According to Sports Illustrated, U.S. Men’s soccer coach Bob Bradley will be awarded a new four-year contract as of yesterday.

Why is this important to the fans of the Rugby Super Site, it probably isn’t – except for a few quick notes.

1. The U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team lost to England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup this weekend – and there’s not even a footnote in any mainstream news source I’ve found.

2. The Men’s soccer coach is an American. I’m not one to bash on current coach Eddie O’Sullivan, I think he’s done a decent job given the hand he’s been dealt, but there are precious few American rugby coaches (outside of the University of California rugby machine) that could be ready to coach the U.S. men’s Rugby team at the drop of a dime, so either we go back to Cal calling all of the shots, or start developing our own top tier talent and coaches until youth rugby starts to pick up, which will cost money.

3. No one outside of rugby really cares about the state of things right now.  We have a long way to go if we ever want to see rugby advance beyond a third-tier sport played by drunken sods (as it’s seen in parts of the U.S.) and building a grassroots outreach program should probably be the main priority, with the U.S. sevens team (which will be seen in the Olympics in 2016) as a close second (to develop a broader viewership.)  There are too many damn rules in the game to immediately impact U.S. sports fans, who expect rules they can grasp, and set plays (see first through fourth down in football, or a sketched out play after a basketball timeout) rather than a sport as free-flowing as rugby.