The unusual nature of the U.S. women’s national team’s coaching situation hasn’t escaped Trinity Rodman.
The USWNT is operating under the long-term interim stewardship of Twila Kilgore, who has held the reins as the team’s coach since Vlatko Andonovski stepped down shortly after the World Cup.
Even when Emma Hayes was named the team’s head coach in November, it left a six-month period with Kilgore in charge while Hayes finishes up her time with Chelsea.
In the meantime, the USWNT has faced friendlies against China, the Concacaf W Gold Cup, and the upcoming SheBelieves Cup, all with Hayes having little time between starting the job and having to submit an 18-player squad for this summer’s Olympics.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Women’s Game’s podcast Friendlies, Rodman told host and former USWNT midfielder Sam Mewis that the situation is unlike anything she’s experienced before.
“I don’t want to say [it’s] uncomfortable, but it is just weird,” said Rodman. “There is very, very limited communication and it’s the communication from Twila to us. So it’s like you’re being scouted all the time, almost.”
Rodman said that while she trusts that Kilgore and Hayes’ stated intention to collaborate to make the transition as smooth as possible, there’s no way around the fact that they’re two different coaches.
“Twila obviously is her own coach and she’s been brought in to be the interim [coach], and she has her own points being the actual coach in the camp,” explained Rodman. “But at the end of the day, it’s like, does Emma want all the same things that Twila is wanting in this moment in time? Or are things gonna change as soon as she comes in, and she’s gonna want a completely different thing?
“Which, I doubt it’s going to be like that, but at the same time that is in the back of my head. Like, you never know if there is a disconnect, [if] there’s one specific thing that she might [want], or one specific formation that she might want based off personnel.”
Oddly enough, Rodman is experiencing a remarkably similar situation with the Washington Spirit. The NWSL side hired Barcelona coach Jonatan Giráldez, but like Hayes he will remain in Europe through the end of the club season, with Adrián González taking charge during the first half of the 2024 season.
Despite those parallels, the 21-year-old says that her club side has taken a different tack.
“I think it’s a little bit different,” said Rodman. “Obviously with [the] national team, there’s a lot more…I wouldn’t say outside noise, but just a lot more, it’s talked about in the sense of Emma coming, but [with Washington] it’s not as talked about.
“It’s more like Adrián’s here, he’s our coach, and this is our game plan. So I feel like here it feels more like, this is our head coach right now. And with national team, it’s constantly like, ‘oh, Emma’s coming soon.'”
Watch Rodman talk USWNT on Friendlies
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