I think overall it boils down to lack of "competitive pressure" across USA's soccer environment.

That's part of it, but it doesn't quite explain how unwilling most "elite" American club coaches have been to engage in learning and sharing of ideas with those they view as their inferiors. If anything, you'd think a lack of threat of competitiveness would make them MORE open to share and educate than their European counterparts.

PatAg said:

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It's kind of a standard thing. At first everyone is really eager and open to learn from the best. Then we start having a taste of success and progress, and instead of keeping that openness and willingness to learn, you start to think you have all the answers.

We basically went through our teenage years as a national program. Now is when we decide if we want to move forward in life, or work at mcdonalds and live in our parents basement.

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I'm not sure where we're going in 2022, but that call has been made for 2018.

Grab a basement couch and chase some rats.

PatAg said:

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It's kind of a standard thing. At first everyone is really eager and open to learn from the best. Then we start having a taste of success and progress, and instead of keeping that openness and willingness to learn, you start to think you have all the answers.

We basically went through our teenage years as a national program. Now is when we decide if we want to move forward in life, or work at mcdonalds and live in our parents basement.

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This seems like a very appropriate analogy.

Seems like the arrogant trainers are just trying to hold on to making some real money. They latch onto a region that is willing to pay $100k for them to be a director they go into Mafia mode.

I once had a Tech Director chase me down after a soccer theme birthday party and cuss me out in front of my kids for claiming I was taking food off his table. Kids were leaving the club team and coming to my team.....btw was in the same club.

I left the club after that season

While I dont necessarily disagree with him, I think there are several factors at play he's ignoring.

1. It's the system we have that creates those type of coaches. Maybe if the players' families didnt have to pay so dang much, you wouldnt have so many entitled people involved from the ground up. In most countries, the players aren't funding the academies. This does two things: It takes the influence of the parents out of the equation (they cant influence the coach..or even who they have for a coach). Secondly, In our system, the coaches are the highest on the tier. In the system he compares us to, the coaches need to keep working to impress those above them who are paying them (and who would determine if they move up or not in the ranks). So he's seeing a different type of attitude.

2. In a lot of countries, it's similar to American Football here. It's the way out, or it's simply a career. There is a big incentive to move up the ranks. Most coaches in the academies here are either very young, coaching 5-6 teams or have a 'real' job in addition to coaching. Whereas you look at a High School coach, and that's their primary job, and their career aspiration.

3. Continuing with that example (football in America)...there are a lot of successful high school coaches who aren't going to a clinic to learn a system, or pick the brain of a football player, because they think they know all the answers. It's more networking and 'big timing' everyone else. But on any given weekend, at a football clinic, it will be filled with hungry coaches trying to learn and gain some sort of advantage. You see coaches in the off season get together, pick other coaches brains, visit college clinics, etc. So he's experiencing those type of coaches, rather than maybe some of the higher tier that aren't picking his brain.


In my opinion, the key, is necessity. The academy or youth coaches dont necessarily 'need' to put in the extreme effort you might see in most other parts of the world.

Yeah...and it's not that he's wrong.

It's not that we simply have a different type of attitude here. It's just a result of the way it's set up here.

It's hard to complain, because I'm happy we seem to finally have a blossoming academy system now. And I hope the attitude he describes gets weeded out, the higher the players go through the system. But if I could snap my fingers and change it, i would.