| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Hue Alphanso Menzies[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1964-03-10)10 March 1964 (age 61)[2][3] | ||
| Place of birth | London, England[3] | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1982–1985 | Hardin–Simmons Cowboys | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Orlando Lions | |||
| Houston Dynamos | |||
| Managerial career | |||
| 1993–1997 | Abilene Eagles | ||
| Texas Longhorns Women (assistant) | |||
| 2015–2019 | Jamaica Women | ||
| 2022 | NJ/NY Gotham FC (interim) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Hue Alphanso Menzies (born 10 March 1964) is afootballmanager and former player. Menzies is most well known for leading theJamaica women's national team to the2019 FIFA Women's World Cup as its head coach and technical director, which was the first time a Caribbean nation had qualified for theFIFA Women's World Cup.
Menzies played primarily as adefender during his career.[4] During college, he played for theHardin–Simmons Cowboys soccer team from 1982 to 1985.[5]
For two seasons during the mid-1980s, Menzies played professionally for theOrlando Lions of theAmerican Soccer League, as well as theHouston Dynamos.[6]
In 1983, while a sophomore in college, Menzies first began coaching in order to earn extra money.[7] Later while working in investment banking in New York, Menzies coached local youth soccer.[6]
Menzies left the finance industry to return to coaching full-time.[6] From 1993 to 1997, he coached the boys' soccer team atAbilene High School, where he taught, and also coachedcross country and trained theplacekickers of theAmerican football team.[5] He also worked as the assistant coach of theLonghorns women's soccer team at theUniversity of Texas at Austin for two years.[8] Menzies became involved in coaching for the U.S. Olympic Development Program (ODP) at the national, state and regional levels.[6] After 15 years of experience,[9] he also served as an ODP coaching instructor.[10] He has also worked as an assistant coach for theUnited States women's national under-19 team, including at the2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand.[11]
After coaching and later serving as the director of Warriors Soccer Club inAustin, Texas for five years,[10] in 2004 Menzies helped start Lone Star Soccer Club in Austin,[9] where he serves as a director.[6] The club had 5,000 players enrolled by the time he left for Florida.[6] In 2008, he joined as the director of coaching of youth club Central Florida United (later Central Florida Kraze).[12] Following mergers, he has served as the executive director ofElite Clubs National League clubFlorida Kraze Krush since its founding in 2012, which is based outside ofOrlando[13] and has assisted in placing more than 400 of its players into U.S. colleges.[9]
Menzies holds aU.S. Soccer national "A" coaching licence, as well as a national youth coaching licence.[14]
In early 2015, Menzies was appointed as the head coach and technical director of theJamaica women's national team, following the team's failed qualification attempt for the2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.[14] He decided to help develop the women's programme as an advisor after being approached byCedella Marley, the daughter of the late reggae musicianBob Marley.[14] She acts as a benefactor and ambassador for women's football in Jamaica, helping to develop and fund the team through the Bob Marley Foundation and various fundraisers.[15][16] Menzies joined the women's programme as a volunteer, as theJamaica Football Federation (JFF) had nothing designated for the women's team head coach in the budget.[16] Prior to joining, the country's senior and youth women's teams had never before qualified to a major international tournament. He first led the team in November 2015 for two matches ofCONCACAF Olympic qualifying. Jamaica lost the semi-final 1–2 against hostsTrinidad and Tobago, before again losing 1–2 in the third place play-off againstGuyana, which saw Jamaica fail to advance to the next round.[17] Shortly afterwards, the national team was disbanded for two years.[16][18]
He was not contacted again by the Jamaica Football Federation until February 2018, when he was asked to prepare a squad for thefirst round of CONCACAF Women's Championship qualification in Haiti, which was part of World Cup qualifying.[17] Jamaica won their first two matches againstGuadeloupe (13–0) andMartinique (3–0), before drawing 2–2 against hostsHaiti, therefore finishing first in the group on goal difference and advancing to the next round.[17] In thefinal round of CONCACAF Women's Championship qualifying, hosts Jamaica won all four matches againstAntigua and Barbuda (9–0),Bermuda (4–0), Trinidad and Tobago (4–1) andCuba (6–1) to qualify for the2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship. In 2018, prior to the Women's Championship, Jamaica also competed in theCentral American and Caribbean Games, where they finished third in their group and were eliminated with a record of one win and two losses.[19]
