Donovan: ‘Door is open’ to becoming permanent San Diego Wave coach

Landon Donovan may be the interim coach of the San Diego Wave for now, but the American soccer legend has admitted that he is eying the job on a full-time basis.

Donovan was surprisingly named to the position last week, taking over from Paul Buckle, another interim coach. Buckle took over in June after the Wave sacked Casey Stoney.

The 42-year-old admitted at a press conference on Monday that he faces a “steep” learning curve as he coaches in the women’s game for the first time.

“Steep, for sure,” Donovan said. “I have a baseline, I know a lot of the players here [in San Diego] from watching them throughout the last few seasons, but the rest of the league … I’m going to have to lean on people, and I’m getting up to speed fast.”

Donovan has previously coached in the USL Championship, leading the San Diego Loyal for three seasons. The Loyal folded last year amid competition from incoming MLS side San Diego FC.

The joint all-time leading U.S. men’s national team scorer dismissed the idea that he was using the Wave position as a stepping stone to another job.

“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,” he said. “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.”

In fact, Donovan didn’t hide his desire to make the position permanent should things go well for the remainder of the season.

“The door is open, but what we’ve agreed on is through the end of the season and we’ll go from there,” he said. “We’ve [Donovan and Wave president Jill Ellis] both said, ‘Look, if it goes well, let’s have the conversation. If it doesn’t, one side doesn’t want it or the other, no problem.’ There’s no hard feelings, and we’ll move on.”

Donovan’s first game in charge will come on Tuesday, when the Wave travel to Panama to face Santa Fé in their first match of the Concacaf W Champions Cup.

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