USMNT Coach Gregg Berhalter returns to program after Reyna feud
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LAS VEGAS — The U.S. Soccer Federation’s search for a men’s national team coach ended where it began Friday with the reappointment of Gregg Berhalter. The decision came about six months after Berhalter’s contract expired and followed off-the-field controversy involving the parents of a star player, an investigation into a domestic abuse incident that occurred about 30 years ago and major turnover in the USSF’s front office.
Berhalter agreed to a contract through the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Terms were not disclosed. The USSF’s most recent tax filing showed he earned roughly $1.6 million between April 2021 and March 2022.
Berhalter, 49, will return to the post following the Concacaf Gold Cup, which will run from June 24 to July 16. B.J. Callaghan, the second interim coach since Berhalter’s departure in the winter, will continue to run the team.
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“The process has been really comprehensive and evidence-based,” said Matt Crocker, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s new sporting director. “From the first moment that I met [Berhalter] through the end of the process, what came through in abundance was his passion, his knowledge, his leadership and his growth mind-set.”
Crocker said he conducted a “worldwide search” and spoke to several candidates with both club and national team experience before offering Berhalter the job this week. Jesse Marsch, an American who has coached European clubs for several years, was among the candidates, U.S. officials confirmed.
“You can imagine what the last six months have been like,” said Berhalter, who also interviewed with Mexico’s Club Ámerica for a coaching job. “It was a great moment [getting offered the U.S. position]. Thinking about the team and the possibilities, your mind is going 100 miles an hour, but I was really motivated to come back and really make a go of this next World Cup and making the nation proud.”
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Crocker said he was impressed with Berhalter’s ability to push the program forward over four years.
“Clearly what he’s done is [develop] a really young, dynamic, front-footed team,” Crocker said. “There’s been a tremendous amount of great work on the pitch and off the pitch, but we have to try to get better. … We have to push those boundaries.”
The process moved much quicker than anticipated. Less than a month ago, Crocker said he planned to conduct interviews in June before narrowing the list of candidates and beginning the evaluation process. “Our aim is to have our new coach in place by the end of summer,” he said at the time.
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On Thursday night, though, Crocker gave a 45-minute presentation to the USSF’s board of directors, which backed the decision but not unanimously. One member on the 20-plus board dissented, USSF chief executive JT Batson said.
The concern, a person close to the situation said, was the effectiveness of a coach in a second World Cup cycle. Bob Bradley (2006-11) and Jurgen Klinsmann (2011-16) were rehired for a second term but fired within two years.
Crocker emphasized Berhalter’s return is not “business as usual” and that he would work closely with the coaching staff on charting a path forward.
One person close to the situation said Crocker is firmly in charge of the program’s direction and Berhalter won’t enjoy as much autonomy as he did under Stewart and McBride, who were his U.S. World Cup teammates. Oguchi Onyewu, a former U.S. standout defender, recently joined Crocker’s staff as vice president of sporting.
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Crocker said Berhalter won’t start right away because “there’s some real big-ticket items around some real strategic stuff over the next couple of seasons that we need to map out first. [With Callaghan,] the team is in good hands.”
Crocker told the players of the coaching decision at the team hotel after the 3-0 victory over Mexico in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals. None were made available to comment Friday.
Berhalter was generally well liked by the players and received endorsements from star attacker Christian Pulisic, among others. “Today is a testament of the work that [Berhalter] has put into this team,” Pulisic said after Thursday’s match.
Berhalter said he watched the entire game on his flight to Las Vegas for Friday’s news conference. “Great performance,” he said. His first games back in charge will be in the Sept. 4-12 match window.
Berhalter had a 37-11-12 record over four years, the best winning percentage in U.S. men’s history among long-term coaches. He also holds the best record in official competition (25-6-7).
He led the Americans to a 1-0-2 record in the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar and a 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the round of 16. The U.S. men were the second-youngest squad in the tournament.
Berhalter does, however, return with notable baggage. He will need to clear the air with Gio Reyna, one of the program’s young standouts, whose lack of playing time at the World Cup triggered a rift between his parents and Berhalter.
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The matter spilled into the public eye when, claiming he was being blackmailed, Berhalter admitted to kicking his now-wife, Rosalind, when they were freshmen at the University of North Carolina. The couple has been married 25 years and has four children.
An investigation into the abuse incident reported that Reyna’s mother, Danielle, brought the incident to the USSF’s attention. She was incensed that Berhalter, during what he was told was an off-the-record speech in New York, implied her son caused disruptions before the World Cup.
“There’s work to do, and part of it is working together with Matt and trying to rebuild the relationship that we know will be important moving forward,” Berhalter said.
The investigation into the 1992 incident said Berhalter had not committed any additional acts of violence and hadn’t violated any disclosure rules during his hiring process in 2018.
“We take accusations of domestic violence very seriously,” USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone said. “There was an independent investigation into the matter, and we trust those findings. And Gregg has our full support.”
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Source: The Washington Post
