Two days after being announced as San Diego Wave FC’s newest interim head coach, former U.S. national team star Landon Donovan sat down for his first virtual press conference. San Diego Wave FC will face Panamanian Santa Fe in the final Concacaf W Champions Cup on Tuesday as they battle to qualify for the first FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.
Donovan is now the second interim head coach for Wave FC after San Diego Club President Jill Ellis fired NWSL Shield-winning coach Casey Stoney. Former interim coach Paul Buckle was with the team all summer. Now it is expected that Donovan will remain at the club until the end of the regular season, with the door open for more potential opportunities within the club.
Question marks over the Wave’s lackluster performance and limited goal tally continued to haunt them throughout the season. Stoney’s firing came shortly before the halfway point of the season and San Diego has gone through a long selection process for their next head coach. Donovan’s arrival provides some continuity to continue that quest and officially throws his own coaching hat into the ring.
“What we agreed to is until the end of the season, and we’ll go from there. We’ll just evaluate how everything went, and we’ll go from there,” Donovan told the media on his coaching timeline with the Wave Monday. .
“All the best Jill [Ellis] is that we’re just very honest with each other, and we both understand the challenges of leadership and how difficult it is. So instead of beating around the bush, we’re just being honest. We both said, “Look, if things go well, let’s have the conversation. If that’s not the case, one side doesn’t want it, and the other side: no problem.’ There are no hard feelings, and we’ll move on, but let’s put our whole heart into it and go for it, and then we’ll figure out where we go from here.”
The interim head coach also told the media that he has now been at the club for about two weeks and has had three sessions with the team so far, but that he has known Ellis since 2015, following an introduction at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and the two have maintained a friendship when their paths crossed again with Wave FC and San Diego Loyal. He reached out to Ellis as the franchise was going through a rough season and the two stayed in touch through the Wave’s ongoing coaching search.
“She is an incredible person. She is an incredible leader. We have kept in touch over time.
“There was a crossover, there were things we could do together. She had texted me, and I had texted her when the team was going through a tough time, and just said, hey, I’m thinking of you guys, and I hope you’re doing well. And she had messaged and said, ‘Thanks. And you know, if there are any candidates that you think would be interesting, let me know.’
After thinking about the text exchange, Donovan talked to his wife about the possibility, and after confirming that he had missed coaching, he messaged back expressing his interest in the role. Now he heads the team with some expectation to get the team back on track and compete for the play-offs and the upcoming Concacaf W Champions Cup.
“Paul [Buckle] I think he did a fantastic job of stabilizing the team during a difficult time. And so the conversations that we had were very open and honest. “How do we start to build something that is recognizable, that the club is proud of, that the ownership is proud of, that the players believe in, but that is also sustainable,” he said.
The 2024 NWSL regular season resumes Friday after the league took an Olympic break and San Diego Wave currently sits in 10th place. While the team is still a long way from where they were last season as winners of the 2023 competition, this year’s expanded play-off format means a second-half play-off push is not mathematically impossible. Eight teams will clinch postseason positions, and the Wave are just three points off the current playoff line.
The club’s qualification for the W Champions Cup was boosted by the 2023 NWSL Shield title and will have a chance to challenge for a spot in the 2026 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. Preparation for the NWSL regular season will be different will be the regional domestic club game, but regardless of the format, expectations are set for Donovan and the team for the second half of the season.
“Pressure is perceived. Nothing about pressure is real. I learned that a long time ago, so I don’t worry about pressure. But it’s a unique challenge, and this is the first ever match in the W Concacaf Champions Cup. So, there’s a sense of pride that we get to participate in. There’s a sense of nostalgia when I come back to Central America and play these types of games. I have a lot of experiences – our players don’t have these experiences often because they I have was not part of it. So it is really a unique circumstance, but an exciting one for them.
This competition is really important. I asked Jill and Cami right at the beginning. I said, ‘How do you rate this tournament, and how much weight do you give it compared to being in the play-offs?’ And they said: ‘right, we want both.’ So we will take it seriously, just like we will take the game against Angel City on Saturday seriously, and the rest of the competition, and the rest of this tournament. “The ability to play in a Club World Cup would be phenomenal, and I understand that responsibility very clearly, and that is my goal, to help us get there, whether I end up there or not.”