Greg Ryan Out As US Women's Soccer Coach

[CoachRich]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i9SHAAzK13dtBOjd6yvcFWZDH34g

CHICAGO (AP) -- Greg Ryan is out as the U.S. women's soccer coach less than a month after his top-ranked team lost in the World Cup semifinals following a contentious goalie switch.

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said on a conference call Monday that Ryan's contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the year. The squad does not play any more games in 2007.

"I'm not going to point to any one factor or one individual decision," Gulati said. "Obviously, coaches' decisions impact games. All that was weighed in."

Gulati, U.S. Soccer secretary general Dan Flynn and retired star Mia Hamm will form the search committee. Gulati expected to make a hire in the next 30-45 days, with the team set to resume training in January, with the Beijing Olympics the major event on next year's schedule.

He said they will seek a candidate with experience coaching in international events who is familiar with American soccer.

Ryan was 45-1-9 since taking over in early 2005, but that one loss -- in his only major tournament -- overshadowed the rest of his tenure.

"The expectation is to compete for a gold medal virtually every time we're in competition," Gulati said.

With the Americans favored to win their third World Cup, Ryan decided before their match with Brazil to make a change in goal, replacing Hope Solo with veteran Briana Scurry. Solo had allowed two goals in four World Cup starts and had a shutout string of nearly 300 minutes. Scurry, the goalie for the 1999 World Cup champs, had beaten Brazil two straight times.

The U.S. lost 4-0 and had to settle for third place, and Solo ripped Ryan for the move.

[Richard]

Well I guess it's easy to blame the coach when the players on the field lose a game.

[jpg75]

Looks like his replacement should be a huge improvement...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2007/10/greg_ryan_decision.html

"A new coach would open training camp in early 2008 and begin preparing for the Olympics in China. Among the potential candidates are Jillian Ellis, head coach of UCLA and the U.S. under-20 national team; Tony DiCicco, who guided the United States to the 1999 World Cup title; Sweden's Pia Sundhage; Santa Clara University Coach Jerry Smith; and Washington Freedom Coach Jim Gabarra."

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

Well I guess it's easy to blame the coach when the players on the field lose a game.

When the coach starts his 36 yrs old back up keeper, who hasn't played in months, for a 1/2 final game against Brazil don't you think he should be held accountable for that retarded decision?

Also, a coach who subs in 2 defenders when he's loosing 3-0 in a do or die game should receive a part of the blame.

Yes the players are the one playing but the coach decide who's playing and he's making poor decision in that aspect and with tactics he should be replace.

[Jon Que]

No excuses allowed. 3 years preperation, huge budget, large talent pool, 50+ international matches. What more could you ask for? When you have all that at your disposal you have to at least get to the gold medal game. They looked very average during the World Cup (for the US) and then just horrible during "the Game". Ryan took a huge risk when he swapped keepers. The safe play would of been keeping the status quo. He really stuck his neck out (and now it's been chopped off). The strange thing is I kind of liked the guy, he seemed very personable and respectful, but I like what the US have done. The message is clear, win gold or we will find somebody else who can.

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

Well I guess it's easy to blame the coach when the players on the field lose a game.

Richard.. you are probably the only person on the Voyaguers board who could make such a comment.... good on you .... if nothing else you consistently on the wrong side of any issue.

Which means your a good bell weather ..and that is important to have.

Once again congrats, ps... do you think Pelerud should go ?

[Cheeta]

Ahhhh, man.

I am SHOCKED. Shocked I say.

[CanadasBest]

Another article. Apparently the US are not playing any games for the rest of the year neither.

Greg Ryan out as U.S. women's coach

CHICAGO (AP) - High expectations can create major repercussions.

That was defender Cat Whitehill's reaction to the news Greg Ryan is out as the U.S. women's soccer coach. The decision came less than a month after his top-ranked team lost in the World Cup semifinals following a contentious goalie switch.

"With the standards our team has set, if you don't win, it's hard to keep your job," Whitehill said Monday, a day after players and Ryan were informed of the move. "Nothing against the way Greg Ryan coached, but we didn't play as well as we should have."

Ryan's contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the year. The squad does not play any more games in 2007.

"I'm not going to point to any one factor or one individual decision," U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said on a conference call Monday announcing the change. "Obviously, coaches' decisions impact games. All that was weighed in."

Gulati, U.S. Soccer secretary general Dan Flynn and retired star Mia Hamm will form the search committee. Gulati expected to make a hire in the next 30-45 days, with the team set to resume training in January. The new coach will come in with just eight months to prepare for the Beijing Olympics.

