---------------------------------------------------------- Hofstetter also said he didn't feel Lindsey was ready to be a head coach, which wasn't her fault, and did the best she could. "Kelly was challenged," he said. "Being a college coach and professional coach are two different things. At the end, she was not there yet and it showed. She struggled with it. I don't want to say she did a bad job, but she needed to grow into the job." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Does he even know what he is talking about ? Coaching is coaching.. how does that change from College to Pro, especially when there is not a pro model to follow ? The difference is the BS that goes along with it. There is a ton of pressure on College coaches to succeed and Money is tied into it... SHe was not the GM also as Sawyers was so her workload was just coaching, unless they pushed her into some of the GM roles I remember Pia not taking the USWNT job because all the extras they piled into it... then US Soccer had to compromise on her responcibilities
This Hofstetter guy is a piece of work. He totally cuts down a coach that he promoted from interim to full. Imo he seems to be covering up something. I'm not a Sawyers fan but I don't know if I want to work for a guy like this. IMO, there's more to this story than what he's saying and I hope we here her side of the story.
So after a very quick and limited search, I discovered a few things I didn't know about SkyBlue. I didn't realize that Naimo had been there and left. That seems bone headed given his success w/ the Wildcats & Pali & now the Sol (and the fact that he's an NJ guy). And apparently the current RedStars assistant. And Sawyers. And now Lindsey. Perhaps there have been more sketchy things that a detailed (and NJ knowledgeable) search might yield Now, sure, coaches change a lot and occasionally an organization hires a bad egg. But so many in such a short time? Again, there may be specific reasons Lindsey left that don't reflect well on her but the closer I look, the more it seems to be a larger organization issue. Good luck to Rampone. She's never coached b/f (to my knowledge) and this is one hell of a baptism by fire. I'd like to see more former, high level players get into high level coaching but damn, this org. seems to be a coach killer. And the player/coach thing doesn't have a great track record, in general. I hope that the players are able to avoid too much damage to their careers (and bodies and confidence) while on the team.
i think the best move is to have rampone and not have a new coach in at the end of the season..the team knows her well and she knows them well so a good choice to end the season with.
Naimo left after being told he would not coach the Pro Team Denise Reddy was his assistant was all set to work with Sawyers, then she left for the CRS (I have no knowledge why, she learned alot under Naimo) The whole group from the NJ Wildcats championship team ended up at SB, only 2 people I know are still with SB, I can speculate that it is out of loyalty to the players, but also, they are also 2 of the most easy going people I worked with... (If Charlie had ended up at Philly... I am sure they would have been there also - CA is too far to relocate to) Why they would not want Charlie Naimo to be the Pro coach is beyond me... but their loss went to Pali, Won the championship, is taking the SOL to the WPS Final.... I would think that FCGP is changing coaches after the season but who knows
This seems to go far beyond simply disliking "the boss" or being stressed out by head coaching (IMO, if Lindsey was going to stress out about coaching it would have been in 3 losing seasons at St. Mary's--no knock on Lindsey but that was going to be a major project to get that program to be a contender and it had to carry a lot of stress). Even if the boss rubs you wrong and the job is stressing you out, with the end in sight you hang in there and coast out the rest of the season. They're unlikely to fire you with so little time left, so how hard is it to just dial it in an collect the paycheck until the end of the season? No, it seems like there's something really wrong here where Lindsey was willing to take the hit to her reputation publicly...and that speaks to something being very strongly against her moral/ethical principles and/or something was causing her such serious emotional/health trauma that she simply COULD NOT STAY for a few more days. Staying is sometimes the easier option because all you have to change is...nothing. I'm not BFFs with Lindsey so I can't speak from much specific personal knowledge on this particular issue, but I have been a fan of her as a player since she was in college, and she was someone who on the field you could always count on to be 100% invested. She fought through a great deal of pain to keep playing and yet she never half-assed anything. I know playing and coaching are two different things, but I find it hard to believe that the person who didn't have any quitter in her as a player has suddenly become one as a coach. And therefore I really can't feel anything here except full support for Lindsey because to me all the signs point to something being really wrong for her to bail out with a winning record and the end in sight. I hope Lindsey is well and taking care of herself and anyone else who needs support in dealing with whatever mess is going on over there.
