Keeping Bob

The more I consider the alternatives, the more I feel like giving Bob Bradley a "Second Term" is the way to go - and it appears that US Soccer might be leaning that way as well.

A large majority of US Soccer fans have fallen in love with the idea of bringing in a new, foreign coach - Jurgen Klinsmann, for example

But the more I think about it, the more I feel like Bob is the kind of guy that won't get it wrong the 2nd time, and the more I feel like letting Bob go will send the wrong message to the casual fan.

Let's face facts - most casual fans don't realize that it's rare for a World Cup coach to survive past 4 years, and would wonder why Bob is being let go after giving us a team that united sports fans across the country.

I know - we fall behind early on a regular basis - but that's fixable, and coachable. What isn't is instilling the belief in players that they can come back from falling behind. There are a handful of coaches in this game that seem to have an intrinsic ability to make that happen - Bob is one. I've seen it over and over - in World Cup qualifiying, in dragging 3 goals out of the Egypt game when we needed them, and in all 4 World Cup matches.

Maybe it's the mild interest from Fulham that has me taking a second look at him - maybe that's what he and his agent had in mind and figured out a way to aggressively promote him for that position. That said - enough media outlets are reporting to let you know that it isn't just rumor - he's being considered a viable candidate. 

If you list the men he's being mentioned in the same breath as - Jol, Erikkson, Hughes, Hitzfield - they are all men who have had measurable success at the Club management level. Should Bob be mentioned in the same breath as these guys? Many US fans would say "no". He is, however.

Finally - with Claudio Reyna now in charge of our Youth Program, a guy like Bob is ideal for the top role, because he knows the importance of developing young players. Reyna spent 95% of his career training and playing in numerous European club set-ups, and we can only hope that experience will inform his decisions on how we develop our top young players. Having a coach that will give those players early tastes of National Team life is key to keeping that pipeline moving.

On Soccernet, Brad Friedel pointed out the obvious - it's a given that we should've qualified for this World Cup, but where he gives Bob the most praise is when he follows that up with "but I think he has done a decent job of finding some younger players."

Alot of us would've been happier to bring in Ching, Eddie Johnson, etc. instead of Robbie Findley - but a guy like Findley is going to be far more useful to US Soccer down the road than Ching or Johnson. Same with getting Charlie Davies involved last summer, or bringing someone like Alejandro Bedoya into camp before the World Cup.

Just my $0.02 - but with developing the National Team being a long-term project - we need a long-term coach. Not forever, but at least for the next 4 years. We are approaching a tipping point with our talent and depth, and letting a proven identifier, and developer, of talent continue to steer the ship would have nothing but long-term positives for the program.