Roundtable: Was Matt Crocker the right hire as U.S. Soccer sporting director?

U.S. Soccer still hasn’t chosen a coach for the men’s national team, but the person who will play the largest role in that choice has been appointed — Matt Crocker.

As I would with any hire who’s a genuine outsider, I’m willing to give Crocker some benefit of the doubt at first. There are some things I like, especially the fact that he’s got experience with men’s and women’s soccer. That is crucial, because the sporting director oversees the men’s and women’s national team programs. Finding someone who can do both requires narrowing the pool of candidates.

I also like his focus on youth development over time, at Southampton and with England’s FA. He had major success at both. Southampton’s academy and transfer dealings produced big-time players like Gareth Bale (sorry, Union fans) and Theo Walcott. Crocker’s work at the FA produced under-17 and -20 men’s World Cup winners and an under-19 men’s Euros winner. His work on the women’s side planted seeds for last year’s historic senior Euros title, England’s first top-level trophy since 1966.

And as someone who has wanted Jesse Marsch for the U.S. men’s team job all along, I’m happy that Crocker knows him. It might have just been good luck of timing that Crocker was in the interview room when Marsch almost got the Southampton job in February, but it could pay dividends for the U.S. now.

I have one really big question, though: what does he know about multinational recruiting on this side of the Atlantic? There’s no lack of England players with diverse roots, but the U.S.-Mexico dynamic takes it to another level here. Will recruiting be his job, the manager’s job, or the job of a top deputy hired to the front office?

That person might not take the title “general manager” like Kate Markgraf has on the women’s side, but it’s why I’m not quite on board with a potential elimination of the men’s team GM job. That’s been proposed, and I’ve heard it’s likely.

I’d like to hear more about how recruiting will work before I give this hire a top-level grade.

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Be careful what you wish for. So many, including me, wanted more of a USSF outsider in the sporting director role after the head-spinning interconnectedness of the whole Berhalter/Reyna debacle, but was the wish ever for someone so outside that if you said they came out of left field, they might have no idea what that means?

I’m not advocating for the USSF to have any American-only policy in administration, but is anyone going to advocate for a sporting director who has little previous experience with any U.S. soccer system? From the youth level, recreation, to collegiate, to pro, these are uniquely American structures and to have no sense of how they work across a country as vast as this one is pretty daunting.

There’s also a bit of an American soccer joke at play here that goes roughly like, “In soccer administration roles, they’ll interview a bunch of options, then hire the guy with the British accent.” It’s a cliché because it’s a common occurrence that folks from the British Isles are very well-represented in USA soccer management across the board in youth clubs, pro clubs, national team posts.

That’s why part of me wasn’t surprised to find out at Crocker’s initial press conference that his soccer experience in the U.S. was coaching youth teams, including under-12 players, during summer stints to the country. That’s something, but precious little, and I’ve seen it too often to not think that a bias to soccer folk from the land of the Premier League didn’t play a part in that hire way back then or in this one now.

What is Crocker going to know about the importance of dual-national recruiting or homegrown development restrictions stifling players? Obviously, he’s going to bring a fresh eye to all the systems, but it is a little discouraging that options in the Latino community don’t seem to get recognized for their expertise by the USSF.

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Again, it’s not that I’m against Marsch as a coach, either, but if the argument was that the previous director was too cozy with the coach, how is it good that this new director automatically gives Marsch a leg up for that job? And while I agree that there’s a particular competition between the U.S. and Mexico for players, I’d also remind that recruitment is a big worldwide net. I’m in prove-it mode with Crocker right now and his first few moves, especially in terms of the men’s team coaching hire, will go a long way to turning my skepticism around.

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Maybe the best thing about Matt Crocker is that he isn’t one of the old USMNT retreads that tend to occupy this role with U.S. Soccer. In an organization where nepotism and remaining anchored to the past is only rivaled by the Philadelphia Flyers, it is refreshing to see the U.S. venture outside of their circle of familiarity and bring in someone with fresh ideas and perspective.

While Crocker has spent the past few seasons as head of operations with Southampton, his previous seven seasons as the head of England’s youth teams are what I am most intrigued by. Crocker oversaw the Three Lions’ youth setup during a time of unprecedented success, with the Under-17 team winning the 2017 World Cup, and the U19 team claiming the 2017 Euros. These teams also produced several of England’s current stars like Jadon Sancho, Phil Foden, Reece James, and Mason Mount, proof Crocker has a clue when it comes to developing young players. Identifying and developing young players that help the U.S. have success first at the youth levels and that eventually grow into the senior team is paramount, and Crocker certainly did that during his time with the English FA.

Southampton’s Academy also has a reputation for producing young players – Luke Shaw, Theo Walcott, and sorry Union fans … Gareth Bale – and Crocker from all accounts had a hand in that. His experience in developing young players would also seem to align with the fact that the core of the U.S. team is in their mid-20s. That said, his most recent period at Southampton has been mostly a flop, with the Saints consistently battling for Premier League survival and having gone through several managerial changes.

Crocker’s No. 1 directive will be hiring a new manager to oversee the men’s senior team. Getting that hire right is absolutely critical head of a World Cup cycle where most of the team’s best players will hit their primes, not to mention the World Cup being on home soil. I have advocated for the U.S. to cast a wide net with its head-coaching search and Crocker should be able to lean on his European connections here to bring in some different candidates than under previous regimes. That said, Marsch was close to landing the recent Saints’ vacancy, so Crocker has a relationship with him and may fancy him for this role as well.

Sure, this is an out-of-the-box move given Crocker’s lack of experience in the realm of U.S. Soccer, but I am all for it, as you only get so far trying the same thing over and over again. U.S. Soccer has a nice foundation to build on with its world champion women’s team and a men’s team loaded with young, up-and-coming players. Bringing in someone with a resume filled with developmental experience and working with top players like Crocker could elevate that ceiling. It is at the very least exciting to me.

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I share Gus’ sentiment that Matt Crocker will bring fresh ideas from an outsider’s perspective. I too think that his resume and tentacles in the English Football Association — specifically with its youth teams — is promising.

Which by the way, man, would I love to be in the room when he gets to dig deep into America’s pay-to-play model, but that’s a story for another day.

At the end of this one, it comes down to who Crocker appoints as the next head coach to lead the men’s program. Let’s face it, Stewart might have been pulling the strings, but at the end of the day it was Berhalter doing all the dancing when it came to leading the men’s team in Qatar.

It’s not going to be easy. Can’t have a Berhalter-type high-fiving old buddies that work within the Federation. But you also can’t go to the other end of the spectrum and bring in a complete unknown like Jürgen Klinsmann and completely disrupt the progress that has already been made.

Whether that next coach is international or domestic, I don’t think it matters that much. I mean, my colleagues will tell you that I never hated and still don’t hate the idea of Caleb Porter coming in for an interview. At day’s end, it just needs to be the right person able to keep the momentum going given North America is the center of the soccer universe in three years’ time.

Matt Crocker, time’s yours.

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