Brazilian Bruno Barandas first foreign coach on Team USA U19 staff
When Team USA takes the field against Team Nordic this Friday at AT&T Stadium in Dallas in International Bowl IX, history will be made.
Brazilian Bruno Barandas has been invited to be a part of the Team USA coaching staff. The 24 year old Barandas, who has been working as a graduate assistant with the Georgetown Hoyas, continues to live out his dream as part of Team USA.
Needless to say Barandas, who will be returning to Brazil after the tournament as head coach of the Patriotas, is thrilled. Victor Romualdo Francisco of Salão Oval, asked Barandas about this unique opportunity.
“It was a great honor to receive this invitation, not only for being the first Brazilian, but the first foreigner to be part of the American Team (U19). It was one of the many doors that opened since my talk last February at FEFARJ. It was there that I met coach Clayton Lovett, who gave me the chance to be in Georgetown, where I work from 5:30 in the morning until midnight. “
Barandas’s path to the coaching staff of the Hoyas was not typical. It is quite a leap from the sideline in soccer-crazed Rio de Janeiro to a major division one school. But as a speaker at a coaches/players clinic earlier this year in Rio, he made an impression on Clayton Lovett, an American coaching in Brazil but who also helps players and coaches connect with schools in the United States. Lovett who was also speaking, was impressed with his enthusiasm and understanding of the game.
Since Lovett is friends with Moe Banks on the staff at Georgetown, he made the call and then Barandas did the rest. He sent his resume and a couple of weeks later Georgetown head coach Rob Sgarlata, who had seen Barandas resume, invited him to join the staff as a graduate assistant.
And the dream continues.
Once the tournament is over, Barandas heads back to Brazil to take over as head coach of the Patriotas, one of the premier teams in the Brazilian Football League.
“The work is not going to start now, I’ve even started here, even working in Georgetown. I was part of the transition with coach Biel (Gabriel Mendes, now only on the Brazilian National Team), organizing our offense with coach Pedro Pinto (offensive), our defense with coach Steve Gifford (defensive). We’re working on the Patriotas so he’s the power he’s always been. In 2017, we were eliminated the first time in the first game of the playoffs, a result that we do not want to repeat. In two weeks I will be back to continue the work and bring the Patriotas back to the level it should never have left, which is one of the major national football powers in the nation.”
In addition to being handed the position of head coach of the Patriotas, Barandas was also chosen by the Brazilian federation, CBFA (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol Americano), to be the offensive coordinator of the Brazilian U19 team.
