In 2020, Randy Waldrum, former coach of Trinidad and Tobago, was appointed as the head coach of the Nine time African Champions, the Super Falcons of Nigeria.
At the time, Waldrum was coach of University of Pittsburgh in the United States, but had to juggle the two jobs at the same time.
Most Nigerians didn't take the decision likely, as they felt it was a kind of "disrespect" or lack of commitment on Randy's part, but he has explained that it was none of that, and Nigeria was never second choice.
"I feel very confident in telling you I never downplayed Nigeria, it was never second to Pittsburgh.
Over the four years, I fully committed my time and energy to helping the team succeed, qualify for the World Cup and be successful, and then to qualify for the Olympics, the amount of time that we put in, even though it was kind of "part-time", it was a full time job."
Waldrum was said to have initially declined the role in 2017, and he has now explained the reasons for his decision;
"I was between jobs at the time, I had left Houston dash and was trying to decide what my next job would be. At the time, President Pinnick was the President of the NFF.
The NFF reached out through US Soccer (Our President) to ask if I would be interested. Our President called me and asked me if I would be interested, and I said, absolutely, I would be interested. This was around September that year.
Quite frankly, just so you know, I didn't hear anything after that phone call from US Soccer about taking the job, and about a month later, my phone was literally blowing up with people congratulating me and it was people all over the World (friends).
I saw on my phone (on social media) that I was the new coach of the Super Falcons, but I had never spoken to President Pinnick or anybody from the Federation.
So for the next few months I was trying to reach somebody from the Federation, to say if I'm actually your coach, we probably need to discuss the contract and the terms, and I never got a response." He told EaglesTracker
"That was about the time the University of Pittsburgh came for me. So, since I hadn't heard from the Federation and I couldn't get a response, so I went ahead and accepted the job from Pittsburgh. And then I called President Pinnick again and let him know that since I hadn't heard anything, I was going to take the job in Pittsburgh, and I actually got hold of him then, he was like; no we're set for you, we have a place for you in Nigeria, everything is set, and I said; I'm sorry, it's too late, I've already signed an agreement with the University, so that's how that came about, and how the opportunity was missed.
On the second point of call, Waldrum was asked to take the Super Falcons job, for sure this time, but he decided to take the University of Pittsburgh and the Falcons job at the same time. This came as a shock to majority of Nigerian fans, who saw it as a lack of total commitment to the job, but Waldrum has explained he needed the University of Pittsburgh job to stay afloat, as a result of expected irregularities in the Federation.
“I'd also read in the media, all of the stories of the men's team and their coaches not getting paid or not getting paid on time, and it's a little different in the US than it is in Nigeria.
“Here, every month, you have a house payment, a car payment, and you have bills to pay, and if you don't pay those bills, you lose your home after a few months, so, I was a little reluctant being worried that I would be paid on time.
“I also had to consider medical insurance and other things, and in all fairness, without a disrespect to the federation (NFF), it was the best decision, as there were times that I wasn't paid for fourteen months, and If I wasn't working at Pittsburgh, I would've lost my home here, so I needed the security.
“I was willing to step down if I got there and everything was the way it should've worked with the payments, but it wasn't the same.
“It probably worked for the Federation as well because that was when COVID hit and from a financial view, they didn't have to pay me a full-time wage which is what they'd normally have to pay a national team coach. He concluded.
Watch the full interview here