Utah Royals 2020 - And * Poof * They're Gone

I wonder what Jill Ellis is up to?

 

That was the rumor when Ellis left the USWNT, but I didn't think that anything would come of it since Harvey hasn't been setting the world on fire with the Royals. I guess that shows how much I know about women's soccer.

 

I thought she should be the next RSL coach but Royals would be ok, I guess.

 

We know one thing for sure, Laura will have the OLDEST U20 players possible.

 

I am only bothered by the timing of this vis-a-vis the start of the season. Otherwise I can't see much in her two seasons that suggests her coaching is indispensable to any success in 2020. With the resources Dell Loy has made available compared to other teams, and the lack of improvement to the side in the offseason, I foresaw a third year very frustrating year not making the playoffs.

@BlueCrimson might have a suggestion for outside coaches (roster builds are still underway so I don't think we need to stay with current assistants).

 

have you seen how things are being ran at USSoccer? Harvey must have a relative in the organization...

As for the Royals, this might be the best news and get my interest back into the club. I really had a hard time watching them pull the same slow old crap they pulled in year one. I was fine watching that team struggle with the belief that, with a proper off season to address the problems, they'd improve. Instead I felt like I was just watching a really poorly made shot for shot sequel.

PLEASE go get Jill Ellis (who, like Harvey with Petke) will be a better coach than that on the RSL side.

 

Royals make a trade to move up the draft board. Goodbye allocation money, hello #8 spot!

We have acquired Allocation Money from Utah Royals FC in exchange for the eighth overall selection in the 2020 NWSL College Draft pic.twitter.com/toJFq3wthY

— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) January 14, 2020

 

That makes tree draft picks acquired in a week plus; it really isn't Laura Harvey in charge any longer.

 

It looks like we initially had the 4th spot in the 1st round but traded it to Chicago, so now we're buying the 8th spot from them. This doesn't sound like progress to me, but I'm probably missing out on some of the details.

 

According to the DesNews, the Royals picked up not one, but two goal scorers.

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2020...elects-goal-scorer-tziarra-king-in-nwsl-draft

 

A tidbit about the direction we may be taking for roster builds now and in the future, courtesy of The Athletic:

"On Friday, Utah general manager Stephanie Lee said that she had the green light to use the team’s entire allocation budget — but she wasn’t necessarily going to do so in a way that most would have guessed.

“From a league perspective,” she said, there was an expectation that the Royals were getting the green light to spend big. “They look at Utah, they look at Portland, and they say, ‘They’re going to go spend that money, they’re going to go bring in big-name internationals and try and make a splash.’”

Lee, on the other hand, was hoping to use it specifically for trades. “How can we make the asset pool for trades more robust? Right now, people just have picks. It’s just picks and players,” she said."

 

Not sure what that last paragraph indicates tbh. Is she saying they hope to trade away current players and sweeten the deals by throwing in some cash in order to bring in better players?

 

Sorry, that part is from the general league portion of the article: allocation money can be traded for the first time in league history.

 

I can only speak from past experiences, but Riley didn't take over the Flash until late in the offseason in 2016, and they ended up winning the championship that year, so the late arrival didn't have a negative impact on the team's fortunes. Honestly, the Royals might be better off sticking with Parkinson until they're actually sure they've found the right fit.

 

We've taken nearly a month so far and reportedly interviewed fifteen people. I'd think if it was internal, we'd be done - unless we've offered it other places and been turned down a la RSL last Fall.

 

Seems odd that they haven't found the right fit in 15 interviewees. RSL appears to me to be a top 4 place to coach in NWSL, unless we are lowballing or there's something else going on behind the scenes we haven't heard about.

 

“Seems odd” and “the FO” just seem to go together.

 

That number feels made up and like a way to appease fans who reacted so negatively to the RSL hiring being done without any real search.

Also, Jill Ellis

 

So, who is it? News like this usually gets leaked somewhere.

 

Report: Utah Royals will appoint Craig Harrington as head coach

 

Christen Press has been insanely good in CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers, and has scored in six straight games going into the championship game against Canada. O'Hara and Sauerbrunn look good too, though the latter has a slight knock.