Former United States Men's National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter was fired in July following a disastrous performance at the US-hosted 2024 Copa America after failing to advance past the group stage. Now, Berhalter is taking on a new challenge.

Berhalter will become the new director of football and head coach of the Chicago Fire, the team announced on Tuesday morning.

Current Fire head coach Frank Klopas will step down from his position with the team and become the club's new vice president of football, per the Fire's official release.

Fire fans had mixed reactions to Berhalter joining the team.

@RealMatt19 responded to the Fire's post announcing Berhalter's hiring on X, formerly known as Twitter, and was not happy at all about the move.

“Are you actually serious about this? We’ve been a declining club for almost 20 years (maybe 2 good teams when we had blanco and when nikolic led the line),” @RealMatt19 wrote. “What has Gregg done in his past to justify this move? Multiple rebrands, stadium moves, empty promises. This club sucks”

@CFC_Didi was also disappointed with the decision to hire Berhalter.

“What did we do to deserve this…,” @CFC_Didi wrote.

However, some fans were a bit more optimistic.

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“People laugh but he was a very successful MLS head coach before the national team debacle,” @BucKylez wrote.

The Fire had a disappointing season in 2024, finishing with the second-worst record in MLS. Most notably, designated player Xherdan Shaqiri, who was expected to be one of the best players in the league based on his success in Europe and with the Swiss National Team, has had a very underwhelming start to his MLS career. It is clear that a change needed to be made, and Berhalter will now be tasked with turning the organization around.

Gregg Berhalter's managerial career

United States head coach Gregg Berhalter talks with midfielder Weston McKennie (8) during the second half of a Copa America match against Uruguay at Arrowhead Stadium.
© Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Berhalter had a controversial, up-and-down tenure as the USMNT head coach. While he did have a relatively successful showing at the 2022 World Cup, earning a draw against England in the group stage and guiding his team to the round of 16, some controversial moments and overall lack of progress before the 2026 World Cup hosted by the United States made his firing inevitable.

Before becoming the USMNT head coach, Berhalter spent time managing in Sweden and had a successful five-year tenure as the Columbus Crew's head coach, bringing them to the MLS Cup Playoffs four times, including an MLS Cup Finals appearance in 2015.

The Fire job is certainly a step-down from the USMNT, and maybe that is exactly what Berhalter needs right now. He has had success in MLS before, and could very well be the right man for the job for the Fire.