The Red Bulls finally announced Todd Hoffard as goalkeeper Coach today. He officially joins the club after successful playing and business careers over the past 15 years.
“We are excited to bring Todd on board to our team,” said Red Bull GM Erik Soler. “Todd has a great deal of experience in American soccer and will be a valuable asset to our coaching squad.”
Boasting an expansive career in soccer through both coaching and playing, Hoffard founded the ONE on ONE Soccer Goalkeeper School, serving as its National Director for the past 17 years and coaching various levels of youth soccer.
“We have a plan. I told him last year we broke some records but this year more than that; goalkeeper of the year, all-star, MVP. But help the team win. Anything I can do,’’ said keeper Bouna Coundoul. “I tell him listen I don’t want to just improver on one thing; I want to improve on all aspects. The more I can improve, the better it’ll be for me and the better it’ll be for the team.’’
Coundoul _ who will start Saturday, with Greg Sutton just returning to practice in the wake of his latest concussion _ set a personal-best and club-record with 11 clean sheets last season. But longtime goalkeeping coach Des McAleenan was fired, and now Coundoul is adjusting to a new mentor.
“One of the things he’s focused a lot about is footwork,’’ Coundoul said. “Even before we go for the ball, we try to improve that. He says I want you to do a lot of footwork, because when you have good footwork sometimes instead of making those big saves you can catch the ball and make it look easy.
“We did well last year, but I learned a lot from my former goalkeeper coach, and now we’re going to be even better.’’
Hoffard most recently spent a two year stint at Temple University as a women’s soccer Assistant Coach. Prior to that, he coached several other Division I men’s and women’s teams as an Assistant Coach, including both University of Pennsylvania squads and the College of Charleston’s and St. Bonaventure University’s women’s teams.