September 1, 2012
NO RUSH
Gulati: U.S. Soccer to name committee to search for Sundhage's successor in a few days

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- With the next major women's tournament some three years ago, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said there was no rush to name a successor to Pia Sundhage.

Sundhage on Saturday announced she was stepping down as U.S. women's coach. Later in the day, the Swedish Football Association announced that Sundhage was hired as its new women's coach.

Gulati figured there will be plenty of candidates.

“I’m sure there are a lot of names out there," he said. "We will set up a search committee like we did last time and we’ll announce that in the next couple of days. Then we’ll start the process pretty quickly. We have the luxury of games coming up that aren’t qualifying games. She’ll [Sundhage] be with us for some of those. She’s got a great staff around her. There’s not a short-term time constraint.”

The next major tournament is not until 2015, when Canada will host the Women's World Cup. The next Olympic soccer tournament is set for Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Asked what the next coach must do to maintain the Americans' prominence, Gulati replied, “It’s all of the above. Pia is very much focused on this team, she wasn’t as much involved with our youth teams and wasn’t overseeing that part of the technical director role. That’s what April Heinrichs is doing. We want someone that can get the most out of this group and develop the next group and make sure the U.S. team is at medal ceremonies throughout and be on the top tier.”