U.S. Soccer may have hit the rewind button in hiring Gregg Berhalter as the USMNT’s head coach for a second time, but the federation is convinced that the path taken was thorough.
Speaking to reporters in Las Vegas on Friday, just hours after confirming that Berhalter was back, sporting director Matt Crocker offered some insight into the evaluation process used to comb through candidates for the job.
“When I took the role of sporting director, I knew the first priority was going to be the search for the U.S. men’s head coach role,” said Crocker. “The process has been really comprehensive and evidence-based. Before this process, I didn’t know Gregg. But what I did find is, during the process from the first moment that I met him through till the end of the process, what came through in abundance was his passion, his knowledge, leadership, and his growth mindset.”
“We started the process with a real data-driven approach,” added Crocker, explaining that through statistical analysis, U.S. Soccer could filter for “front-footed coaches, aggressive coaches, where the coaches can reflect our style of play.”
Once those intentions were clear, the federation moved on to another round of filtering based on Elo ratings and proof that a candidate could successfully develop young players.
“We then took those candidates, or a number of those candidates, through a comprehensive process. Clearly along the way, there’s conversations that we have with coaches around, for example, us being really clear and decisive over, what is the role? What competencies are we’re looking for?” said Crocker.
Finally, U.S. Soccer put candidates through some individual testing that Crocker referred to as “rigorous, intense.”
“Everything from psychometrics to abstract reasoning tests, logical thinking, to tests where candidates had the opportunity to prepare for certain elements around strategy and what they would do, how they would evolve the team,” explained Crocker.
“Certain tests where they just literally had to deliver under pressure at a moment in time… what I’m delighted to say is, on every step of the way, Gregg scored phenomenally.”
Berhalter decision came just days ago
Berhalter called the process “extensive” before sharing some of his experience going through it.
“Basically, a series of interviews over a couple of days, and then the day itself was close to 10 hours of different testing and conversations and tasks being prepared,” said the former and current USMNT manager.
“The day after the interview process, I stayed at my location,” said Berhalter, who noted that Crocker and U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone called him in for a post-interview meeting before he went to fly home.
“On my way to the airport — I was actually in the airport, I remember — and Matt called me and he said, ‘you’re the guy,'” said Berhalter. “It was a great feeling. You can imagine what the last six months have been like.”
Per CEO and director general J.T. Batson, that moment came just a couple of days before the news broke during the USMNT’s 3-0 win over Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League.
“We’ve been charging hard at this, and we obviously want to make sure we get it right,” said Batson. “This is something that we’re only a couple of days from making our decision, where Matt and [his] team recommended to me… We had the formal approval from our board and here we are. We’re obviously super excited about marching forward together and everything that we’re gonna go do together to go win in 2026 and beyond.”
Discussing the mentality involved in avoiding the second cycle woes that have hit national teams near and far over the years, Crocker cited “big, key priorities” to make sure the federation doesn’t lose momentum heading into a potentially paradigm-shifting 2026 World Cup on home soil.
“It’s not business as usual,” asserted Crocker. “It’s what we call evolution. So what we’re looking to do with Gregg is to work closely to kick the program forward, to work out what those competitive advantages are going to be to take us forward through to 2026.”
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