Many of the reporters that are here in China covering the Women’s World Cup were shocked by the announcement today that Greg Ryan and the U.S. Women’s National Team had elected to, in effect, banish Hope Solo from tomorrows third place match against Norway. I wasn’t. I don’t cover sports, I cover women’s soccer and I’ve followed this team for a long time. I understood that airing team business publicly was a big no-no for this group and expected some kind of response.
Understanding it and explaining to a bunch or reporters who regularly cover professional athletes, that publicly insult and degrade each other all the time, are entirely different things. I tried to think of someone who could help me verbalize why the team (and some of the veterans) would find Solo’s comments so offensive, and immediately thought of Shannon MacMillan. MacMillan is uniquely qualified to address the current crisis. Not only was she a long time member of the team, but she has also been smack in the middle of a coaching controversy.
The coach was Tony DiCicco and the controversy was during the infamous 1999 Women’s World Cup. MacMillan was playing extremely well, having an impact every time she took the field, but she wasn’t starting. DiCicco was taking a lot of heat from the press about his decision to keep her on the bench and MacMillan was fielding questions about it daily. Her response was to go to DiCicco and discuss it. She responded to the media by saying, "I told him I understood that the media was after him to start me, and they're asking me about all the time, too. I know the heat's on him, but I wanted him to know I'm ready to do whatever he wants me to do. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep the heat on him."
I spoke with MacMillan, who is in her first year as Assistant Coach at UCLA, today and asked her thoughts on the current controversy. Here’s what she had to say:
“The foundation of our team has been built on the fact that we are one unit. We’re friends and family within the team and issues like this are handled internally. This isn’t the first disagreement with a coach, a coach’s decision, or between teammates, but when something like this happens, you have to keep it in house. You don’t air it out in the media. I think that part of the reason people have fallen in love with our team over the years is because we have a respect for each other. Many times, fans have told us that they love that we’re not bashing each other, we’re not out there for the big dollars, we’re not out there getting in trouble. This just goes against the character and the fiber of this team and what it stood for.
I think that your coach is your coach. When you have a roster like this going into the World Cup, you need to have faith in your whole team. Coaches aren’t perfect and when they make a mistake I don’t think it’s your right to go out and blast them in the media. That’s something that you handle in a one on one meeting. Enough people were already blasting Greg. I don’t think Hope needed to chime in her two cents worth.
It’s sad to see something like this happen because when the cards are stacked against you, that’s when true character is revealed. I know that Hope is a very emotional person, but you need to keep that in check. You had to know that nothing good was going to come of that interview.
I’m actually really proud of Greg and the team for the way they’ve handled this. This isn’t supposed to happen and it’s not right. I have to be honest, like Foudy, when I heard Hope’s interview it kind of made me sick.”
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