport in the NCAA. We’d simply like to get to 11 at least. We’re simply asking for a 1.1 increase.

Doug Williamson: What the NCAA has done with soccer is to turn in the other direction. They’ve limited the time that coaches can work with players, they’ve reduced it. So, in terms of the number of weeks a college coach can work with players, we’re probably at one of the most restrictive times in our history. Let’s be honest, relaxing of Division I football regulations and Division I basketball regulations -some of these schools 10 years ago were playing 26, 27 games, they’re now playing 36, 37 games in basketball – there’s no educational philosophy there, that’s about money. That’s about putting people in the seats to bring revenue into the college. . . [Soccer coaches] who do a great job with their players are being hamstrung by the restrictions placed on them by the NCAA. We’ve got some exceptional coaches, coaches of great quality, but if those coaches aren’t allowed to coach it doesn’t matter how good they are.

Barry Gorman: God gave Ten Commandments, but the NCAA have given ten thousand with a hundred thousand interpretations. The NCAA comes out with rules and regulations and all you’ve got to do is wait a month and then there will be a waiver for American football, a waiver for basketball, a waiver for baseball. It’s because those groups have a lot of administrators who are former athletes in those sports. Rather than we in soccer fighting against each other, we should be doing everything in our power to help develop the sport at all levels.

Bret Simon: Most of our athletes don’t mature until they’re 19, 20, 21 years old. It’s very hard to predict when they’re 13, 14, 15, 16, who will actually be the best players.

FC Dallas technical director Barry Gorman talks DP, loaning out home grown players - Examiner

Former Penn State coach and now technical director FC Dallas Barry Gorman spoke with me about the 2010 MLS Homegrown rules [already expanded since May] and developing international loan programs to get young Dallas players games.

Notable quote:

Gorman: I’m meeting with somebody from Brazil and we’re looking at expanding things down there. We’re talking to people in Mexico and either strengthening relationships there or looking at other possible new ones. The club has arrangements with first teams [in Brazil and Mexico], but we’re looking at relationships down through academies as well. The thing is to find the right club that has name recognition and is doing things the right way and their philosophy fits in with what we have here, and making those connections and seeing if there’s mutual interest. There are a lot of foreign clubs that are looking to affiliate with groups in the United States and it goes to everything from player exchange to possible signings all the way down to youth academy involvement.

FOLLOW US SOCCER EXAMINER AND LE EISENMENGER ON TWITTER AND SUBSCRIBE TO EMAIL ALERTS.