Sounders FC Academy Director Marc Nicholls and Assistant Coach Shannon Murray are members of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) national staff for educating coaches. In fact, they met in this program long before either of them worked for the Sounders. During this time, they were able to share philosophies regarding coaching styles and player development. When Nicholls was hired to run the Academy, he brought in Murray to help him re-shape the club’s youth system.
Murray first joined the national staff in 2011, just prior to Jurgen Klinsmann’s appointment as Head Coach and Technical Director of the USMNT. In his role as Technical Director, Klinsmann has been tasked with implementing an infrastructure for producing top-class American soccer players. The first building block in this new setup is improving the education of the coaches in charge of developing these athletes. Dave Chesler, U.S. Soccer’s Director of Coaching Education, works closely with Klinsmann in order to bring forth his initiatives.
Murray has been around since the beginning, and he’s played a key role in the USSF’s player development renaissance.
When working with the USSF, Murray teaches coaches studying for their B-level license. This particular course is structured to help coaches develop players between the ages of 15 and 18. In this program, Murray is able to exchange philosophies with his peers from across the country. They discuss the best ways to run training sessions, monitor player development and educate players so that they can make in-game decisions for themselves.
Murray’s experience on the educational side of coaching enables him to bring new ideas to the Sounders organization. Rather than falling into the trap of confirmation bias (only agreeing with ideas that support one’s own philosophy), Murray constantly assesses his style against his pupils. This introspection has helped him both grow as a coach and improve Seattle’s youth system.
Murray serves as an assistant coach for the Sounders FC U-16 and U-18 Development Academy teams. Because he works with the same age group for the national staff, his work translates extremely well to Seattle’s youth system. Constantly working with the same age group enables him to improve both his educating and coaching abilities.
Most of Murray’s work with Sounders FC involves assessing the validity of coaching methods employed by the Academy staff. For example, if the U-18 team spends all week working on attacking from wide areas, he analyzes how well the players execute this in matches.
If the players translate the lessons learned in practice, the staff will build on the successful coaching methods in future training sessions. And if the players struggle with attacking from the flanks, Murray will sit down with the U-18 coaches and discuss alternative methods. Thus, his work in analyzing and assessing coaches for U.S. Soccer has helped the Academy improve its process and approach to player development.
The success of the Sounders Academy Staff in player development speaks for itself. Several Homegrown Players, such as midfielder Aaron Kovar, have progressed through the pipeline from the Academy to the First Team. One of the big-picture lessons Murray has learned from his time with the national staff is taking a long-term approach to development. The advent of S2, pre-academy teams and SDP allows each individual player to improve at the ideal rate without the fear of being released after one poor game. Furthermore, the improvement of coaching methods enables the staff to assist the young Sounders in realizing their full potential.
As someone who analyzes and assesses coaches for the USSF, Murray is justifiably excited about what he’s seen in the Sounders organization.
“I love working every day with a staff that is here for the right reasons,” he said. “The club as a whole has the right philosophy and attitude toward developing local players. They make sure the kids maximize their potential both as individuals and as a group.”
