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Why is it important to have the "underdog" mentality and tactical base for USA in this term do you think?

We don't have the horses right now to show up and LI/M2M every opponent and beat them down. Can we run through Americas for the most part? Hell yes. But what matters to us all is getting to Worlds and playing in that Final for Gold. It takes going outside the box with tactics at times. As Americans, we're always going to look at ourselves as favorites. Admittedly, during Nick's term, we knew we were underdogs but fell apart in the final group at Worlds after having to burn enthusiasm in the Repe to get a couple wins over teams that made the consolation Semifinal and Final. As the Nippon U21 manager, I played teams I was far superior to just like the USA is a lot of the time, but I also faced the likes of Australia, Taiwain, and China where I was very much outmatched. Also almost beat Poland in the round robin of the Consolation tournament and they won the dang thing to get HCA for Euros.

Saying I've been absent for a long time is a gross misrepresentation of the facts. As the manager of another U21, my focus was there but I did jump in at times during Nick's term for both Americas and early this past season. My absence about halfway through has been discussed, but that does not qualify as "for a long time".

I chose to return when we hit a time of year that allowed me more time. That happened to be a few days before elections so I found it opportune to change from another term in Japan to giving this a shot. Can't stress this part enough: I acknowledge that things could have been done differently when I focussed on life and I could have made a better attempt at responding to your BB-Mail or posting in the Discord before deleting the app from my phone to keep from checking it. I can't change that, but I can assure you that I'm around with time to spare for this entire term.

Time commitment. How will all the candidates fare with time committed to the U21 for the next 6 months? Khenry I know you’ve answered for the next couple months what about for the Worlds season?

Our busy time of the year is high school football from late August to basically this week since most of the teams we cover get knocked out in the first round and we don't need as many broadcasters for each week. This was my first year they needed me on the broadcast team so the time it took snuck up on me more than I would have liked. This term will run approximately to April-ish and that's perfectly in my slower time of the year. If this were the spring to fall term, then with my knowledge of my time constraints for football I doubt I would be running. This term has my full commitment with no extra work schedules to pull me from managing the USA U21.

I’m not going to stop you because I’ve admitted more should have been done from myself. I dropped the ball this past season, plain and simple. No way around it. What I’m saying is look at the body of work in my time since season 22/23 whenever I started my first team. I can honestly say that without a doubt nothing is going to pull me from my responsibilities as USA U21 manager.

Trust is like toothpaste in a tube, easy to lose and harder to put back. I get that. I’ve increased my communication exponentially in order to show that I’m back and 100% committed to that task at hand. I understand that I’ve lost your, and a few others’ trust, confidence, and ultimately your votes. Again, you’ve not said a single falsehood other than misrepresenting my absence in one post that has been addressed.

I’m here and ready to take USA U21 in the right direction during my term.

A couple of things here.

First, the discord is something seperate from the u21 to me, so lets leave that out even if you are frustrated with someone over actions there (Heck, i just outright left the discord and didn't renew my utopia because i was so annoyed with it, but outside of this comment you haven't seen me go nuclear on anything there).

Second, i have a few questions that might have been asked, but because this threads been spammed to death by people disagreeing with one another i don' feel like looking to see if it has been discussed yet, so feel free to just tell me if it's been answered

1) The US u21 prospects will fall to a variety of managers as many of you whom have filled the role of scout or u21 manager have done in the past. This isn't something that is very fixable, it is just something that has to be managable in my view as a former u21 manager. What approach do you take as the u21 manager, and what approach do you delegate to scouts, when it comes to multiple different types of owners? I won't qualify a response for my vote if you answer with something about how you are going to get those owners to commit more to your strategy by being more active. And yes, i am voting and have not yet decided.

2) The US u21 team in general is typically somewhere between 3rd and 5th best in terms of total primary ratings it can achieve compared to the rest of the worlds group. 3rd falls in line with the population for the US in comparison to other countries, and 5th falls in line with probably where we stand in terms of having interest in our national team. Therefore, the minimum expectations is that a semi's birth occurs from the u21 efforts each season (whether or not it is fair for that given season). What measure do the u21 managers have in place for improving the performance we had last season to the point where we can get that result at minimum again.

