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Hue Menzies

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Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Hue Menzies, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 8 August 202519 sources
Hue Menzies
Born (1964-03-10) March 10, 1964 (age 62)
Brixton, London, England
Occupation(s)Football coach, former player
Years active1982–present
Known forCoaching Jamaica women's national football team to their first FIFA Women's World Cup appearance in 2019

Hue Alphanso Menzies (born 10 March 1964) is a football coach and former player, renowned for guiding the Jamaica women's squad to their inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup appearance in 2019, a landmark achievement for Caribbean football.

Playing career

Menzies mainly occupied the role of a defender during his playing days. He represented the Hardin–Simmons Cowboys at the collegiate level from 1982 through 1985. In the latter half of the 1980s, he played professionally with the Orlando Lions in the American Soccer League and also featured for the Houston Dynamos.

United States coaching tenure

Menzies initiated his coaching journey in 1983 as a college sophomore, seeking additional income. Subsequently, while employed in investment banking in New York, he took on coaching roles with local youth soccer teams.

Choosing to leave finance behind, he pursued coaching full-time. Between 1993 and 1997, he led boys' soccer at Abilene High School, where he also coached cross country and trained placekickers for football. He then spent two years as an assistant coach for the Longhorns women's soccer team at the University of Texas at Austin. Menzies contributed extensively to the U.S. Olympic Development Program (ODP) across national, state, and regional levels, including serving as an ODP coaching instructor. Additionally, he was assistant coach for the U.S. women's U-19 team, participating in tournaments such as the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship held in Thailand.

After five years coaching and directing Warriors Soccer Club in Austin, Texas, Menzies co-founded Lone Star Soccer Club in Austin in 2004, acting as director during its growth to 5,000 players by his departure. In 2008, he assumed the role of director of coaching at Central Florida United (later renamed Central Florida Kraze). Following club mergers, since 2012 he has served as executive director of Elite Clubs National League side Florida Kraze Krush, based near Orlando, where he has facilitated college placements for over 400 players across U.S. institutions.

Menzies possesses both a national "A" coaching license and a national youth coaching license issued by U.S. Soccer.

Leadership of Jamaica women's national team

In early 2015, after Jamaica's unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Menzies was appointed head coach and technical director of the Jamaica women's national squad.[1] Initially volunteering without allocated funds from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), he accepted the role following outreach from Cedella Marley, daughter of Bob Marley, who became a principal sponsor and ambassador via the Bob Marley Foundation.[2] Prior to his involvement, neither Jamaica’s senior nor youth women’s teams had ever reached a major international competition. Menzies’ first tournament leading Jamaica was November 2015’s CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers; despite reaching the semi-finals and third-place match, they were eliminated without advancing.[3] Subsequently, the national women’s program was disbanded for two years.[2][4]

Reappointed by JFF in February 2018 to prepare for CONCACAF Women's Championship qualifying rounds held in Haiti—a pathway to World Cup qualification—Menzies led Jamaica to top their initial group and win all matches during final qualification stages, securing entry into the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship. Prior to this success, Jamaica participated in the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games but did not progress beyond group play.[5]

During the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship—which served as qualification for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup—Jamaica competed in Group B alongside Canada, Costa Rica, and Cuba. After a 0–2 defeat to Canada, they achieved an upset victory over Costa Rica by 1–0 and dominated Cuba with a 9–0 win, finishing second to advance to semi-finals against top-ranked United States.[6][7] Although defeated 0–6 by the U.S., Jamaica advanced to contest third place versus Panama. After a tense match resolved via penalty shootout—with goalkeeper Nicole McClure making decisive saves—Jamaica triumphed 4–2 on penalties to clinch their first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup berth—the first Caribbean nation to achieve this feat.[8] In recognition of this accomplishment, Menzies received CONCACAF's accolade as their Women's Football Coach of the Year for 2018.[9]

Menzies prioritized enhancing player development beyond domestic training camps by facilitating pathways for athletes to join foreign clubs, thereby improving their competitive exposure and professionalism.[3]

For their debut at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, Jamaica was placed into Group C alongside Australia, Brazil, and Italy.[10][11] In the weeks before kickoff, players formalized contracts with the federation guaranteeing monthly salaries between US$800 and $1,200 retroactive from January 2019.[12] Menzies himself received $40,000 after years of unpaid service since his initial appointment.[12] Despite these developments, financial constraints remained significant as fundraising efforts continued ahead of tournament participation.[12]

In December 2019, Menzies stepped down from his managerial role citing ongoing financial difficulties and administrative shortcomings within the federation.[13]

Team From To Record
M W D L GF GA GD Win % Ref.
Jamaica women 2015 Present 25 10 1 14 37 55
40 [14][15]


NJ/NY Gotham FC

After the termination of Scott Parkinson, Menzies was appointed as the interim head coach of NJ/NY Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League on 13 August 2022.[16][17]

Personal life

Menzies was born in Brixton, London, England.[18] Following his parents' separation, he moved to Jamaica—his mother's native country—when he was four years old in 1968.[18] He attended Alpha Primary School and then Priory High before relocating to the United States at age 16 in 1980.[1] He secured a college soccer scholarship at Hardin–Simmons University located in Abilene, Texas.[18] After his playing days, Menzies earned an MBA from New York University and spent six years working as an investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch in New York City.[18] Additionally, he taught algebra at Abilene High School in Texas.[19]

Menzies currently resides in Orlando, Florida and holds citizenship in the United States.[18]

Manager

Jamaica Women

Individual

External links

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named director
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named marley
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named tribal
  4. ↑ "Jamaica's Reggae Girlz ready for the CONCACAF Caribbean Women's Qualifier 2018". CONCACAF.com. Port-au-Prince: Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. 8 May 2018.
  5. ↑ "Fútbol, Femenino – Resumen de la competencia" (PDF). Barranquilla 2018. 27 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "Heroic Schneider takes Player-of-the-Match award in stride". McAllen, Texas: The Jamaica Observer. 10 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "JFF hopes Reggae Girlz 9–0 win will 'ignite' interest in women's football among Jamaicans". Kingston, Jamaica: The Jamaica Observer. 12 October 2018.
  8. ↑ Falkingham, Katie; Walker-Khan, Miriam (18 October 2018). "Jamaica qualify for Women's World Cup with help from Bob Marley's daughter". BBC Sport.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CONCACAF Award
  10. ↑ "FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 match schedule confirmed".
  11. ↑ "Group C: Two berths, three main contenders".
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named nyt
  13. ↑ "Jamaica women's soccer team still in financial peril despite World Cup success". January 25, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Hue Menzies manager profile and live statistics updates - SofaScore".
  15. ↑ "Jamaica live score, schedule and results - Football - SofaScore".
  16. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ap-njny
  17. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named usat-njny
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named caribbean today
  19. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named KTXS

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