Dan Calichman, Kevin Hartman join LA Galaxy coaching staff

The LA Galaxy announced Greg Vanney’s coaching staff this week, and two former Galaxy players are included in the group.

Former Galaxy defender Dan Calichman returns to the club as an assistant coach, and Kevin Hartman, who has been part of the Galaxy organization for the past several years, is now the goalkeeper coach. Joining them is Jason Bent and Nick Theslof, both as assistant coaches.

Calichman played for the Galaxy from 1996-1998 — including the first-ever game for the club — and then went on to play for the New England Revolution and San Jose Earthquakes in MLS, as well as the USL’s Charleston Battery. Calichman began his career in Japan for Sanfrecce Hiroshima and picked up two caps for the U.S. Men’s National Team. After working as a youth coach, Calichman became an assistant coach for the first time starting in 2014 under Vanney at Toronto FC.

Hartman began his pro career with the Galaxy and holds a slew of all-time club records, for goalkeeping and overall. After featuring for LA from 1997-2006, he went on to play for Kansas City and FC Dallas, eventually retiring after the 2013 season. Hartman returned to the Galaxy organization in 2017 and had been working in the academy set-up.

Bent is a newcomer to the Galaxy organization, the Canadian played professionally in Germany and England, with a stop at the Colorado Rapids in the middle. A Canadian international, Bent had been a longtime member of TFC’s organization, coaching at pretty much every level from 2008, from youth ranks to Toronto FC II head coach to TFC assistant coach over the years.

Theslof had an abbreviated pro playing career, spending time at PSV Eindhoven’s academy before attending UCLA and playing for the Bruins. He was drafted by Columbus Crew SC but didn’t play for them, and went on quite the jaunt in his coaching career. He’s served as an assistant under Jurgen Klinsmann at the German national team and Bayern Munich, PSV youth coach, an assistant at Chivas USA (alongside Vanney) and since 2014, assistant coach at TFC under Vanney.

So the staff is pretty familiar to Vanney, which is little surprise, and most of these names were already bouncing around since Vanney’s official appointment, but now it’s official. Now we wait for more player signings! Stay tuned.

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