San Jose Earthquakes Hire USMNT Assistant Luchi Gonzalez As Next Coach

The San Jose Earthquakes have announced U.S. men’s national team assistant coach Luchi Gonzalez as the team’s next manager. 

Gonzalez, who has served as a USMNT assistant coach under Gregg Berhalter since December 2021, will join the MLS side after the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. 

“I’m really excited for this opportunity with one of the league’s founding clubs,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “I thoroughly enjoyed working with the club’s leadership team throughout the interview process and was impressed by their vision for the future, both on and off the field. 

“As excited as I am for this opportunity, I’m going to remain focused on helping the U.S. national team be as successful as possible through the FIFA World Cup and I will be ready to give everything for San Jose once that journey is over.”

The one-time Earthquakes forward last coached in MLS with FC Dallas, where he was academy director before becoming the club’s manager. In nearly three years as head coach, Gonzalez went 28-26-32 and made the MLS playoffs in both of his full seasons as manager. In joining the USMNT, he had effectively swapped places with Nico Estévez, who went on to take Gonzalez’s vacated role in Dallas after serving as Berhalter’s assistant. A third former Berhalter assistant, Josh Wolff, also landed an MLS head-coaching job, at Austin FC.

The Earthquakes currently sit in 13th place (out of 14) in the Western Conference and have made the playoffs only twice in the last nine seasons. The club fired Matías Almeyda seven games into this season and is being led by an interim head coach, Alex Covelo, until the end of the season.