I don't think even avowed critics of the recently-resigned Bruce Arena would deny that is the most apt description of him.

Everybody had been expecting it, literally from the final whistle vs. Ghana, and now we know (Bruce Arena's Eight-Year Tenure As U.S. National Team Head Coach Ends) . It even got so bad that reports of negotiations over his successor began showing up more than a week ago, the most prominent candidate mentioned being Jürgen Klinsmann, even before he resigned (USA Line Up Klinsmann) .

But now we know that at least the first part of the rumors has come to pass, we should at least pause briefly to reflect on what we've witnessed the past 8 years. How long will it be before another US coach has a chance even to surpass Arena's 71(!!) wins? So for myself, thank you Coach Arena for all that you've done to make people like me proud again to say that I'm an American soccer guy. It sure wasn't easy in 1998, and even though we got a drubbing this year, I think most neutral observers would admit that for maybe the first time our failures had nothing to do with a lack of ability on our team's part, and even in defeat that much feels good.

Now we need to turn our attention to how to take this admittedly talented team and turn it into the world beaters it's capable of becoming.

As to the successors, I was wondering aloud last week whether there was some sort of a coded courtship ritual being conducted in the press by US Soccer and Klinsmann, doing a little tea leaf reading of precise quotes (did Klinsmann actually say he "has no interest"? According to (Klinsmann Quits Germany Job, Loew Steps Up) he said the more ambiguous "There is neither interest nor contact" in reply to a question about the issue, when we now know from Gulati's side the two parties have been in recent contact, albeit supposedly not about the US job (Klinsmann Eyed As Candidate To Succeed Us Coach Arena) . I find it hard to believe that someone as meticulous as Sunil Gulati is would need to have members of the press inform him about the level of interest of someone he is in active contact with.

That being said, even if they are doing a courtship dance, that does not mean in any way that it would be consummated (a little sexy talk for the middle of the day!). Klinsmann may in fact be "burned out", but I imagine 4-6 months in the sun and sand of his home in Southern California with his family should be enough for a reasonable recovery, roughly the amount of time he'd probably have before he would need to actually do anything were he to accept a contract offer.

And what of any others? Kristian Dyer's article at ESPN is a pretty good place to start, (Shortlisting Potential Replacements) . One thing noteworthy about many of the candidates listed is how few of them have significant succeses to their name (Bob Bradley, Dave Sarachan, Glenn Myernick, Steve Nicol, Fernando Clavijo), one even has never coached men at any competitive level as far as I know (though I'm no expert on the career of Tony DiCicco), and 3 who only have MLS success on their résumées (Sigi Schmid, Frank Yallop and Peter Nowak).

Whoever succeeds Arena, it is definitely going to have to be someone who can excite the large and growing fan-base of the US National Teams. Klinsmann is really the only person on that list who would achieve that, though Sven Goran Eriksson would at least raise eyebrows (we need someone who is going to inspire attractive, attack-minded soccer, not a tactician who can manage 11 large and expensive egos).

Whatever happens, you can find the latest articles on whoever is going to be the new US Men's National Soccer Team Coach here: (Whose Job Will it Be to Deliver on the Goal of Project 2010?) .