BuzzerBeater Forums

1. Being the head scout, you will have to work closely with me (or fire me, remove me, whatever!) as well as the rest of the staff/USA U21 community. While not being explicitly stated, many managers want to be involved in the decision making when it comes to tactics and rostering even if the Head Coach does not agree. How do you plan on dealing with these expectations?

@JK - This is the bit I disagreed with in your previous statement. The winner is not compelled to 'work closely' with anyone. 'Head Scout' is not an official position, nor are any previous 'staff' appointments. These decisions are the sole discretion of the elected coach. Ideally, they would post it on the official page. If they chose not to it wouldn't be major.

Additionally, I took issue with these 'many managers' mentioned in your post. Specifically addressing their upfront 'wants' for control over core coaching decisions appear entiltled at best, grossly overreaching at worst.

Not every opinion has equal weight. Micro-management and over democratization of the NT's hasn't yielded great results. That's stating it politely, perhaps even to a fault.

Last edited by Mixx at 10/25/2018 03:41:41

I am ban because of JKal.

Greetings all,

firstly I would just like to say how impressed I am at this field of U21 candidates. I'm almost at disbelief that this is the field of candidates for the U21 NT, and not the senior NT. There are many competent managers here worthy of leading the U21 team to success (especially including the accomplished frenchmen and the NBBA veteran, to point out a few).

However, I am here to endorse one manager in particular that I strongly support for the U21 manager position: Khenry. Now, these past few seasons I have tried my best to stay as inconspicuous as possible, hiding in the shadows and lurking from afar -- helping with training and tactic advice here and there. In recent months I have been more active on the USA Discord channel and more engaged in both U21 and NT discussion. On Discord, behind the scenes, I noticed Khenry was very active in the USA U21 discussion (even as Nippon U21 manager). He even messaged me directly to brainstorm ideas and explore different methods that challenged conventional U21 ways of thinking. We shared the same ideologies in regards to favoring high TSP players and how to better utilize such players in unique lineups and tactical decisions. I respected his ambition for the Nippon U21 team and his competitive drive to explore any option necessary to succeed.

Anyways, as a manager currently training multi-skilled U21 players (forwards), I would like to know that my players are being utilized as best as possible and that the U21 team has the best chance at success and I believe strongly that Khenry is the right man for the job. He has the drive. He has the ambitions. And I know he will explore every option necessary.

Best of luck to all candidates,
A-Dub

1. You're fired on day 1! Just kidding jk ;) The pipeline and scouting database are all there. Between yourself and tough and all the other folks keeping it going from manager to manager, that is the most consistent part of the U21. To the point of roster decisions and tactics, it would be unwise to make those decisions without input(although the manager would be within their right to do so), and even gpolin said he would be bringing along his own staff for such things. Ultimately, it comes down to taking the information from all interested parties and the manager making the final decision. We already know there are going to be game threads and discussions, what we're voting on is who is going to make those final decisions and hit submit.

2. I believe until someone is the manager of a U21/NT, they can't fathom how much is available and how much goes into the database work. Although Nippon is a smaller country, they had no database or scouting pipeline and I built that over my tenure and used it for a couple successful terms(relatively speaking since Taiwan kicked out ass, but we did beat China!). I understand those responsibilities for our database being bigger, but luckily we have a system in place already for the next manager to jump in with.

3. I let the fine folks at the local Egg & I make my omelets for me.

I've said before and I'll say it again, the manager is the one that has to make the ultimate final decisions and hit submit.

I agree that where any of us would seek counsel is less of a priority(gpolin has his staff and discord, the competent USA managers have discord, offsite, BB-Mail that have all been utilized in the past). It is taking this information and being confident in the choices made because at the end of the day, tactics and roster aren't a poll and majority wins. We're voting for someone to make those decisions themselves because they're the one ultimately elected for the task.

Even in my time with Nippon U21, there were a couple of instances that I reached out to managers like A-Dub and EPK along with others. I took their advice on what I had available, but I never used what they suggested 100% because I had ideas that I wanted to execute while utilizing their advice. I would take that same approach to managing the USA U21.

I agree this field of candidates is one that we can all be proud of. And I appreciate the kind words, mate.