Hello BB USA'ers. I'd like to throw my hat into the ring to manage US U21 NT. I'd like to use this space to tell you a little about myself, and will then take it over to the debate thread where I'd be happy to answer any questions.
First, I'm currently managing a team in US div II.2, having had a brief 1-year stay in the NBBA in season 6. My team has focused on home grown players, with an emphasis on creating well rounded small forwards. I've had one NT player in previous seasons and a couple cups of coffee, but I don't have anyone imminently poised to crack the NT squad.
But, my qualifications for U21 coach stem more from the involvement I've had with the NT system over the past several seasons where I've been working primarily behind the scenes as the NT scouting coordinator. What this means is that I've been behind the effort (along with JuicePats) to track hundreds of US players, playing here and abroad, that we project to ever have a chance to contribute to the NT. Without giving away too much, I've also worked extensively with the BBAPI to automate our tracking efforts to keep our information on ratings, game shape, etc as up to date as possible.
The result of this is that US NT/U21 coaches are now able to field the absolute best roster possible, and to identify training targets to let coaches know what we think a player needs to further his chances of joining the squad. This also means I'm intimately familiar with the player base and have already identified the 778 18yo rookies drafted this season who's initial salary/potential ratings make them top targets for tracking.
As far as U21 philosophy, I believe that the goals should be (1) aid the NT in any way possible, including development of NT quality players, and (2) competing at the highest level possible. And although I value them in this order, I think the two are very rarely in conflict. The days of NT and U21 teams competing for players are very quickly coming to an end as the top players are now mostly 23-26. Thus, I see the U21 coach role as being twofold: (A) identify new NT player targets and work with their managers to get them as efficiently and effectively trained as possible, and get our top players as much international experience as possible (whatever small effect this may have), and (B) to win!
Thanks for your time and consideration.