Paul Caligiuri has kept a low profile through much of this election. He has a Twitter account but uses his tweets economically for things like his Open Letters, including one on NWSL representation.
My second Open Letter to USSF. This concerns the potential unequal voting structure in the upcoming election which… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…—
Paul Caligiuri (@PaulCaligiuri20) December 30, 2017
But with a month to go, Caligiuri is stepping forward. He has launched a site with a platform that lists some of the same ideas as other candidates (with eight candidates and general consensus that we need better coaching education and lower costs, it’s hard to avoid overlap) but also some of his unique ideas, such as using high school coaches as additional scouts.
I followed up with a couple of his ideas by email. Here’s the exchange, unedited (he has some idiosyncratic punctuation and capitalization, but I felt he was doing so to emphasize certain points, so I didn’t want to assume I knew what he was intending):
You mention a new curriculum. How would this differ or improve upon the curriculum Claudio Reyna unveiled in 2011? (I never saw much implementation of that curriculum.)
A new curriculum would include new methods. i.e.Implementing a standard Pass and Receive program the moment a player joins soccer. Imagine what a player can do provided he or she is given the proper tools from the beginning. Far too often, a youth player has played 2-3 years, yes years of soccer and still cannot receive or pass the ball properly. If a player can effectively receive and pass a ball, they will begin to explore and do more on the ball. I believe that one implementation alone will help a youth player become more creative.
Standards for Scouting – Training and resources, etc… Working together and utilizing All of our resources.
You mention making men’s and women’s national team salaries equal. As it stands now, Women’s national team players are on salary, while the men’s national team only receives bonuses. Would you put a group of men on salary? Or take away the women’s salaries in favor of higher bonuses?
Firstly, I founded the United States National Team Players – I have a lot of experience in the area. From my recent talks with both the MNT and WNT the issues will be easy to fix, but only by someone that has the right mentality and sensibility to their issues and concerns. There in no other candidate has my talent in this area. It is not about negotiating billion dollar deals or sitting across a corporation in negotiation, these are our players, the product of US Soccer. I have been there, done that and relate to All their concerns and am 100% confident that everyone will be satisfied and our NT’s will be the best we have ever seen. This will never be a distraction again to our players. Period.
x x x
Also, he mentioned that he will be unveiling a full-fledged plan at the USC convention next week.
Caligiuri and the other three candidates who have not yet been on the podcast (Kathy Carter, Carlos Cordeiro and Hope Solo) are still invited to join me, but with time growing short, I would expect to do more email interviews. I might get a podcast out this week, but I don’t expect to be back on a regular schedule until after the Olympics.
Ranting Soccer Dad 