Gulati said he wants a candidate who is familiar with American soccer, who has experience coaching in international events.

Ryan was 45-1-9 since taking over in early 2005, but Gulati made clear that the lone loss weighed heavily in the decision because it meant Ryan failed to win his only major tournament.

U.S. women's coach Greg Ryan talks to Shannon Boxx after being ejected during the World Cup semifinal loss to Brazil. (Mark Ralston / Getty Images)

Gulati also indicated that poor performances in games the U.S. won or tied factored into the choice to sever ties.

"The expectation is to compete for a gold medal virtually every time we're in competition," Gulati said.

With the Americans favored to win their third World Cup, Ryan decided before their match with Brazil to make a change in goal, replacing Hope Solo with veteran Briana Scurry. Solo had allowed two goals in four World Cup starts and had a shutout string of nearly 300 minutes. Scurry, the goalie for the 1999 World Cup champs, had beaten Brazil two straight times.

The U.S. lost 4-0 and had to settle for third place, and Solo ripped Ryan for the move.

Solo is not suspended from the team and will be invited to next year's residency program, Gulati said.

Forward Heather O'Reilly said distractions wouldn't have lingered had Ryan remained coach.

"We were looking to move forward if it was Greg or if it was a new coaching staff," O'Reilly said.

Gulati said he and Flynn spoke to players in evaluating Ryan and that the committee would seek input from team members during the hiring process.

Ryan's assistants - Bret Hall, Phil Weddon and Billy McNicol - don't have the experience to be considered for the head coaching job, Gulati said. The new coach will decide whether to retain them.

The 50-year-old Ryan, a longtime college coach, was an assistant on the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the 2004 Olympics.

In a sport once dominated by a few powers, last month's World Cup reflected the greater commitment to women's soccer by many countries.

"I'm not concerned we've fallen off," Gulati said. "What it takes to stay even is clearly more demanding."

[Cheeta]

It is interesting that Ryan had a 4 win to 1 loss ratio performance record but that still wasn't good enough to maintain his job.

Seems the USSF has taken the view that beating up on the under developed minnows of womens football isn't good enough. It's the performances of his teams in real competition against real competition which would be the measure of his value to the program.

Odviously, he was found wanting.

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by Trillium

Richard.. you are probably the only person on the Voyaguers board who could make such a comment.... good on you .... if nothing else you consistently on the wrong side of any issue.

Which means your a good bell weather ..and that is important to have.

Once again congrats, ps... do you think Pelerud should go ?

Yes, and he will when his contract expires next year. The CSA is in such disarray it can't afford to fire yet another national team coach.

And do you deny it is the players on the field who lose games? Sure coaches make bad decisions but Curry is not an inexperienced amateur the US players were simply beaten at their game by better teams on the day.

[Trillium]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

Yes, and he will when his contract expires next year. The CSA is in such disarray it can't afford to fire yet another national team coach.

And do you deny it is the players on the field who lose games? Sure coaches make bad decisions but Curry is not an inexperienced amateur the US players were simply beaten at their game by better teams on the day.

So you would agree the Canadian team on the field was responsible for loosing in China ? ... that Sinclair et al were found wanting in playing against the world best ?

[Vic]

quote:

Heather O"Reilly: "Nothing against the way Greg Ryan coached, but we didn't play as well as we should have."

A couple of thoughts...

- Who the Hell would want a job with a single margin of error? You can hate his choice of goalkeeper all you want, but the guy had a 50 game unbeaten streak. And we're not talking 50th ranked PanAm part-timers... England, China, Sweden, Brazil, Norway, Japan, North Korea, Mexico, Germany, France, etc. Women's soccer is pretty volatile, and that's pretty remarkable. Even a guy like Mourinho went through a bad YEAR.

- It should be interesting to see how Solo plays with her teammates doubts and Ryan's corpse on her conscience. My guess is it leaves a scar.

- Quite a stark contrast from our Canadian experience with player/coach conflict. We went far and hard the other direction.

- I'm still not 100% convinced Ryan did the wrong thing. I wouldn't bet on him being right, but I wouldn't rule it out either. There is more than enough reasonable doubt. I've been a big fan of Solo's for years, but she's no veteran pillar of maturity, and often comes off as a bit of a flake, and I get a funny feeling there's more under the covers than meets the eye. The bottom line is Ryan wanted to win that game, and he didn't have confidence in her. She can blame him for that, but I think if she wants to move forward she has to take a good look in the mirror and ask herself why.

