USWNT legend Becky Sauerbrunn questions San Diego Wave hiring of Landon Donovan, who admits NWSL learning curve is 'steep'

Landon Donovan was announced as the newest interim manager of NWSL side San Diego Wave Friday, following the recent summer departure of manager Casey Stoney.

The U.S. men's national team legend was most recently coach of former USL Championship side San Diego Loyal from 2020-2022.

Criticism of the appointment came in waves in recent days, and Donovan himself acknowledged that the road will be "bumpy" with "steep" learning curves ahead of him.

Portland Thorns and U.S. women's national team defender Becky Sauerbrunn was critical of the hire, joining ex-USWNT teammate Sam Mewis on the Good Vibes FC podcast and saying that there are more questions than answers around Donovan's appointment.

"I don't know a lot about Landon, but I don't think he has that experience of living the women's game, of the ups and downs that we've gone through, both as a sport, as a league in the NWSL, as players," Sauerbrunn said. "I wonder what San Diego's goals are for these last 10 games. I think that might make more sense why they hired Landon.

"Like, maybe Landon's coming in as somebody to inject that motivation or have some change and something new and like, 'Let's just add a different X-factor into this combination and see what happens."

Sauerbrunn said Donovan's lack of experience coaching in a women's league makes the position exceptionally challenging.

"Is it a prerequisite to have coached women to then be in the NWSL? I don't think that's necessarily true, but I think it makes it exceedingly more difficult to be successful if you haven't coached women at a high level," she said. "It helps to know the players, to know the league, to know the world. And he's going to be thrown into something where, compared to MLS, the resources are different, the season is different, obviously the players are different."

Donovan held his introductory press conference with the Wave on Tuesday where he admitted that here will be lessons learned in the coming weeks, but reiterated that he's ready to embrace the task.

"There's gonna be lots of bumps on the road," said Donovan. "You will not see a team that's perfect tomorrow by any means, but there will be progress. I think it will be clear to see. And then ultimately, I think I don't want to live in fear and we just want to be brave and go and try to do things the way that I know how to do."

The USMNT legend shot down a question about him using the NWSL and the Wave as a "stepping stone" to the next part of his managerial career.

"I've been offered four MLS jobs in my life since I started coaching and turned down all of them, and there's a few reasons," Donovan said. "One is, in no particular order, I love San Diego. I love working with good people. I told [club president] Jill [Ellis] when I make a decision in my career, it's about people, passion I have for it and the project.

"I met [sporting director and general manager] Cami [Ashton] and immediately we connected. I've known Alex [Morgan] for a long time, getting to know these women quickly, they're incredible human beings.

"People questioned my motivation when I didn't play in Europe my whole career, and I was happy to play in L.A. and help grow MLS around good people and have passion for a project that I believed in, and be close to my family. So I'm different in that way, I've always been different. I don't worry about the next job or the next gig or what this means, or the stepping stone."

The Wave return to NWSL action this Saturday in a southern California clash with Angel City. It will be Donovan's first game in charge of the Wave, who feature the likes of Alex Morgan, Jaedyn Shaw and Naomi Girma on their roster.