The coach was sticking to her guns, even if it cost her the USWNT job
In her upcoming book, Emma Hayes said she would have “100 percent” walked away from the U.S. women’s national team head coaching role if U.S. Soccer didn’t allow her to complete the season with Chelsea.
Hayes was named USWNT head coach in November, but insisted upon finishing out the season at Chelsea before taking over.
That meant Twila Kilgore served several months as interim head coach while Hayes coached Chelsea and also kept an eye on the USWNT in the background.
Finally, Hayes joined up with the USWNT in late May after clinching a fifth straight WSL title with Chelsea.
Hayes has now coached four matches with the USWNT, winning three and drawing one as the team prepares for the Olympics.
The USWNT kicks off the games in France on Thursday against Zambia, before facing Germany and Australia in the group phase.
In an excerpt from her upcoming book “A Completely Different Game: My Leadership Playbook,” Hayes detailed a meeting with U.S. Soccer leadership after she was offered the USWNT position.
Hayes insisted upon being allowed to coach the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign with Chelsea — even if it cost her the chance to manage the USWNT. She was also prepared to immediately walk away from Chelsea if the club didn’t agree to the arrangement.
With her father having recently passed away and her son Harry in the middle of the school year, Hayes had professional and personal considerations in mind.
The following is an excerpt from the book, which is available now to pre-order HERE and will be released on Tuesday.
Things were moving fast. Matt [Crocker, sporting director] asked to meet with me in London the following Sunday, together with Cindy Parlow Cone, the U.S. Soccer Federation president, and JT Batson, the CEO. I agreed, since Chelsea was to play on the Saturday before (a 2–0 win over West Ham, as it turned out).
The delegation shared their vision and the work they had been doing in the background. It was really impressive. They made me feel really wanted. Their offer—to make me the world’s highest paid manager in the women’s game—was unbelievable.
Money has never been the most important thing for me, but it was nice to be valued. By adhering to the principle of equal pay—I was to be on the same level as Gregg Berhalter, the men’s manager—they also proved they were willing to act on fundamental beliefs.
Despite the disappointment of the earliest U.S. exit from a World Cup, in round sixteen, a new generation of richly talented young players would be coming through. This would be my opportunity to build and lead a team through an Olympic Games, a World Cup, and another Olympic cycle. I couldn’t get the thought of this opportunity out of my head, but there were considerations.
I told them I didn’t want to leave Chelsea immediately because I had committed to the players. That’s the sort of person I am. My word is a condition, an article of faith. I wanted to complete the season in England before attacking the challenge of the Paris Olympics.
I explained that for the first time in my life I was not going to do something at all costs. I did not want to disrupt Harry midway through a school year. I wasn’t leaving my mum: she needed me. I would have 100 percent walked away if they had said no.
I couldn’t believe how accommodating they were. They acknowledged the logic of my stance, even though they knew they would take some heat domestically because of it. By the same token, if Chelsea had preferred to move on quickly, in terms of succession planning, I would have gone to the U.S. without hesitation.
Leaders do not have the luxury of idle gestures. By finishing the European season, I knew how hard I would have to work to be completely present. I never want to be accused of having stopped working or having switched off. I really believe in professional commitment.
Keeping Twila Kilgore (or Kaufman, as many of us still know her) as the interim head coach was a really smart decision. The first U.S.-born woman to earn a U.S. Soccer Federation pro coaching license, she had spent the previous eighteen months as Vlatko Andonovski’s assistant.
She represented continuity and authority because she embodied the strengths of the system, having excelled at the youth, collegiate, and club level. She was able to implement many short-term decisions so that I could hit the ground running when I started in June.
I made it clear how much I valued her, insisting that every department would go through her while I was still a full-time employee of Chelsea. There is always a temptation to gravitate toward a new head coach, but I wanted to be in the background, getting staffing and protocols in place.
Excerpted from “A Completely Different Game: My Leadership Playbook” by Emma Hayes with contributions by Michael Calvin. Copyright © 2024. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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