USA Handball Talk (Episode 48): Did a Questionable Hiring Process Result in a Lost Wild Card? (Part 2)

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In 2018, the IHF Council awarded the USA Men and Women wild card spots for 2025 and 2027 World Championships. This award was made to help the USA teams prepare for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The award, however, was not 100% guaranteed and included a vague caveat “provided that the USA National Teams have reached a certain performance level” that could be invoked to pull back the award. The first warning that this caveat would be used came on 27 March 2025 when an IHF annoucement awarding a wild card for China quietly omitted any mention of a wild card for the U.S. and was later confirmed on 12 May 2025 when the IHF awarded Croatia the 2nd available wild card for the 2025 World Championships.

While the U.S. Women’s National Team performance has been pretty low for several years it’s my opinion that the IHF decision to not award a wild card to the U.S. was ultimately triggered by a very questionable process to fire and hire a new Women’s Head Coach quickly before the North American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) Champions this past April.

Part 1 addressed the questionable timing and the use of a committee to select the coach. Part 2 addresses the selection criteria, the composition of the committee, the lack of transparency and the impact of not participating in the World Championship for the U.S. Women’s program.

Here are some links to what was discussed:

  • Coach Selection Process Procedures: Link
  • Handball Futures Coach Selection Announcement: Link
  • The “Sequence of Events” that resulted in four board member resignations, one board member being removed and reinstated and the unorthodox hiring and firing of a CEO: Link
  • 2025 Women’s World Championship Draw: Link

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