U.S. Soccer last week unveiled Matt Crocker as the organization’s new sporting director, the person who will oversee all national teams, from senior to youth.
But at the top of his to-do list is finding the right candidate to take over the men’s national team.
It is a pivotal moment for the USMNT, coming off a World Cup in Qatar that saw them advance out of a difficult group to reach the group stage, where they fell to the Netherlands. As the second-youngest team in Qatar, all but one of the players -- DeAndre Yedlin -- had previous World Cup experience.
Couple that with the fact the next World Cup is on home soil in 2026 makes this an especially important hire for a sporting director who previously was the English FA Head of Development Teams and Southampton Director of Football Operations.
Crocker will officially begin Aug. 2, but in an agreement made with Southampton, will star to immediately focus on supporting the Women’s National Team ahead of this summer’s World Cup as well as begin the hiring process for the USMNT position.
When he was with the English FA, Crocker helped launch the “England DNA” and was instrumental in the resurgence of that nation’s youth national teams. During his time as the strategic & cultural lead, England won both the 2017 FIFA Under-17 and Under-20 World Cup titles. Two years later, England captured the UEFA European Under-19 Championship.
His most recent role at Southampton had Crocker focus on the men’s, women’s and academy programs. He initially served as the English club’s academy manager from 2006-2013 where he oversaw the development of future international stars like Gareth Bale, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse.
The Southampton women’s program went from part-time to a fully professional team that has risen from the FA National League to the Women’s Championship in only two years.
“Matt has great experience in developing talent, implementing a clear and consistent playing philosophy from youth to senior teams and implementing coaching programming,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said at an introductory press conference last week. “After spending some time with Matt, it quickly became clear he excels in communication as well as being a team builder. He’s driven, he’s creative and committed to building relationships at every level of the game.”
Parlow Cone said a global search yielded dozens of names on an initial list, which was whittled to 10, with seven candidates part of the interview process. Of the final three candidates, two were diversity candidates.
“Matt’s experience and expertise will be a tremendous asset to all of us at US Soccer and his appointment will benefit the entire soccer ecosystem,” US Soccer CEO J.T. Batson said. “As a fan, I couldn’t be more excited about the future of our national team programs.”
Crocker, who is under contract until the 2026 World Cup, takes over for Earnie Stewart, who returned to his native Holland to become the director of football at PSV Eindhoven.
While Crocker will begin the process immediately, he stressed the importance of doing the necessary due diligence through the process.
“Clearly the most important thing is we want to get a head coach, and the right head coach, to lead the program in place as soon as possible,” he said. “But what we don’t want to do is rush and make the wrong appointment.”
Crocker details a few attributes he’d like to see in the next head coach. Gregg Berhalter led the program to its return to the World Cup after failing to qualify for the 2018 competition, but his contract was not renewed amid a nasty public feud with the Reynas, whose domestic abuse allegations against the National Team coach were investigated by US Soccer.
Anthony Hudson has taken over as the interim coach following the Qatar World Cup and will likely guide the team through the Concacaf Nations League Finals and Concacaf Gold Cup this summer.
“What I see from the current team is an aggressive, forward-thinking, fearless team that went to the World Cup and did some great stuff. And I’m really, really keen to make sure we produce a coach that can replicate and continue to drive forward some of those behaviors,” he said. “Clearly there’s been some great foundations put in place by Gregg and Anthony around the style of play and we want to continue to evolve that style of play. To bring in a coach that can deliver that is going to be fundamental to the process.”
And then Crocker spoke of the importance of leadership in a position where, unlike a club team, the head coach isn’t with the players day in and day out.
“We need the right leader, the right head coach to come in and give the players ownership and responsibility to build a really strong culture or to continue to develop that really strong culture. Coaching internationally is very different from working every day on the field with a club team,” Crocker said. “We clearly want a head coach that is a role model and a cultural leader and can inspire the next generation so the legacy piece around the future is as important if not more important in the buildup to the next World Cup.”
Previously, Stewart said it was mandatory the USMNT coach had to live in Chicago, which is where the organization’s headquarters are. But Crocker, who will move to the Windy City, indicated it’s not necessarily a prerequisite to the job.
“I guess what is important is that they can get to Chicago and be in Chicago on a regular basis,” said the Welshman. “When you're an international manager, the last thing that we want is a coach that just shows up for the camps. This is a 365 job … Because if we are going to get that aligned pathway, the contribution of the head coach and making sure that they can impact and influence what goes on at the younger age groups, and also be around those camps, supporting those players, know what players are coming through, is a fundamental part of the job.
“Whether they need to live there 365 days a year, probably not, because there's also European [matches] you definitely need to go and watch, across all of MLS to cover games. But they are going to need to spend a significant chunk of time in Chicago, that's for sure.”
