Landon Donovan putting mental health at the center of his coaching approach
SAN DIEGO — Since he first retired from soccer nearly a decade ago, Landon Donovan unretired to play nine games with the Galaxy, spent six months in the Mexican league with León, played eight games in the Major Arena Soccer League, helped found a team in the second-division USL Championship and coached it to two playoff appearances, became part owner of a team in Wales and a strategic advisor to a third-tier team in England, and did soccer commentary for Fox and ESPN. For many athletes retirement means the end of a career; for the peripatetic Donovan, it’s become an opportunity to try out a whole bunch of new ones. His most recent choice may be the most surprising however, because nine days ago Donovan, widely considered the best male player in U.S. soccer history, was named interim coach of a women’s team, the San Diego Wave. “I’m pretty surprised myself,” Donovan said. Yet the most interesting part of the story isn’t so much that Donovan got the job. It’s how he got it. When Wave president Jill Ellis reached out to him earlier this month