U.S. Women's National Team Names Tom Sermanni Head Coach

The United States Women’s National Team has hired Tom Sermanni to replace Pia Sundhage as head coach. 

U.S. soccer president Sunil Gulati made the following announcement, via USSoccer.com. 

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After an extensive search and interview process, we believe Tom Sermanni is the right person at the right time to lead our Women’s National Team. He has the knowledge, experience and vision to take on the challenge of keeping our team at the top of the world. He has a tremendous passion for the game, knows the American players, understands our system and knows the process of preparing a team for a World Cup tournament. 

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Sundhage was extremely popular during her tenure, leading the team to consecutive gold medals and a second-place finish in the 2011 World Cup. She left the team to return to her native Sweden and coach the country’s women’s national team.

Sermanni will certainly have high expectations to live up to as he enters the job and the 58-year-old Scot has an impressive résumé.

Before accepting the position with the USWNT, he was in his second stint with the Australian Women’s National Team. After returning to the team in 2004, he lead the Matildas to successive World Cups and took to the team to the quarterfinals both times.

The USSoccer.com report notes that development director Jill Ellis will coach the U.S. women from now until New Year’s Day, when Sermanni will officially take over.

While the standard for success was set remarkably high but Sundhage, he has a superb track record in women's international soccer and a tremendous amount of talent to work with.