Thomas Rongen Contract will not be Renewed as U-20 National Team Coach
Rongen has been lauded for his scouting of talent and ability to convince foreign players that would be eligible to play with the U.S. to join their ranks. But he also has a reputation for not getting his teams up for big games, and after last months failure to qualify for the U-20 World Cup with arguably the most talented team the U.S. has ever assembled, put the nail in his own coffin.
The 2009 team U.S. U-20 team also disappointed. They made it to the U-20 World Cup but exited quickly in the group stage.
Rongen has been with the team since 2001 and even he admitted today that it’s probably the right decision and time for US Soccer to move on.
US Soccer has said that Tab Ramos, who was with the team for the CONCACAF tournament in Guatemala, will coach the team on a trip to France next month. U.S. Soccer emphasized that Ramos had not been named interim coach but was only filling in temporarily since he is familiar with the team.
“US Soccer will not be renewing Thomas Rongen’s contract when it expires at the end of the year,” said Neil Buethe who talked to Yanks Abroad. “Tab Ramos will be leading the team during their trip to France. Tab was selected because he was an assistant with the team during the last cycle and is familiar with the players and the program.”
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So who thinks Caleb Porter might be in the running for this position?
Porter is the first/obvious name that comes to mind.
But I’m not sure will go for it.
He has a great financial situation at Akron and the University has really committed to him and his program.
But we shall see.
What kind of money does US Soccer throw at the U20 coach?
Any idea what Rongen was getting?
Your trying to predict what US Soccer will do… LOL!
Oh the folly of that attempt!
I’ll coach them and then we can win! coaches here are devoid of spirit. It’s hard to be successful if you don’t have a heightened sense of spirituality. I see it time and time again- that’s the reason for the stagnation both in MN and the USMNT. We have the Messi’s, Rooney’s and ronaldo’s but until the dividers leave the sport the true unifiers will be sidelined. LOVE, PEACE and POWERS.
Caleb turned down MLS offers to stay at Akron, and as stated previously, Akron as been incrediby supportive of Coach Porter.
Having said that, I think Caleb would be the excellent choice as a US coach. His eye for talent is amazing.
Also, Porters players, past and present, seem to have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Something that sounds as if it may have been missing the last several years from the U-20 team.
rongen like fernando clavijo seems to have a great eye for unearthing talent
a highly valuable skill
but coaching up that talent is a whole other ball game, and they are not the best in that category