U.S. Soccer announces trio of additions to USWNT technical staff as Emma Hayes era begins
CHICAGO – U.S. Soccer has announced several additions to the U.S. Women’s National Team technical staff as Emma Hayes officially starts her position as head coach.
Joining Hayes are three coaching staff members who come with her from Chelsea FC, where Hayes spent the last 12 years leading the club to unprecedented success in England which included five consecutive Women’s Super League titles. American Denise Reddy, a former Rutgers star, a long-time professional player in Sweden, a former head coach in Europe, the NWSL and the USL, and Hayes’ assistant for the past four years in London, will join her on the U.S. bench. Reddy holds a UEFA Pro License and previously spent time as an assistant for the Under-20 U.S. Women’s Youth National Team.
Stuart Searle, a native of Wimbledon, England, who was Hayes’ goalkeeper coach at Chelsea for almost her entire tenure, comes aboard to lead the goalkeeper group. With Chelsea, he was worked with some of the best female goalkeepers in the world, most recently Ann-Katrin Berger from Germany and now NY/NY Gotham FC, Zećira Mušović and Hedvig Lindahl from Sweden and England’s top young ‘keeper Hannah Hampton. Searle has worked in various capacities for Chelsea for more than 20 years.
As previously announced when Hayes was named head coach last November, former interim head coach Twila Kilgore will remain on the coaching staff as an assistant.
In addition, Bart Caubergh, a native of Belgium, joins Hayes’ staff as the new program director. He will oversee strategic alignment across all staff members and departments for the senior U.S. Women’s National Team. Caubergh will work in close collaboration with the WNT leadership team, mostly notably in the areas of technical, performance and operations, contributing to the short, medium and long-term strategic planning for the success of the team. Central to his role will be managing all planning related to on-and-off field activities and overseeing the individual player periodization.
Caubergh worked with the Chelsea Women during the 2019/20 and 2020/21 campaigns and then returned to take on the head of performance position ahead of the start of the 2023/24 season. He comes to U.S. Soccer with extensive worldwide experience and a UEFA “A” coaching license. Caubergh has masters’ degrees in both sport science and business administration.
“We have a fantastic staff already in place, and we all saw what a wonderful job Twila did with the team over the past six months, so I’m excited to integrate these new staff members who I know will contribute to a positive, competitive and inclusive environment for the players,” said Hayes. “These are people who care deeply about the players and will provide them all the tools, knowledge and support to help them play at their best while working together towards common goals. I can’t wait to get started.”
Two more Chelsea backroom staff members will join the USWNT staff in performance coach Ferdia O’Hanrahan, who will work with current head of performance Nathan Sherlock and across all departments within the team, while opposition analyst Cameron Meighan comes aboard to work with lead analyst Kate Cohen and across all departments.
U.S. Soccer has also hired Luis Guevara, who previously worked in Major League Soccer for D.C. United, as the WNT performance analyst, filling a vacant position.
