Tuesday, September 18, 2007

TAMPA, FL – With 54 current and former W-League players in China playing in the Women’s World Cup, it’s easy to get caught up the excitement and drama on the pitch and overlook the sidelines. But behind those talented players are coaches with USL ties that have helped guide them to the world’s premier women’s sports event. For the US, the trio of Greg Ryan, Bret Hall and Marci Miller-Jobson have a unique connection.

United States Head Coach Greg Ryan has a tremendous background as a player and coach, having begun his playing career in the NASL and finding success as a collegiate coach as well. A little known stop on his career, however, came with the Charlotte Eagles in 1993 for the former defender.

“I remember him as being very competitive, hard working, and a knowledgeable player,” said former Eagles teammate Lee Horton, the head coach of the W-League Charlotte Lady Eagles since their inception. “His leadership and organizational skills on and off the field were excellent. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he is having such wonderful success as our Women’s National Team Head Coach.”

Already having ‘retired’ in 1985 with an North American Soccer League (NASL) championship and having already found success as a coach for the University of Wisconsin with a runners-up finish to North Carolina and a National Women’s Coach of the Year award in 1991, Ryan laced ‘em up one more time.

The return to the pitch at the age of 36 (bio and head shot to the right) was not easy as the expansion team would go 5-11, but he helped lay a foundation for a club that has gone on to reach six finals and win two championships. The club would also go on to develop in 2000 the Lady Eagles, who have reached three finals and won a championship. 

“Greg was a leader both on and off the field that year for our team," said Brian Davidson, the founder and first head coach the Eagles. "He was a very intelligent defender with a wealth of experience and was a tremendous mentor for our less experienced players.”

"It was a tough first year for the team on the field - our only losing year as a USL-2 franchise - as the organizational demands, funding needs and ministry priorities for the Eagles were overwhelming."

"Greg mentioned a couple of times how he wished he was a few years younger so he could have contributed even more to the team on the field. The truth of the matter, however, is that Greg did a terrific job for us and if anything, we let him down as an organization by not focusing enough of our attention to the on-field priorities."

"Moreover, in looking back to that first year in 1993, as we both realized his playing days were coming to a close, a prudent move for us would have been to hire him as our coach for our second season - sorry we missed that opportunity!"

"We are so grateful to Greg for his contribution to helping us launch our team in ’93, and for his putting up with us through the trials and tribulations of launching the professional soccer side of our organization. We wish him, Bret Hall - who traveled with me to Africa in the early 80’s - and the whole US Women’s National Team all the best in the World Cup this year," said Davidson.

Under Ryan, the US has gone 37-0-8 through Tuesday’s conclusion of group play and has given up just 20 goals in those 45 games, an average of .44 goals per game.

One of Ryan’s NASL Chicago Sting teammates when they won the 1981 Soccer Bowl championship was Bret Hall, his current assistant coach for the US Women and a member of the United Soccer Leagues Hall of Fame as a coach. He was inducted in 2004 and is one of six coaches along with Bob Gansler, Bill Palladino, Pat Ercoli, Buzz Lagos and Dennis Viollet.

Hall is the only head coach in USL outdoor history to win three consecutive USL championships, leading the Chicago Stingers to the 1998 USL Second Division championship and the team’s successor, the Chicago Sockers, to two straight Premier Development League titles in 1999 and 2000. He was also the initial coach of the Chicago Fire Premier when the team replaced the Sockers in 2001.

Through five seasons, Hall had a regular season mark of 67-21-2, a postseason record of 14-2 and a US Open Cup record of 3-2-1 that included fantastic performances in 1998 and 2000. The Sockers made headlines in 2000 as they and the Michigan Bucks were the first two PDL teams to advance past MLS clubs in the Open Cup with Chicago advancing in penalties after a 1-1 draw with Kansas City. They narrowly fell, 1-0, to eventual champion Chicago in the following round.

Hall’s teams were renowned for their defense, never finishing worse than second in goals allowed and giving up just five goals in 15 playoff games over the first four years, including a perfect shutout run in 2000.

“Bret is and always has been one of the best defensive coaches I have ever met,” said Bucks owner Dan Duggan, whose team was a regular rival of Chicago. “His ability to design a system that is effective and complements the strengths of his players is one of the reasons he has had success at every age group and level that he has coached.”

“In speaking with some of the current US players, the defenders are quick to point out that Bret’s toughness as a player is the foundation for what he expects on the field,” added Duggan, who was inducted into the USL Hall of Fame as a Builder in 2005. “He works the team hard and the results are that our US women are one of the best defensive teams in the world. Anyone who has had the pleasure to work with Bret, or the misfortune of playing against him, understands why he continues to have success at the highest level.”

The relationship and ties virtually have come full circle for Ryan and Hall since playing together in the NASL. Hall also helped launch the Chicago Cobras W-League team in 1996. US midfielder Marci Miller-Jobson was a member of the Cobras from 1996-2000, winning the Scoring and Goal Scoring Championship in 1996 and helping guide the team to three finals and the championship in 2000. She played for the Lady Eagles in 2004 and earned her first cap with the national team the following year after Ryan took the post.

"Marci did play for me on our Lady Eagles team and was a very similar impact for us as Greg was for the men’s team," said Horton. "She was hard-nosed and committed to the game, and a great leader also. I know she has close ties to Bret Hall, who has helped Greg a lot. We were all fortunate around here to have each of those individuals be a part of our organization, even if only for a short while."

The third member of the US staff is goalkeeper coach Mark Dougherty, a veteran of USL and Major League Soccer. Dougherty was an All-League goalkeeper for the 1991 USL First Division (then APSL) champion San Francisco Bay All Blacks, where he played from 1988-93. He made two saves in the penalty kick shootout for the title. He then played for the North Bay Breakers as a player-coach in 1994 and helped lead the Hawaii Tsunami to an 18-2 record as player-coach in 1995 before moving onto MLS, where he played with Tampa Bay and Columbus before retiring after the 2001 season. He was a member of the US Men’s National Team from 1990-2002.

Beyond the handful of club’s who have men’s and women’s programs, the history of the three US coaches uniquely unites all of USL’s senior leagues, as well as MLS and the NASL, directly with the W-League through the US Women’s National Team in a way that has never previously existed.

North of the Border

With the Canadian team completely comprised of current and former W-League players, it should come as no surprise that one of the assistants on the coaching staff is also from the W-League. Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Bob Birarda has helped guide the Canadian side to their fourth consecutive World Cup.

In his two years as head coach of the Whitecaps, Birarda has led the team to a record of 19-3-4, going unbeaten (13-0-1) to capture the 2006 W-League Championship in his first season.

In the Studio

USL alumni also highlight the ESPN broadcast studio for the Women’s World Cup with former US international and 2006 USL Hall of Fame inductee Julie Foudy and injured US international Heather Mitts, who helped lead the Central Florida Krush to the 2005 W-League Final Four.

A leader on the pitch and a prominent figure off the field in women’s sports, Foudy was an original member of the Sacramento Storm when the W-League officially launched 13 years ago in 1995. She was recently inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame along with Mia Hamm, Alan Rothenberg and Bobby Smith.

Mitts, who had previously played for the Tampa Bay Extreme in 2000, split her time in 2005 between the US National Team and Central Florida, seeing limited regular season games for the Krush.