One of the biggest decisions in football history – the hiring of the men’s national team coach ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will be played primarily in the US – was thrown into chaos by the most basic problems in football: angry parents.
Gregg Berhalter’s bizarre speech at a leadership conference about how the team handled an unhappy player during the recent World Cup, later identified as Gio Reyna, erupted into a rift between two of the country’s most prominent football families, one independent investigation into Berhalter’s behavior while in college, potential blackmail or harassment by other United States Soccer Federation personnel, and an apparent delay in determining the next USMNT manager.
“Obviously, this is not a positive time for soccer in this country and for our men’s national team,” USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone said during a conference call on Wednesday. “It’s a difficult time for the families involved, and I hope we can find a resolution to this quickly and move forward with our men’s team, as well as American football in general.”
Berhalter led the USA to the Round of 16 in Qatar, where they were defeated by the Netherlands in a 3–1 loss.
Yukihito Taguchi/USA TODAY Sports
“Quickly” may already be out of the question. Berhalter, whose contract expired on Dec. 31, will not be involved when a yet-to-be-named MLS side take on Serbia and Colombia in friendlies later this month. Assistant Anthony Hudson will be in charge. This scenario has always been on the table. Stewart planned to conduct a comprehensive overhaul of the men’s program following the World Cup, which ended in a Round of 16 loss to the Netherlands. The review would help guide the decision and approach to coaching over the next three years. This process was not expected to be completed by the end of the year, but recent events and revelations have raised significantly more questions and uncertainties.
Angered by Berhalter’s comments, which surfaced on Dec. 11, and then subsequent social media chatter about her son, Reyna’s mother Danielle – a former USWNT player, wife of the Nationals midfielder Soccer Hall of Famer Claudio Reyna and college roommate of Berhalter’s wife, Rosalind – spoke to USSF sporting director Earnie Stewart about a 1991 argument between Gregg and Rosalind, during which the future coach kicked his future wife. The pair, then freshmen at North Carolina, soon reconciled and now have four children.
“I wanted to leave [Stewart] please know that I was absolutely outraged and devastated that Gio was placed in such a terrible position and that I felt personally betrayed by the actions of someone my family has considered a friend for decades,” Danielle said in a statement on Wednesday. “I thought our conversation would remain confidential and it didn’t occur to me at the time that anything I said might lead to an investigation.”
But happened. Operating in a complex climate and under deserved scrutiny due to missteps regarding the protection (or lack thereof) and treatment of athletes who have faced harassment while playing in the NWSL, US Soccer has engaged a law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the conduct of Berhalter in 1991. Gregg and Rosalind Berhalter acknowledged the incident in a lengthy statement on Tuesday, but made no reference to the Reynas, saying only that someone was trying to “leverage something very personal from a long time ago to bring about the end of [Gregg’s] relationship with US Soccer”.
Speaking Wednesday, USSF CEO JT Batson explained: “We received notification of an allegation that we felt warranted a formal investigation. We have launched an investigation into the incident alleged to us in relation to Gregg Berhalter, who pre-dates his time as coach of the men’s national team. This is the investigation we started.
“Throughout this investigation, we learned of potentially inappropriate communication and behavior by third parties in relation to the USA Soccer team and we have included this in the investigation,” continued Batson. “But to clarify, we are investigating the allegation involving Gregg Berhalter as well as the potentially inappropriate comments towards Team USA Soccer.”
Parlow Cone, Batson and Stewart declined to elaborate on this third-party “communication and behavior” and whether it could impact US Soccer’s interest in offering Berhalter a new contract. It’s hard to imagine this week’s investigation and chaos not being a significant factor, though.
Stewart and USMNT GM Brian McBride already had a lot to consider when evaluating Berhalter’s tenure. On a positive note, Berhalter has taken charge of the world’s youngest national team and guided them to the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup championship and three straight wins over arch-rivals Mexico. The inexperienced Americans navigated a 14-team regional qualifier and reached the second round of the World Cup.
Overall, Stewart said, the cycle was good.
“After a long period of four years, what can I say were four successful years for the group [in charge]. … especially leading up to what we talked about four and a half years ago, [which] I was getting to a place where the identification of our style of play and who we are and how we want to act in a World Cup, and I can say that I was satisfied with that piece”, he said.
Reyna played just 53 minutes in the United States’ four World Cup matches.
