CHICAGO – Sacramento Republic FC’s Paul Buckle and San Antonio FC’s Darren Powell were named as candidates for the 2017 U.S. Soccer Pro Course on Friday by U.S. Soccer, part of a 17-person class that will undertake the year-long course with the goal of earning the highest coaching license issued by the Federation.

Both Buckle and Powell have already earned their USSF ‘A’ licenses, and this week began the Pro License course in Los Angeles. This is the second year the USSF has run the course, with 13 MLS and U.S. Youth National Team program coaches being part of the inaugural class that completed the course last month.

Other notable names to take the course this year are U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Jill Ellis, in addition to MLS Head Coaches Jay Heaps (New England), Dominic Kinnear (San Jose), Jesse Marsch (New York), Caleb Porter (Portland) and Brian Schmetzer (Seattle).

The Pro Course was added to the U.S. Soccer structure of licensing to complete the pathway from the grassroots to professional coaching, with its two primary objectives for each coach to accomplish a custom, individualized plan and for the collective unit of coaches to set new standards for the next generation of coaches.