On Monday, U.S. Soccer announced that former Utah Royals assistant coach Vanessa Mann is the new full-time head coach of the Under-15 Women’s Youth National Team.
In the same press release, U.S. Soccer also provided details about other women’s youth national team head coaching positions.
Most notably, the federation will switch to alternating head-coaching cycles for the Under-17 WYNT. After this year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, Katie Schoepfer, who is the current head coach of the U-17s, will switch to the Under-16 WYNT and stay with that age group (2010 birth year) through the 2027 FIFA U-17 WWC. Meanwhile, Ciara Crinion, who is now the head coach for the U-16s, will move up with the 2009 birth years in the second half of this year to the Under-17 WYNT.
U.S. Soccer also announced that “full-time head coaching positions for the U.S. U-18 WNT, U.S. U-20 WNT and U.S. U-23 WNT [will] likely being filled in the coming weeks”. The other current youth head coach is Carrie Kveton, who is in charge of the Under-19 WYNT. The U-19s are preparing to qualify for the 2026 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.
Current Head Coaches of U.S. Women’s Youth National Teams
- U-15: Vanessa Mann
- U-16: Ciara Crinion (transitions to U-17 for 2026)
- U-17: Katie Schoepfer (switches to U-16 for 2026)
- U-18: open
- U-19: Carrie Kveton
- U-20: open
- U-23: open
Mann has a USSF “A” License and has previously served as an assistant for the U-15 and U-17 USWYNTs. She has also been a scout for USWYNTs.
During the first part of 2024, Mann was an assistant coach for the rebooted Utah Royals under former United States Women’s National Team player Amy Rodriguez (Royals press releases: hiring, leaving).
Mann also has NCAA coaching experience, including as the head coach of the women’s soccer program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County from 2018 to 2022.
Most recently, Mann was the Director of Coaching for the Reno Apex Soccer Club, from November 2023 to her hiring as the U-15 USWYNT head coach. Prior to that, she was the Technical Director for the Oregon Youth Soccer Association. (LinkedIn profile)
Mann is originally from New South Wales, Australia, and played collegiate soccer at the University of Nevada, Reno.
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