At the2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship, which would determine the three CONCACAF teams which would qualify for the2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, theReggae Girlz were drawn into Group B alongsideCanada,Costa Rica and Cuba. In their first match against Canada, they played well but lost 0–2. Jamaica secured an upset 1–0 victory over Costa Rica in their second match, thanks in part to the great play of goalkeeperSydney Schneider.[20] In their final group match against Cuba, Jamaica won 9–0.[21] As a result of Costa Rica losing their final group match, Jamaica finished second in their group and advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced theUnited States, who were first in theFIFA Women's World Rankings.[22] Jamaica lost the match 0–6, but advanced to the third place play-off againstPanama, with the winner qualifying for the Women's World Cup (while the losers would advance to theintercontinental play-offs). Jamaica took the lead in the 14th minute viaKhadija Shaw, with Panama equalising in the 75th minute to send the match to extra time. Jamaica again took the lead throughJody Brown, though Panama again equalised with five minutes remaining, sending the match to a penalty shoot-out. GoalkeeperNicole McClure, who Menzies brought on for the shoot-out in the last minute, saved two shots to help Jamaica to a 4–2 win on penalties, thus qualifying for theFIFA Women's World Cup in France.[23] The shock qualification saw Jamaica become the first Caribbean nation to compete at the Women's World Cup.[24] Following Jamaica's success, Menzies was named as the2018 women's football coach of the year byCONCACAF.[25]
Menzies has worked to improve the level of women's football in Jamaica, stating "You can't develop players in camp. I had to really educate the federation of this. They assume we can do an average league in Jamaica and come down and do camps, and it will be okay. That's not how you develop players for your national team. The outside resources, as far as club and colleges, are very important in their development. Some of the players were out of school, working or in theWPSL, but we had to get them attached to clubs in Europe. That triggered things with me and I [had to] start sending these kids out to different parts of the world—they are playing games, training every day, competing; it's a different culture, they have to fend for themselves and be more independent and receptive to learning."[17]
In the World Cup, Jamaica were drawn intoGroup C alongsideAustralia,Brazil andItaly.[26][27] Weeks prior to the tournament, the women's team players were able to sign a contract with the federation for the first time, giving them a monthly salary of US$800 to $1,200 (retroactive from January 2019).[28] Additionally, Menzies is to receive $40,000, after having worked for free since he joined in 2015.[28] However, the team were still raising money weeks ahead of the tournament to fund expenses due to the limited budget provided by the JFF.[28]
Menzies resigned from the role as manager of the Jamaica national team in December 2019, citing the financial problems and federation mismanagement.[29]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | Ref. | |||
| Jamaica women | 2015 | Present | 25 | 10 | 1 | 14 | 37 | 55 | -18 | 40 | [30][31][citation needed] |
Following the firing ofScott Parkinson, Menzies was appointed interim head coach ofNJ/NY Gotham FC of theNational Women's Soccer League on 13 August 2022.[32][13]
Menzies was born in theLondon district ofBrixton, England.[6] After his parents divorced, he moved with his family in 1968 at the age of four to Jamaica, his mother's homeland, where he was raised.[6] He attended Alpha Primary School andPriory High, before moving to the United States at the age of 16 in 1980.[14] Later, he was able to get a college scholarship to attendHardin–Simmons University inAbilene, Texas.[6] After his playing career, Menzies went back to school atNew York University where he earned hisMBA, and later worked as an analyst ininvestment banking atMerrill Lynch inNew York City for six years.[6] He later worked as analgebra teacher atAbilene High School in Texas.[5]
Menzies is currently based inOrlando, Florida, and holds American citizenship.[6]
Jamaica Women
Individual
As a former defender, I am a big promoter that defending and the transition game is the ultimate.
Jamaica squads | |||||||
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