3) Do you believe in primary-oriented players or do you believe in secondaries? I don't plan on deciding on voting based on the response to this, just kinda wanted a feel for what the tipping point was mentally.

Good luck to those involved. I may eventually give it another go (discord/u21), but don't feel like it's the right time or i can be dedicated enough to it as was evidenced by the end of my HoF scouting work.

Last edited by FurY at 10/26/2018 1:54:35 PM

1) The US u21 prospects will fall to a variety of managers as many of you whom have filled the role of scout or u21 manager have done in the past. This isn't something that is very fixable, it is just something that has to be managable in my view as a former u21 manager. What approach do you take as the u21 manager, and what approach do you delegate to scouts, when it comes to multiple different types of owners? I won't qualify a response for my vote if you answer with something about how you are going to get those owners to commit more to your strategy by being more active. And yes, i am voting and have not yet decided.

Many prospects are best suited to following a fairly straightforward and established routine of training in order to maximize their chances of being useful to the U21 squad. For these cases, I would rely on the group of U21 scouts to provide an outline for those who need it and to return with the results of their communication with these managers. If there are managers with unusual ideas or prospects that require specialized builds to have a chance at success, I will do my best to offer my honest advice on a case-by-case basis. The same goes for any particularly promising prospects.

I do not expect to be able to make anybody follow advice or training plans. I will give suggestions for targets, as well as plans for reaching them. If a manager decides to go a different way, I will work with them as best I can to see if we can come up with something that works both them and the team. If not, I'll wish them the best, make myself available for future advice, and move on to focus more compatible prospects.

2) The US u21 team in general is typically somewhere between 3rd and 5th best in terms of total primary ratings it can achieve compared to the rest of the worlds group. 3rd falls in line with the population for the US in comparison to other countries, and 5th falls in line with probably where we stand in terms of having interest in our national team. Therefore, the minimum expectations is that a semi's birth occurs from the u21 efforts each season (whether or not it is fair for that given season). What measure do the u21 managers have in place for improving the performance we had last season to the point where we can get that result at minimum again.

I understand the expectation that the team should be competitive each season and will do my best to evaluate the specific strengths and weaknesses of each talent pool on it's own merits in order to come up with the best suited strategy as we go. Given the sometimes...mercurial nature of GS management and injuries in this game, I expect that there will be a fair number of wrenches thrown into the works throughout any season, and I believe that I am good at adapting to available resources on the fly. I'll plan for a best case scenario, while trying to have a viable backup plan in mind each week.

3) Do you believe in primary-oriented players or do you believe in secondaries? I don't plan on deciding on voting based on the response to this, just kinda wanted a feel for what the tipping point was mentally.

I think that it's pretty much always true that more secondaries is always preferable, but I can't remember ever seeing a talent pool that had the luxury of ignoring primary-oriented players on a regular basis. Given the limited amount of time available to train U21 players, there's only so much secondary training you can do without leaving primaries below a usable level. So, assuming similar primary levels, I'd certainly give preference to the player with better secondaries, but I don't expect to have the luxury of extreme pickiness.

1. We have a variety of very knowledgeable scouts and folks involved with the U21 that are spending each season training for the team. U21 manager gives the blueprint for how he wants the team, specifically with the 21s or even 20s on the team. But for 18s and 19s that’s the pipeline and why we have a talented staff and scouts and a head scout. The biggest thing we can do is educate managers on the benefits of training and what are the best practices and plans for it that we’ve learned. This not only makes our team better, but creates a stronger domestic base as a whole.

2. The expectations are simply part of the job for USA managers. We need to first make sure we make the finals in Americas to avoid the Repe and set ourselves up a little easier for Worlds. Then the task is simply navigating the field and managing GS(hopefully folks have a Sports Psycologist). Easier said than done, but our pipeline is still working at a high rate and I have no doubt the next manager will have all the tools in place to make a run at Gold.

3. Nobody is ever going to be against secondaries, but at the end of the day you only have so much time to train for the U21. If the difference on a big is 1 less ID but 5 more OD, then the secondary defense plays in his favor, but like I said if there’s no option but having a donkey then that’s what it is. Secondaries can absolutely come into play when deciding between a couple players though.

Good luck in Canada!