The United States women will have a general manager in place ahead of the World Cup according to a story posted on ussoccer.com Wednesday afternoon. The general manager, a newly created position, will initially take on an observation and support role.
“As this position is focused on the long-term future of the women’s national team, the GM will of course respect and support the existing World Cup plan that Jill Ellis has made for the team,” Chief Soccer Officer Ryan Mooney said. “Should things go well at qualifying – and we certainly expect them to – the time between the start date for the new GM and the World Cup next summer will be an important period for this person to experience the dynamics of the team and program firsthand. Following this observation period, the GM will be prepared and equipped to manage the program moving forward.”
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U.S. Soccer decided to hire general managers for both national teams last December in the wake of the men crashed out of qualifying last fall Earnie Stewart was named men’s national team general manager in June.
U.S. Soccer will conduct upwards of 10 phone interviews with various candidates during October and November and then proceed with in-person follow-ups with up to six candidates through January. Two or three finalists will then go through a second in-person interview before a recommendation and hire is made in the first half of 2019.
U.S. Soccer tells The Equalizer that the new GM will not oversee youth women’s national teams. That is still the responsibility of women’s youth director April Heinrichs. The new GM will have some involvement in monitoring talent and scouting youth players for potential senior-team involvement.
The role of the general manager will mirror that of Stewart, who went to work August 1, were laid out as follows:
- Continue to foster an environment – both day-to-day and long-term – for the head coach and the Women’s National Team to continue its historic success.
- Work with the head coach to ensure the team’s style of play, team tactical principles and key qualities are being implemented within the squad while continuing to evolve with the growth of the women’s game world-wide.
- Work with the head coach and staff to continue to evolve the principles for a player profile for each position based on the style of play, team tactical principles and key qualities.
- Work with the head coach and staff to create positional depth charts based on the player profile, accounting for players’ current and potential ability to compete at the highest levels in the world.
- Along with coaching staff, Youth WNT coaches and scouts, evaluate and monitor players coming up through the Youth National Team programs to ensure the best talent is identified and cultivated.
- Communicate and work with the Sport Development Departments to drive technical alignment and integration, including Coaching Education, Player Development, High Performance, Talent Identification and Youth National Teams.
- In conjunction with the U.S. WNT head coach, work closely with NWSL clubs, coaches and general managers to further develop the symbiotic relationship between club and country with the goal of continuing to maximize the development of players for the WNT pool while also continuing to help fuel the growth of the league.