Coach's Corner: Bobby Clark

After head coaching stops at Dartmouth, Stanford and with the New Zealand National Team, Bobby Clark has now brought Notre Dame to national soccer prominence. Entering his sixth season in South Bend, Clark has led the Irish to a Big East tournament title (2003), the school's first-ever Big East regular season title (2004) and five straight appearances in the NCAA tournament. Last season, the Irish knocked off defending champion Indiana in the NCAAs to advance to the round of 16.

In 1998, Clark led Stanford to the NCAA Finals and, prior to that, he was named NSCAA Region One Coach of the Year twice (1990 and '92) while at Dartmouth. Before coaching, Clark made over 800 first-team appearances in the Scottish League and was named one of Aberdeen's 25 greatest players of all time in 2002. Having played in three World Cups for Scotland (on the 1970 and '74 teams as well as the '78 team that went to the finals), Clark had plenty of sound insight concerning this past World Cup and the state of U.S. Soccer:


As a coach, what would you have done differently with the U.S. team? Would you have stuck with the 4-5-1?

First of all, I do not like playing the Monday morning quarterback to another coach, especially one as talented as Bruce Arena. Bruce has done a fabulous job at college, MLS and at the international level. I think any system can work but it has to work on the day and in Germany the U.S. struggled a little bit on two of the days. They were not bad but were in a tough group and got some tough reverses at critical times in these games. We are not far away and on another day could well have triumphed.

Now that Bruce Arena has been let go, how would you rate his job performance over the past eight years? Do you have any ideas as to who would be a good successor to Arena?

Bruce has done a wonderful job. Let's face it, he took the country to an all-time high of #4 in the FIFA rankings. I know rankings are sometimes a dubious measuring stick, but being a regular top-10 team is very impressive. To follow Bruce will not be an easy task as I rate him very highly but I possibly would try to persuade Klinsmann as he has great credibility both home and abroad and has the status and the soccer knowledge to carry on the tremendous growth that has recently taken place.

Is there anything you took out of the World Cup that you think people aren't talking about? Was there anything that surprised or disappointed you?

The first thing is how many teams now play zone defense. I remember back in my Dartmouth days, we were possibly the only team, with the exception of Santa Clara, that used zonal defense. In the 1994 World Cup it was exactly 50%. It has been very interesting to see how the deep sweeper has almost completely disappeared. The biggest boost for me from World Cup '06 was the coverage in this country. I can recall searching all over Hanover, NH for places to view the games in 1986. This time it was great. Okay, we didn't always agree with the panel of experts, but it was great to have them drum up controversy and have non- soccer people being exposed to this
wonderful tournament.

In the wake of the World Cup, Mike Russo (see "Coach's Corner" from July 10) said he thinks the goals should be made bigger and the offsides rule should be changed to help the attacker so that there would be more goals. Do you agree with that? Does it matter to you if games are low scoring?

I remember that the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Association), in the course of one season, experimented with the size of the goals. I am sure Mike Russo will remember this and if my memory serves me correctly, there was no significant increase in goals scored. Personally, low scoring does not bother me as long as both teams are competing and trying to score. A low-scoring game can be very entertaining provided there are plenty of near things at both ends and the game stays close. The most exciting thing in any spectator sport is that the result is in doubt right up to the end. The offside laws are tough. I am not sure what the answer is and I am amazed how often the assistant referees get it right. Again, I have experienced as a player playing with an offiside line based on the 18 yard line and also on a line drawn 35 yards from goal. I did not enjoy either as it made teams sit back and took away the ability to press high up the field and, in turn, offered less space for a through ball to be played into.

You've been coaching at the college level for years. Have you seen a marked improvement in the level of play over those years? Do you think the college game is preparing American players for high levels of international play?

There is no question that college soccer has greatly improved over the years. It is not just college soccer but the game in general. Let's face it, the college game simply reflects what is being done at the youth level. There is no question that college soccer offers youngsters a fabulous opportunity to both prepare for the highest level of soccer while also getting a college education. Two of my former Stanford players are currently playing in the EPL. Ryan Nelsen with Blackburn Rovers and Simon Elliott with Fulham. I am confident that both would claim that college soccer helped them rather than hinderd them. If you further note that Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra (both Fulham), David Weir (Everton), Brad Fiedl (Blackburn), Claudio Reyna (Man City) and Shaka Hislop (Howard) spring quickly to mind as others who attended college in the US and are now playing in the EPL. Add that a large proportion of the US squad in Germany attended college shows that we are producing excellent players. I think it is a fabulous system that most of us do not appreciate. Please take this from someone who was brought up and raised on the other side of the Pond! How long will it be before Clint Dempsey, a Furman product, is joining the previously mentioned group?

Can you find enough good American high school players or do you find yourself still looking overseas for good recruits?

I rarely recruit foreign players. At Notre Dame we are able to attract the best players in America, so why would I go abroad. The only time I recruited abroad was when I returned from New Zealand where I had been the head coach for the full national team, the Olympic team, the U-20s and the U-17s. At that time I knew every kid in New Zealand and had been out of the U.S. loop, so it made sense that I looked at Kiwi players.

How do you feel about MLS? Do you think American players can improve their game by staying in MLS or do you agree with those who say that the top Americans need to play overseas?

The MLS is a very solid league. Just ask Scottish Champions, Glasgow Celtic after losing 4-0 against D.C. United. It is not the EPL or Serie A, but it is a solid league and it is a great place to produce and develop young players. I think our teams play with a nice blend of skill and athleticism. It is certainly getting there and I can only hope that we support it. We have several excellent players here at Notre Dame who have the potential to play overseas. I feel that the MLS is an excellent league in which these players can find their feet and then go abroad. At the moment it allows us to develop our own players. If it disappeared we would have no medium to do this. There would be a vacuum and we would have to hope that other countries would take on this role, and I doubt if any other countries would be overly worried about developing our players. It is essential for the health and development of the game that the MLS flourishes and develops.