A trend can clearly be traced in regards to the head coaching choices made by MLS for its three league-run teams.

Tampa Bay searched far and wide before settling on longtime Florida fixture Thomas Rongen. Dallas signed the league’s scouting director Dave Dir, whose wife was born and raised in Big D.

And the San Jose Clash, after pursuing coaches in Europe and Mexico, has finally settled on a man who spent the last two decades in American soccer, most of it in the neighborhood.

“I think I have a lot of the attributes needed for this job; one of them is patience,” said Calloway. “And I’ve certainly had to be patient these past few months.”

He’s been consulting with San Jose GM Peter Bridgwater on an informal basis during those months as MLS pursued international names like Portugal national team assistant coach Tony Simoes, another ex-Earthquake. Bridgwater employed Calloway during the 1994 World Cup as competition manager for the Stanford venue, which Bridgwater directed.

Calloway, 50, first came to the U.S. in 1974 to play for the NASL San Jose Earthquakes after playing more than 500 games in the English League. He made all-NASL honorable mention in 1975.

He began coaching in 1978 with Los Angeles of the American Soccer League, and moved to the NASL to coach California and Seattle. When the NASL folded, he coached local teams, including the Western Soccer League versions of the Earthquakes in 1985 and 1986.

He coached Salt Lake of the APSL in 1990, then returned to the Bay Area and led the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks to the 1991 APSL title. Two more seasons with the Blackhawks followed, but owner Dan Van Voorhis then withdrew from the league. The Clash has been allocated former U.S. international John Doyle, who played for Calloway with the Blackhawks in 1991, and Nigerian international Michael Emenalo, a defender at the 1994 World Cup whom Calloway may employ in midfield.

“Peter and I are going to work very hard to get two more players placed,” said Calloway of his outline for building a roster. “We want to make sure we’re taken care of in the league’s choices.

“Then we have to look at putting a sophisticated plan together for the draft so we get players that really want to be here and players that we want. I’d like to get some of the players from around here that I know.

“It’s a very bizarre experience. But on the other hand, I went to Salt Lake with very little time to put a team together. The [California] Lazers back in the ASL days, I had nine days to put that team together. So it’s not unfamiliar to me.”

The Clash also named Francisco Matturano Ruiz, who played and coached in Mexico, as Calloway’s assistant.

by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney.