Bradley '80 given top job

Bob Bradley '80 will be named head coach of the United States men's soccer team at a press conference today in New York, ESPN.com reported yesterday. A former Tiger coach and star player, Bradley spent the past five months as the team's interim head coach, replacing Bruce Arena, who had held the position for the previous eight years.

The team has gone undefeated during Bradley's tenure, posting a 3-0-1 record in four friendly matches.

Bradley is widely recognized as one of the top American coaches in the game. He took over the head coaching job at Ohio at the age of 22, fresh off his playing career at Princeton and returned to his alma mater three years later in 1984. During his 12 years as Tiger head coach, Bradley led Princeton to two Ivy League titles, in 1988 and 1993, and a trip to the NCAA Final Four in 1993.

Bradley left college soccer for the pros in 1996 and two years later, in his first season as a pro head coach, led the expansion Chicago Fire to the Major League Soccer Cup and U.S. Open Cup, earning him MLS Coach of the Year honors.

Bradley won a second MLS Coach of the Year award in 2006, becoming the only coach in the MLS' 11-year history to win the award twice, and with 124 career victories is also the winningest coach in MLS history.

In January, the United States defeated Denmark, 3-1, in Bradley's coaching debut. A few weeks later, Bradley coached the Americans to a 2-0 shutout victory over archrival Mexico in a second friendly match.

A late March victory over Ecuador was followed by a 0-0 tie three days later with Guatemala, in which Bradley's son Michael made his first career start with the team.

Bradley will make his debut as the U.S. head coach in a friendly match against China on June 2. He will lead the United States into at least two major tournaments later this year, the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup in June — which the United States is hosting — and the 2007 CONMEBOL Copa America in Venezuela.