Gregg Berhalter said Thursday that he would "like to continue in my role" as U.S. men's national team head coach.
Berhalter's contract expired on Dec. 31. U.S. Soccer is currently reviewing his performance over the past four years, and specifically at the 2022 World Cup. The review has been complicated by an investigation into a decades-old domestic violence incident involving Berhalter and his now-wife, Rosalind. The incident was brought to U.S. Soccer officials by the parents of midfielder Gio Reyna amid friction between Berhalter and the player.
With the investigation and the review both ongoing, U.S. Soccer tabbed Anthony Hudson, one of Berhalter's assistants, to take charge of the USMNT at a January training camp. But sporting director Earnie Stewart confirmed Wednesday that Berhalter remains "under consideration" for the job going forward, pending the investigation.
Berhalter addressed and detailed the early-90s domestic violence incident in a Tuesday statement. On Thursday, he gave his first media interview since the World Cup to the Harvard Business Review, via LinkedIn. When asked about the Reyna saga, he said his "entire family is saddened by these events."
"The worst part of it for me: My heart aches for my wife," Berhalter said. "It was her story to tell whether she chose to or not. That’s what really saddens me."
Instead, when Danielle and Claudio Reyna, Gio's parents, brought the decades-old incident to Stewart, he was obligated to report it. U.S. Soccer hired a law firm to investigate it. That prompted Berhalter to publicly disclose it for the first time. In the statement signed by both him and Rosalind, he wrote that, a few months into their relationship, while in college at the University of North Carolina, they were “out drinking at a local bar” when they “had a heated argument that continued outside. It became physical and I kicked her in the legs."
They later reconciled, got married in the late 90s, and have four kids. Berhalter said Thursday that their relationship remains "a loving relationship, a devoted relationship." After feeling the need to unearth the decades-old trauma, he said the family is "taking it one day at a time, and moving forward."
He had agreed to Thursday's Harvard Business Review interview long before the saga burst into public view on Tuesday and Wednesday. "We committed to doing this before all this stuff happened, and I wasn't gonna back down from it, because I said I would do it," Berhalter said, and then he answered questions for 30 minutes.
When asked whether he'd like to continue as USMNT head coach over the next four years, he said: "It's a fantastic group of players. A super high potential in this group. And we're competing in the World Cup in North America in 2026. So it would be an amazing challenge for this team.
"When we started in 2018, we wanted to change the way the world views American soccer. And I think when you ask around the world now about our team, the world sees us in a completely different light. But now it's about being able to take that next step. And that next step is doing something that no U.S. team has ever done, and that's get to the semifinals and see what happens from there.
"So there's a lot of great challenges involved. And of course I'd like to continue in my role."