Danielle Parhizkaran/USA TODAY Sports
Negatively, there were concerns over tactical rigidity, player selection and attack stagnation that appeared to persist as the Americans scored just three goals in four World Cup matches and lacked the depth and flexibility to overcome the Dutch. Furthermore, the USMNT’s track record of coaches in a second cycle is not good, and it would not be outlandish to believe that this maturing group, which will enter its prime over the next three years, is ready for a new voice.
“You’re always looking forward to 2026. We have a big moment coming up that will [come] faster than we all know,” Stewart said. “We’re an ambitious organization. We want to make sure we’re doing really, really well. [in] 2026.”
These are complex questions and are now part of an even more difficult conversation. Berhalter admitted to kicking his then-girlfriend. And while some will argue that the 18-year-old’s mistake, for which he was forgiven, shouldn’t disqualify Berhalter from the job, others will argue that coaching the US national team is no ordinary job.
He would be the face of the program leading up to the greatest event in the annals of football, working in a sport that has been forced to recognize its recent failure to protect and prioritize female players. He is now embroiled in an awkward and sensational feud with old friends – Claudio Reyna was best man at the Berhalters’ wedding – and may face trust issues between the players following his unnecessary revelations at that December conference (the USSF said Berhalter believed his comments were off). registration, but that didn’t stop them from leaving).
One of the big questions now facing Stewart and US Soccer is whether Berhalter is worth the added baggage or distraction that would follow him, at least for a while, if he were offered a new contract and accepted. Another is if the hiring process is flawed at its core. Stewart said he did not know about the 1991 incident, although Berhalter’s brother Jay was US Soccer’s CCO when Gregg was hired in late 2018. Gregg and Rosalind Berhalter wrote on Tuesday that they had informed their families. The Reynas’ behavior and any potential revelations about their conduct could also affect Claudio, who is currently sporting director for Austin FC.
Stewart would not rule out Berhalter on Wednesday. Like his USSF counterparts, the man who played alongside Berhalter and Reyna during their famous 2002 World Cup quarterfinal run said he was awaiting the results of the independent investigation.
“I work for US Soccer and obviously there’s a history with Gregg – there’s a history with just the US Soccer ecosystem – but I also know what my priorities are when it comes to US Soccer,” said Stewart. “As far as our head coaching position that we have now, Gregg Berhalter – until the investigation and the [planned technical] review takes place – is still being considered for the head coach job for the US men’s national team.
Asked whether Berhalter should be under consideration, Batson reiterated: “The investigation is still ongoing. We are awaiting a report from [the law firm] that affirms what they discovered through this and through this we will be able to make the decision regarding how we progress.
“Early in the process, as Earnie mentioned, Gregg is one of the candidates being considered as part of our full review,” added the CEO. “And we agreed that we need to let the investigation happen before we can make any determinations there. Otherwise, they are just hypotheses.”
Stewart declined to elaborate on the status of his technical review or whether he was inclined to offer Berhalter a new deal before Danielle Reyna reached out to him last month. But Stewart suggested he was planning all the possibilities.
“My job is also to make sure that US Soccer is in good hands. So, one: let the review happen. Two: that we then see what’s best for the next four years and then we have to make determinations about where we are at that point in time,” Stewart said. “That’s my job, to make sure there’s a pool of candidates at any given time – it doesn’t matter now, or even six months or two years ago – that there’s a pool of candidates you can think of. So that’s part of the job and will continue as we speak.”
So the USMNT now enters uncharted territory. There has been managerial uncertainty before. The Americans played under an interim head coach, Dave Sarachan, throughout 2018. Bob Bradley’s stability was undermined in 2010-11 by former president Sunil Gulati’s pursuit of Jürgen Klinsmann. But these were football issues, perhaps with a little sports politics mixed in. What comes out this week is much different and more troubling (and grossly unfair to Rosalind Berhalter) – a scandal for which there’s no real script. It really doesn’t matter who runs January’s camp. But there is a Gold Cup this summer, and some very real and vital planning to be done on how the US is going to navigate a non-qualifying cycle loaded with such high stakes. Getting it right is key. And then Parlow said they’re going to wait until they know everything they need to know – whenever that is.
“We don’t know,” she said when asked how long this would all take. “It’s completely independent and we want them to follow the facts wherever they lead. But obviously we need to speed that up so we can appoint who’s going to be head coach of the men’s national team and start preparing for the ’26 World Cup. Therefore, we want to act quickly, but not in a hurry.
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