I can’t vouch for Bruce Arena as a player — I do have a friend who saw him play in the NCAA final four for Cornell in 1972 and says he was brilliant in goal — but I’ve followed his coaching career about as closely as anyone I know. Arena moved to Charlottesville to coach UVa in 1978, the same fall I moved to Richmond to attend law school. Arena’s early years at Virginia weren’t all that successful. Sure, the Cavs had winning records. But it wasn’t until the sixth season that Arena got his first win in the NCAA tournament and another six years before Virginia took its first title, sharing the crown with Steve Sampson’s Santa Clara. Arena did have the opportunity, though, to work at an ACC school with a big-time athletic department and learn what it took to run a big sports program. Everyone knows Arena as a player’s coach, but probably his greatest asset is incredible organizational skills. Kevin Payne, Arena’s boss at D.C. United, alluded to Arena’s attention to detail when he told U.S. Soccer staffers to buckle their seat belts. “To get the big stuff right,” he said. “you gotta get the little stuff right.” Arena didn’t exactly have a happy experience his first time around with U.S. Soccer, and it will be interesting to see how he gets along this time. Arena certainly rubs many people the wrong way. Arrogant is the word most often used. In the locker room after D.C. United’s loss to Chicago, he had one Hispanic journalist cursing, “That arrogant son of a bitch. Who does he think he is? Franz Beckenbauer?” No, Arena doesn’t suffer fools lightly. It can get him into trouble from time to time. American soccer, though, needs to be shaken up, so I can’t think of a better man to begin the task.