Coaching Application Deadline Notes


Photo courtesy of Allie Conrad

Today is the deadline for applying for the USEF Technical Advisor/Chef position, and here are a few notes about the things we know, the things we don’t know, and what it all means:

1) Not all of the applicants are public and the odds are reasonably high that at least one or two of the applicants will never be made public.  Applying for the US coaching position is like applying for any job in the sense that applicants often don’t want other people to find out about their application, particularly their current employers, if they are going to get rejected.  Applicants who have jobs coaching other teams and applicants with large buying/selling businesses that would probably end if they took the US job have particular motivation to stay private.  It’s important that we respect those wishes, and I won’t be the one to break the news on an applicant that hasn’t made it clear that they are comfortable with the information becoming public because if I was applying I would appreciate the same courtesy.   Of course, if the news becomes public somewhere else, we’ll post it 15 seconds later. The only time that applicants will necessarily be made public is when the short list is sent from the Search Committee to the Active Athletes.  So, we could conceivably never hear about someone applying if they remain private through the Search Committee and then don’t make the short list.

2) The Hoys present a very strong team to coach the US, and make no mistake that Bettina and Andrew will both have integral coaching roles if they get the job.  From speaking with two sources close to the Hoys, Bettina would likely coach the High Performance dressage and the developing riders and Andrew will cover all the other responsibilities including the role of Chef.  The COTH wrote an article this afternoon confirming the Hoys application but saying that only Andrew applied, and in the sense that Andrew is the primary applicant and would bear most of the responsibilities I agree completely.  It’s perhaps a semantic difference, but an important one and it is important that Bettina is very much a part of the plan for US eventing.  If the application was going to be just Andrew, with Bettina playing no role whatsoever, I think we all would like the idea a lot less.  The USEF Search Committee has encouraged applicants to develop new and innovative proposals for the High Performance program and so far the applicants have not announced the details of their plans to the media for obvious reasons.   

3) Jimmy Wofford absolutely steamrolled the other candidates in our poll from Friday night.   I texted someone when we posted the poll that I thought Jimmy would win by about 30%.  He captured 53% of the nearly 900 votes, David was second with 27%, followed by the Hoys with 12%, and Phillip/Bobby received just 8%.  Phillip and Bobby’s single digit performance shocks me, but I still think they have a great chance at getting the job.  Popularity isn’t a huge part of the equation, but it does matter as far as USEF’s sponsors are concerned and Jimmy’s fans are giving him a big boost. 

Here’s a quick review of the applicants that we know of right now (in no particular order):

Leslie Law
The Hoys
Jimmy Wofford
Bobby Costello and Phillip Dutton
David O’Connor

Go eventing.

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