- Wheddon's been under the cloak of silence, no doubt mandated, but I would like to hear what he has to say. I've heard both that he advised it and advised against it. Hopefully one day he loses the muzzle.

- One thing I do agree with though, is Ryan when he said "I should have platooned them earlier on."

- It's also odd that we beat Solo/Scurry to death, and no one mentions any of the many other player decisions, the Lloyd/Lopez, leaving Lilly in despite her body wearing down, yanking O'Reilly, not going to Tarpley and Kai, etc.

I guess it doesn't really matter in the end though. There is no universal truth, no mathematical right and wrong, no unequivocal should have or shouldn't have. Perhaps they would have won, perhaps lost anyway. Everyone has their opinion and I doubt anything or anyone will every change it.

I think the bottom line is the USA (and Norway and Canada) had a big head start because of their cultural leadership in women's athletics, but the rest of the world has caught up. The advanced frameworks of other more professional soccer nations (England, Brazil, Germany, etc) just took longer to gear out their women's programs. The WSII will no doubt be a big step forward in helping the American's keep their edge, but the North Korean and Brazilian results are early warning indicators the day's of the American juggernaut may be over. And I'm not so sure putting Ryan's head up on a stick is coming to terms with that.

And finally, although no one here has even touched on it, I would be very, very surprised if we don't have a bigger goalkeeping controversy here in Canada and see a changing of the guard as well.

[The Ref]

From what I know Pellerud may be gone sooner than anticipated. And when that happens the CSA will have another coach ready to take over.

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Vic

A couple of thoughts...

- Who the Hell would want a job with a single margin of error? You can hate his choice of goalkeeper all you want, but the guy had a 50 game unbeaten streak. And we're not talking 50th ranked PanAm part-timers... England, China, Sweden, Brazil, Norway, Japan, North Korea, Mexico, Germany, France, etc. Women's soccer is pretty volatile, and that's pretty remarkable. Even a guy like Mourinho went through a bad YEAR.

- It should be interesting to see how Solo plays with her teammates doubts and Ryan's corpse on her conscience. My guess is it leaves a scar.

- Quite a stark contrast from our Canadian experience with player/coach conflict. We went far and hard the other direction.

- I'm still not 100% convinced Ryan did the wrong thing. I wouldn't bet on him being right, but I wouldn't rule it out either. There is more than enough reasonable doubt. I've been a big fan of Solo's for years, but she's no veteran pillar of maturity, and often comes off as a bit of a flake, and I get a funny feeling there's more under the covers than meets the eye. The bottom line is Ryan wanted to win that game, and he didn't have confidence in her. She can blame him for that, but I think if she wants to move forward she has to take a good look in the mirror and ask herself why.

- Wheddon's been under the cloak of silence, no doubt mandated, but I would like to hear what he has to say. I've heard both that he advised it and advised against it. Hopefully one day he loses the muzzle.

- One thing I do agree with though, is Ryan when he said "I should have platooned them earlier on."

- It's also odd that we beat Solo/Scurry to death, and no one mentions any of the many other player decisions, the Lloyd/Lopez, leaving Lilly in despite her body wearing down, yanking O'Reilly, not going to Tarpley and Kai, etc.

I guess it doesn't really matter in the end though. There is no universal truth, no mathematical right and wrong, no unequivocal should have or shouldn't have. Perhaps they would have won, perhaps lost anyway. Everyone has their opinion and I doubt anything or anyone will every change it.

I think the bottom line is the USA (and Norway and Canada) had a big head start because of their cultural leadership in women's athletics, but the rest of the world has caught up. The advanced frameworks of other more professional soccer nations (England, Brazil, Germany, etc) just took longer to gear out their women's programs. The WSII will no doubt be a big step forward in helping the American's keep their edge, but the North Korean and Brazilian results are early warning indicators the day's of the American juggernaut may be over. And I'm not so sure putting Ryan's head up on a stick is coming to terms with that.

And finally, although no one here has even touched on it, I would be very, very surprised if we don't have a bigger goalkeeping controversy here in Canada and see a changing of the guard as well.

The kicking difference between both is enough for me to conclude that Scurry had no business on the field that day and even on the team.

The subs paterns have been adressed, Lily as a starter also have been adressed. But in the end, when a coach makes a fool of himself by making a decision that no one in the media/soccer world is backing he has to accept the risk and consequences.

