U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart and U.S. men’s national team general manager Brian McBride are leaving their positions, the federation announced on Thursday.
Their departures mean that U.S. Soccer now has vacancies at its three most important roles relating to the men’s team: sporting director, GM and head coach. Anthony Hudson is currently coaching the USMNT on an interim basis while the federation conducts its search for a full-time manager. Gregg Berhalter led the Americans to the round of 16 at the recently-completed World Cup, but his contract expired at the end of 2022.
U.S. Soccer hired an outside law firm in December to conduct an investigation into an incident in which Berhalter kicked his now-wife Rosalind while the two were dating in 1991. That investigation, which was prompted by the mother of USMNT attacker Gio Reyna telling Stewart about the incident, remains ongoing.
The federation said in its statement that the departures of Stewart and McBride had nothing to do with the investigation. U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone reiterated that stance in a conference call with reporters on Thursday morning. She added that Berhalter remains a candidate for the head coaching job. That decision, though, likely won’t be made until after the hire of a…
