Dave Sarachan, the fall guy USSF didn’t deserve

Dave Sarachan’s stint as USMNT interim manager helped to mask the USSF’s overall incompetence.

The signs were there from the beginning. Following the USMNT’s disastrous failure to qualify for the World Cup in a group tailored for American participation on soccer’s bigger stage, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the body in charge of U.S. Soccer, failed to change course. There was no plan B. Sunil Gulati, the man in charge at the time, refused to rip the band-aid off and preferred the convenient hire of Bruce Arena’s top assistant, Dave Sarachan.

With his coaching resume highlighted by a lackluster tenure in charge of the Chicago Fire, Sarachan was largely seen as a quick patch at a time of disarray while the more grandiose plans to change course were to be set in motion.

It wasn’t until June 28, eight months later, when the USSF extended Sarachan’s contract through the end of 2018,  that eyebrows were raised and all signs started pointing to the fact the USSF had no clear plan of action. Eight months after Gulati looked down the bench and picked the first adult in the room as the interim coach, the botch-job was well underway.

While the name of the next man to lead the USMNT was still a mystery, it was quite clear at this point who would not be the next permanent manager. Yet Sarachan, the man who fell upward into the job, signed on to continue to carry the water for the USSF and entered the lame-duck period of his longer-than-expected interim role.

To Sarachan’s credit (and we won’t know how much influence other parties within the USSF exerted on this) his team selection signaled a move in the right direction: Out with the old, in with the promising new young talents that give U.S. fans hope. Weston McKinnie, Tyler Adams, Timothy Weah, Matt Miazga and, of course, Christian Pulisic were given prominent roles as the leaders of the new generation that would bring U.S. men’s soccer back from the abyss.

A slew of promising youngsters made their debut with varying degrees of success against top international opposition. Sarachan’s system was somewhat conservative, the mark of a man whose main purpose seemed to be to avoid ruffling any feathers, yet adequate enough given the player pool, with a 4-4-2 midfield diamond or a 4-2-3-1, depending on injuries and player form.

It was at some point in the early fall, following a win over eternal rival Mexico, that it all started to unravel. Sarachan’s stock was at an all-time high at the time. It was now or never for the former Cornell Big Red head coach. However, there were other names rumored for the job, and it was clear that no matter what Sarachan managed to accomplish in the friendly games he would be passed over.

It may be no coincidence that in the last set of friendlies, losses to England and Italy, the U.S. team started to lack their usual grit. You have to think this supposedly temporary state of transition has taken its toll on player morale as well.

Regardless, as the permanent coaching search wore on, Sarachan became the fall guy the USSF didn’t deserve. A loyal servant, in a job that was never meant for him, doing the bidding of an organization without a plan. Sarachan could have stepped down, and would have been within his rights to step down given the difficult position he had been placed in, but chose to become the lame-duck company man in a position set up for failure.

Following a successful transition period immediately after the failure to qualify for the World Cup, Sarachan had a chance to expose the USSF’s lack of a plan. Instead he trudged on, arguably stunting the growth of the program by allowing a state of confusion to settle and making the temporary feel permanent.

While Sarachan’s intentions may have been laudable, his decision to stay on helped mask the incompetence at the highest levels of the USSF.