The 50 games winning streak is misleading in the sense that they are most of the time playing little prepared teams who don't have the US budget. Only at the Wc they faced teams that had some decent prep.

And please stop with your "Ryan wanted to win" excuse to explain is dumb move, Rooney also wanted to win against Portugal but it didn't made his red card excusable...

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by Vic

I think the bottom line is the USA (and Norway and Canada) had a big head start because of their cultural leadership in women's athletics, but the rest of the world has caught up. The advanced frameworks of other more professional soccer nations (England, Brazil, Germany, etc) just took longer to gear out their women's programs. The WSII will no doubt be a big step forward in helping the American's keep their edge, but the North Korean and Brazilian results are early warning indicators the day's of the American juggernaut may be over. And I'm not so sure putting Ryan's head up on a stick is coming to terms with that.

And finally, although no one here has even touched on it, I would be very, very surprised if we don't have a bigger goalkeeping controversy here in Canada and see a changing of the guard as well.

I am not sure what you are getting at. The Calgary girls own the net for Canada and deservedly so.

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by Trillium

So you would agree the Canadian team on the field was responsible for loosing in China ? ... that Sinclair et al were found wanting in playing against the world best ?

You responded to my question with another question which is not an answer, but yes, the players on the field were beaten by a better team on the day and in any tournament that's all that counts.

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

From what I know Pellerud may be gone sooner than anticipated. And when that happens the CSA will have another coach ready to take over.

If that happens I'll wager whoever the replacement is there will be posters here who complain and find fault with the CSA selection and process.

Considering the financial stress under which the CSA is apparently operating at present I would be really surprised if they were irresponsible enough to incur yet further additional costs by buying out the remainder of Pellerud's contract.

[terpfan68]

The trouble with overachievement is that after awhile it becomes expected. The Canadian Women overachieved in 2003 and they finished the 2007 WC just about where their ranking would suggest. A break here or there and we would have advanced but we were the 8th or 9th best team at the tournament.

As to Ryan, he was not fired. His contract was simply not renewed. I think that no matter who replaces him that individual will be in for a difficult time. Expectations will be high that the team at least reach the finals of the Olympics, and they might not even finish as high as they did at the World Cup.

[JPB]

quote:he was not fired. His contract was simply not renewed

In Ryan's case, that's a distinction without a difference. Prior to the World Cup, Ryan, and probably most observers, had expected him take the USA team to the Olympics. Now he won't.

Ryan made a series of big, and snowballing, mistakes in how he handled the goalkeepers, and the veterans, and it doesn't suprise me that he has been shown the door post-haste.

[Vic]

quote:

The kicking difference between both is enough for me to conclude that Scurry had no business on the field that day and even on the team.

Kicking difference? Determines who's on a team? Come on now. Why do you think there is a huge trend to side kicking low volleys? Because people realized height and distance do nothing but allow defenders range and time to setup.

quote:

I am not sure what you are getting at. The Calgary girls own the net for Canada and deservedly so.

In fairness to her, Maple Ridge's Karina LeBlanc probably had the best year of all the keepers before getting hurt before China.

[Vic]

quote:

I am not sure what you are getting at. The Calgary girls own the net for Canada and deservedly so.

And disregarding Karina, I think you may be half wrong on that. But only time will tell.

[Jon Que]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

I am not sure what you are getting at. The Calgary girls own the net for Canada and deservedly so.

Funny thing is I just think of them all as Canadians. I didn't even realize 2 of 3 were from Calgary. Does it really matter where they are from?

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by Jon Que

Funny thing is I just think of them all as Canadians. I didn't even realize 2 of 3 were from Calgary. Does it really matter where they are from?

I was responding to the posed question that we have a serious goal keeping controversy pending. The two keepers who played in the World Cup are both from Calgary, LeBlanc isn't; no "homer"ism intended.

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Vic

Kicking difference? Determines who's on a team? Come on now. Why do you think there is a huge trend to side kicking low volleys? Because people realized height and distance do nothing but allow defenders range and time to setup.

In fairness to her, Maple Ridge's Karina LeBlanc probably had the best year of all the keepers before getting hurt before China.

Take a look at Scurry goalkicks and tell me that kicking isn't important....everytime she takes a goalkicks she puts her team under pressure.

Kicking and the way a keeper play with his feet is very important.

In the Scurry/Solo story there's much more, but just the fact that you have a keeper who can't play with her feet playing over a better keeper is just plain silly.