Yep. At this point, without assistants what else can be done. As I said earlier, good luck to Rampone and the players. I assumed so, as well, but multiple FCGP fans think Montoya is so close w/ the owners (beloved youth coach of their daughters) that he is safe no matter what the GM/other team management think. So who knows.
I find it very telling that there's not one official word from Sky Blue about firing the assistant coach, who according to our mole is at the heart of the whole thing. They just mention that there's a new assistant coach and have removed all records of the old one from the website. If the ownership fired the assistant without saying anything to Lindsey beforehand, regardless of the justification, I could see that as something to quit over.
Nah..Chelsea's situation isn't comparable as Jose was more or less pushed out by the owner; he didn't "quit". Well, does anyone know if she was pressured to "resign"..?
well after a few desperate phone calls, here is what ive gathered... assistant coach reportedly doing inappropriate things giving management no choice but to protect all employees and fire the guy. head coach has no idea this is going on until she hears it from the assistant and without going to them for any explanation, resigns and deserts the team 2 weeks out from the end of the season. poor judgement in my opinion but i can see her being pissed since she had no idea they were cutting her assistant loose. Hoffsetter never should have said those things about Lindsey truth or not. not very professional at all. really sad since i do think she helped turn that team around and gave them the freedom they needed. u can obviously tell by the record. but then again, anyone could probably turn the team around after having Sawyers as a coach. i hope skyblue wins the playoffs after all of the drama this season. they deserve it.
If that's what happened then it's BS. They should have brought her in the loop before going forward with the firing. I would be pissed also. Piss poor handling by the ownership. It's like they had no respect for her as Head Coach whatsoever. I don't think she deserted or dissed the players. From what NYsocc10 posted, it seems that the management dissed her. And then threw her under the bus. So f___ing what if she was still close to Sawyers. What does that have to do with the price of rice in China. It seems that the paranoia rests with SB Ownership/management. I would still love to hear her side of the story.
I guess the management didn't handle the situation too well... Could Lindsey have swallowed her pride and finished the season? Is it possible to dislike your management and still coach players? For her, I guess the answer was "no". Maybe she felt that she couldn't do a good job anymore after being disrespected by the management in such a fashion...A coach not being able to concentrate on action on the field...Such a coach is not useful... At first, I thought Lindsey was being really irresponsible...But, now I am not sure...Maybe she did the responsible thing by quitting...
the way i heard it, it didnt sound that simple to just tell her. when you have allegations that serious against an employee, its not neccessary to inform everyone especially if it could damage your investigation. if they did inform her in the investigation, sounds like it would have leaked to the assistant since they were close. i even wonder if those 2 were dating. it sounds like this guy was a real slick rick making his rounds. as for the Sawyers thing ~ the players wanted him gone. he screwed them over numerous ways. so it was like she betrayed them by seeing him behind the teams backs. management screwed up and should have let Lindsey and Dorini go when they fired Sawyers like most places do when they get rid of a head coach.
I can't imagine quitting a team & leaving them stranded just bc you are furious with management. Mg't would have to do something in the horrible, bizarre, repulsive, extreme to warrant this. It's just completely unprofessional and bizarre. And who would hire her again knowing she has done this?
thats what im wondering. was she tied that close with the assistant? did she not want to believe what he did? now that i think of it she might not even know what he actually did since apparently she just gave them her resignation, left and never sat down with the owners to find out. it seems like her ties were so close with Sawyers that she was just looking for a way out of new jersey.
