Wolff Among Berhalter's Assistants as USMNT Fills Out Technical Staff
As the U.S. men's national team continues its work during Gregg Berhalter's first training camp as manager, his staff has officially been formalized.
Former MLS and national team forward Josh Wolff has been named as one of Berhalter's assistant coaches, along with strategy analyst and assistant coach B.J. Callaghan, head performance expert Steve Tashjian and movement and conditioning coach Darcy Norman. Berhalter is also expected to add another assistant in Nico Estevez, contingent upon the approval of the Spanish national's U.S. work permit. U.S. Soccer did not announce a permanent goalkeeping coach, though Oregon State head coach Terry Boss is serving that role in January camp.
Wolff, Estevez and Tashjian all served in the same roles under Berhalter with the Columbus Crew, while Callaghan was previously an assistant with the Philadelphia Union and Norman was most recently performance data analyst and fitness rehab coach with the Germany men's national team after stints with Roma and Bayern Munich. Estevez, meanwhile, previously coached at Valencia and holds a UEFA Pro License–the highest coaching certification attainable in Europe.
“In putting together the staff, we looked for coaches with considerable backgrounds in four different areas: World Cups, Concacaf, MLS and Europe,” Berhalter said in a statement. “This group checks those boxes, and we are confident their wealth of experiences will be beneficial to the players and for the development of our program.”
Wolff and Berhalter go way back, to their days as teammates with both the national team and 1860 Munich in Germany. Wolff also enjoyed a guest stint as an assistant under Berhalter's predecessor, Dave Sarachan, prior to the new coaching hire.
The full staff will have its first set of tests in the next couple of weeks, with the U.S. hosting Panama and Costa Rica to conclude its winter camp.
