Two days earlier than the opening of Angel City FC’s preseason coaching camp, the NWSL staff accomplished considered one of its main offseason duties on Wednesday by naming Mark Parsons as its sporting director.
Parsons, a former NWSL coach of the yr who received a championship with Portland, is the primary main soccer participant signed since Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, turned majority homeowners of Angel City final summer time. Now he should discover a coach to interchange Becki Tweed, who was fired final month after Angel City (7-13-6) completed twelfthth within the 14-team championship. And Parsons has made it clear he will not rush.
“I’ve a deadline by which I need this completed,” Parsons stated in a telephone name Wednesday. “The purpose is for this staff to compete for trophies yr after yr and we have now numerous work to get to that time. This means we have to discover the appropriate supervisor and if that occurs within the subsequent few weeks, it might be great. But the time it takes to make it occur will not be the precedence. Finding the appropriate individual is.”
With gamers reporting for coaching camp in Thousand Oaks on Friday, Parsons additionally has a roster to compile. Angel City misplaced 5 key gamers this winter, together with goalie DiDi Haracic and defender Jasmyne Spencer, who’re 1-2 in appearances for the membership based three years in the past. And Parsons plans to take his time there, too.
“I’m very diligent with regards to workers and gamers. First we have to know who we’re and who we’re in search of,” stated Parsons, who has designed profitable reconstruction initiatives in Washington and Portland. “We have the appropriate gamers that you need to must win. We have some work to do and you’ll in all probability see us get extra lively in the summertime and heading in direction of the top of the season.”
Parsons, 38, will oversee all soccer operations, together with the teaching workers, scouting, analytics and sports activities medication, and can report back to membership president Julie Uhrman.
Parsons spent components of three seasons as coach and common supervisor of the Washington Spirit earlier than shifting to Portland the place he received six trophies with the Thorns, changing into the one coach in league historical past to win an NWSL Shield, an NWSL Challenge Cup and a championship.
After leaving Portland, he coached the Dutch girls’s staff for 11 months, then returned to the Spirit, changing Kris Ward as everlasting coach for the 2023 season. His groups have made seven playoff appearances.
Originally from Surrey, England, Parsons started his teaching profession with Chelsea’s reserve staff when he was 18 years previous. He joined the Thorns after the membership parted methods with Paul Riley, who six years later was on the heart of a sweeping collection of sexual harassment and abuse scandals that rocked the NWSL. And Ward, the coach Parsons changed in Washington, was fired after utilizing aggressive conduct and racist language throughout a coaching session.
Riley, Ward and two different NWSL coaches had been banned from the league for all times.