I have never personally talked to Kelly Lindsey. However, I have been a Notre Dame fan since mid/early nineties when Chris Petrucelli was the coach. Lindsey, IMO is a loyal person to those who are loyal to her. It does not surprise me that she still kept contact with Sawyers. From what I've read she has been close to him and his family for a while now. She served as Chris Petrucelli's assistant at Texas. She played for him at Notre Dame. I'm sure she's still close to him and Randy Waldrum at Notre Dame and other coaches she has worked with/for over the years. This reeks of SBFC management paranoia. The Head Coach is part of the staff. You let the coach know what's going on. Did they expect her to just quit talking to Sawyers after years of association? And this investigation, if they had solid evidence, with player affidavits then that's all they needed. By telling her, what were they afraid of? That he was going to leave the country? Stupidity, just plain stupidity and just plain immaturity of handling this situation by SBFC management. And then the CEO comes out and says, well, she wasn't going to be our coach next year anyway. What kind of crap is that? Is that professional? So folks, from everything we'ver heard so far, who was the betrayer here? Kelly Lindsey, or SBFC management? They said she wasn't going to be the coach next year, they totally dissed her as a part of the organization by not bringing her in the loop of investigating the assistant, making her totally impotent in front of her players and yet she took over the team and did well when they needed her most. It seems to me that there was no appreciation be SB management for what she did and then trying to cover for themselves by throwing her under the bus after the fact. This is not college where you can say oh jeez, she abandoned those poor kids. This is pro sports. It's like your jobs where you work at. If you were a manager in some company who was asked to take your department over in an emergency situation, and the bosses above you were already planning on replacing you and then fire one of your wokers/subordinates without you ever being told/consulted about it, how would you feel? Used? Betrayed by the organization? If they don't have any loyalty to you, why should you have loyalty to them? And the players? They are professionals, not college kids. They were going to get a new coach anyway next year. So this crap about how she abandoned the team is just that, crap. According to the article, they were going to replace her anyway. By doing this they were making her feel like she was not part of the organization anyway, IMO. And by doing this, IMO they have already made her impotent in front of her players. So if the players think or know that Lindsey will not be their coach next year, that she has no power anymore, why listen to her? If all they needed Lindsey for the next 2 games was to fill out the roster sheet, heck Rampone can do that. She might as well leave. Just my opinions/thoughts on this messy subject.
yea your probably right....when all said and done..it most likely comes back to her ties with sawyers.....but no owner should ever hire him especially to coach women.
Well, I'm not a Sawyers fan, but he has had success in coaching women at Stanford and winning the Championship with WUSA CyberRays. As far as saying he shouldn't coach women, that's not fair. He may not have been the right fit for SBFC. I'm sure his wife, Julie Foudy would have something to say about how he shouldn't be hired to coach women. Don't let SBFC ownership/management off the hook here, folks. It seems from what we've read here that they are just as much at fault or more for this debacle. If she was told (and to be fair the article does not say whether she was actually told) already that she wouldn't be the coach next year, not involve in crucial decision-making, not consulted/told about the assistant investigation, and IMO, made impotent in front of her players, what should she do? At that point, IMO she's not the coach anymore, she is just there to fill in the lineup for the next couple of weeks. To me that's a total humiliation in front of her players. She has no authority anymore. Might as well leave. Why would this have anything to do with Sawyers, unless she was calling him up every night and writing her practice schedule, playbook under his instructions, which I doubt because she immediatey change things around after he left. What would you do if you were her?
I don't know. I've had staff, and if my boss fired one of my staff members, and I found out about it from the staff member rather than the boss, I'd be pretty unhappy. If Kelly had already been told that she probably wasn't their choice for head coach for next year, that could easily have been the last straw.
But she obviously has developed a relationship with the players and helped the team out. It would be BETTER for her and her resume if she finished the year out even if she knew she was being canned at the end of the season. People don't want to hire quitters and that's what it looks like she is unless she has a REALLY good reason for quitting which it doesn't look like. This is bizarre and it doesn't look good for Lindsey.