One iconic coach met another when Deion Sanders met new U.S. women's national team manager Emma Hayes on Wednesday. The USWNT was in Boulder, Colo., so Sanders came out to greet the team ahead of its appearance in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Hayes was just named the new USWNT manager on May 21, and she's been busy getting her squad ready for Paris since taking over. Now, she is already receiving support from Prime Time, who just had a solid first season as the new head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes last fall.
There’s no time like PRIME TIME! @DeionSanders 🤝 Emma pic.twitter.com/6rF7VCvAMl
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) May 29, 2024
Hayes has taken charge of a USWNT team that turned in a disappointing showing at the 2023 FIFA World Cup. The U.S. was eliminated in the Round of 16, the worst result in program history.
Speaking with reporters after her hiring, Hayes noted that other countries have closed the talent gap between themselves and the U.S., so the program needs to elevate its game even further.
"The realities are the world game is where it is, and the rest of the world do not fear the USA in the way that they once did," Hayes said. "And that's valid. I think it's valid. There are different world champions, there are different Olympic champions. There are different European champions. So it's our job to grasp quite quickly what we need to do to get close again, to those levels."
Perhaps Hayes can take a page out of Sanders' book and engineer an improvement in her first year on the job. In 2023, Sanders coached Colorado to a 4-8 record after the team went an abysmal 1-11 in 2022.
