Richard Hood is set to be named coach of the T&T Women's Warriors team on Thursday.
Contacted for comment, technical director of the T&T Football Association (TTFA), Anton Corneal was mum on the issue but did confirm that a decision was made on the selection of the coach for the team earlier in the day, just over two months after the closing date for applicants on May 28.
Corneal said, “We had over 150 applications from North America, Europe (England, Spain, Belgium, Italy) and here at home combined, and in the end, we narrowed it down to six last week, from which our final decision was made.
The Women Warriors are drawn to face Mexico and Puerto Rico in Group A of the nine-team League A of the 2023 Road to Concacaf W Gold Cup qualifiers beginning in September, and according to Corneal, a key part of the decision had to do with the tournament in mind.
He added, “The tournament for the women kicks off in September and that is a very short time for us to prepare the team, so we had to select someone who had relative knowledge of the players that we have at our disposal as well as what we can afford in terms of salary to the coach and his technical staff, bearing in mind the limited funds we have available to us.”
Among the qualifications that were required of the aspiring coach was a minimum qualification of a TTFA B License or equivalent or a desired qualification of TTFA A’ License or equivalent along with a minimum experience of five years coaching at the senior level and working knowledge of women’s football in the Caribbean Football Union and Concacaf.
In addition, a desired experience of ten years coaching at the senior level and coaching at a national team (senior and/or youth) level.
Earlier this month, Corneal confirmed that former women’s team coaches, ex-T&T captain Kenwyne Jones and Hood, the former coaches of the team were among the most high-profile local applicants.
The senior women’s team coaching position became vacant when the tenure of former England, and USA-based Jones was not renewed after ending on August 31, 2022.
In 2021, Welshman James Thomas resigned in October after five months into his tenure as head coach, and a week later, T&T men’s futsal coach Constantine Konstin was hired, only for Jones to be appointed five days later as the interim coach for the period October to November 2021, and that turned into a nine-month contract.
He led the team to the 2022 Concacaf Women’s Championship which served as a qualifier for the upcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
T&T finished at the bottom of their four-team group after defeats to Canada 6-0, Costa Rica 4-0, and Panama 1-0. The team played its last match in July 2022, after which his contract was not renewed when it expired in August.
Reached for comment, Hood, who was recently relieved of his head coaching role at the Police FC's T&T Premier Football League outfit could not say or deny if he was selected.
Hood is no stranger to the T&T coaching set-up having and was previously the head coach of the national women's team in 2011 for both the Pan American Games and Caribbean Football Union Women's Olympic Qualifiers, and then in 2016 for the Concacaf Final Round of Olympic Qualifying competition.
He also led the national Under-20 women's team to the quarterfinal round of the 2020 Concacaf Championships and also coached the U-15 girls' team, as well as served as an assistant to Norwegian Even Pellerud at the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup on home soil,
According to sources close to the decision-making, Jones was the favoured choice for the position but made a U-turn at the last minute due to the short preparation time he would have faced in getting the team ready for the qualifiers in September.