Jamaican coaches on the rise in the US

THE WORRYING fall in the number of Jamaicans playing in Major League Soccer (MLS) is coinciding with a sharp rise of former Reggae Boyz in North America’s coaching ranks, with many cashing in on their game experience while shifting cultural norms in the United States open doors wider for them.

While no ex-Jamaica international has ascended to a permanent head-coaching job in the MLS, the top men’s professional league in the US and Canada, anecdotal evidence shows that dozens are being trusted to guide the development of football talent, especially at the youth level.

Jamaicans, including former internationals, are listed on coaching staffs of grass-roots football academies, semi-professional clubs, and full-fledged pro teams. In addition to their coaching qualifications, they are benefiting from seismic cultural changes, which demand that football administrations aggressively reach out to coaching candidates of colour – commonly called minorities – when hiring.

“The number of Jamaican coaches in the US is growing,” said Tyrone Marshall, former Reggae Boy and current head coach of F.C. Cincinnati II, the developmental arm of MLS club F. C. Cincinnati.

“There are more opportunities available now. The clubs are stressing more diversity … and that’s a policy. Everyone is adopting this policy to interview more minority candidates. It’s levelling out the playing field.”

Now, many former Jamaica internationals, including Marshall, Paul Young, Shavar Thomas, Wolde Harris, Omar Daley, Jermaine Taylor, Donovan Ricketts, Ryan Thompson, Altimont Butler, Lorne Donaldson, Jermaine Hue, Carl Brown, Dane Richards, Desmond Smith, Dean Sewell, Omar Cummings, and Andy Williams, have swapped their competitive playing boots for a whistle, training footballers at multiple levels across the US

The growth spurt in hiring minority football coaches has been more noticeable in the last three years, and Jamaicans fall in that category. Credit a culmination of factors, including US soccer implementing policies similar to the “Rooney Rule” in America’s National Football League (NFL). The rule demands that clubs filling coaching positions interview minority candidates.

COMMITMENT

“There is a commitment from across the organisation to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive league, one that is reflective of who it is that we say we want to be,” MLS Executive Vice-President and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer Sola Winley told media outlet ESPN in December 2021.

Jamaicans are benefiting.

“(The Rooney Rule) is not going to be a negative,” said Donaldson, head coach of the Jamaica women’s national team who runs Real Colorado and has worked over 40 years in the US. “It’s a plus.”

Recent events, like the Black Lives Matter movement, have injected urgency into hiring practices in football – called soccer in the US – where white male coaches dominate the landscape.

“(The need to boost diversity) is more magnified now,” said Marshall, who this season hired Thomas as his assistant. “There’s a bigger spotlight.”

Jamaicans are revelling in it. In August, for example, Young was hired as director of coaching at United Football Academy in Georgia. Hue Menzies, former Jamaica women’s coach, was named interim head coach of NJ/NY Gotham F.C. in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Jamaicans are hired to coach individual private sessions and are also present in US schools, up to college level.

“It’s not difficult to get a coaching job because of your background as long as you have the qualification,” said Young, who like Marshall and others, played at college and professional levels in the US.

Coaching courses offered in Jamaica carry insufficient recognition to secure – by themselves – top jobs in the US. While coaching candidates who played internationally have a distinct advantage, they are still urged to take US-sanctioned courses or risk being marginalised.

“They will hire you,” said Young, who holds a US ‘B’ licence but is in the process of earning the higher ‘A’ badge. “But not with the same pay grade if you had a US licence and you probably would have to start with lower teams.”

According to Donaldson, US football organisations are primarily interested in coaching accomplishments.

“I don’t think they look at where you come from,” he said.

“You have to be qualified … But the opportunities are there (for Jamaicans).”

It is still a long shot for Jamaicans hoping to eventually land a head-coaching job in the MLS or even its second-tier United Soccer Leagues (USL).

Robin Fraser, who played for the US and leads Colorado Rapids, is the only Jamaica-born head coach in MLS. He hired Harris as an assistant.

Marshall, who holds a US ‘Senior A’ licence has had a taste of the top job. He was F.C. Cincinnati’s interim head coach for the final third of the 2021 MLS season. The team lost all matches under his charge, but Marshall gained respect and confidence.

“I didn’t win any games on the pitch, but I won the mindset,” he said.

“I know I can coach at that level and be successful.”

PERSONAL CONDUCT

In addition to coaching qualifications and international playing experience, personal conduct also counts. Marshall swapped his usual sweatsuit for business attire during his interim stint at MLS games on the advice of his wife, Cari.

He wanted to look the part.

“People are watching how you carry yourself,” Marshall said.

Observers noticed Marshall’s positive wardrobe transformation and the team’s attitude under his guidance.

Donaldson estimates that five years ago, there were probably fewer than five Jamaican coaches associated with USL and MLS clubs – generally in assistant roles. He believes that that number may have quadrupled. Membership for a US group advocating for black coaches, which started nearly three decades ago, has “grown from six or seven to about 1,000”, Donaldson said.

There is room for more Jamaicans, especially as former players seek greater challenges and rewards.

“The technology and facilities are more advanced (in the US),” said Young, who won Premier League titles as player and coach in Jamaica. “There are more incentives in terms of compensation.”

While Boyz in MLS 2022 dropped to less than half the number it was at points in the past, Jamaican coaches are moving up.

“Players are making the transition,” said Marshall. “… I can see where the Jamaican coaches can make that leap to the top clubs.”

Gordon Williams writes for MWD Media LLC. You may contact him at mwdmedialink@gmail.com.