Column: Rising English influence in the NWSL
Seven out of the 12 NWSL coaches are English, and an eighth has just been dismissed from his post. With many more behind the scenes, they are having major success stateside
For whatever reason, English coaches appear to have always had quite the affiliation with the NWSL and the USA in general.
At the start of the new season, eight of the 12 head coaches stateside were English, with that figure down to seven after Kansas City Current coach Matt Potter was dismissed from his role.
But seven is still five more than the number of US coaches in the league, and that trend stretches to behind the scenes too.
OL Reign's Laura Harvey is a veteran of the league, as is the returning Mark Parsons at Washington Spirit, while Freya Coombe has also now been a head coach in the league for several reasons.
Sam Laity has taken on his first head coach role this season with Houston Dash, with Casey Stoney arriving last season in San Diego, joined by former Premier League defender Seb Hines at Orlando Pride and most recently Mike Norris, promoted to Portland Thorns head coach after the departure of Rhian Wilkinson.
Seven out of 12 isn't just a one-off figure though, there has been a similar trend for quite some time. Many have followed in the past, including current Manchester United and Liverpool managers Marc Skinner and Matt Beard respectively, new OL Reign assistant Scott Parkinson and several others.
The NWSL has always been an attractive league to both play and coach in from several points of view. Some of the best players in the world are there, the USA has been a leader in women's football for some time and the competitiveness of the league has led to more and more English coaches trying their hand.
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For the likes of Skinner, Stoney and co, it has provided a new challenge, but the reality for many is they've been there for some time, worked their way through various systems and took the opportunity when the USA was thriving and England was very much playing catch up.
Parsons for instance has been in the USA for over a decade, as have Harvey and Laity who worked together for a prolonged period in Seattle, while Mike Norris originally settled in Canada in 2006 and Coombe moved over to work in the youth system after a spell working at Reading.
All moved for opportunities which at the time didn't exist in England, and that stretches to behind the scenes, where almost all clubs have some English coaching influence.
Angel City have several in the shape of assistant Becki Tweed and goalkeeper coach Daniel Ball, while Eleri Earnshaw originates from Wales. Houston Dash assistant Sarah Lowdon, one-time interim head coach, is another, while Victoria Boardman played regularly in England and is an assistant at North Carolina Courage after serving as Stoney's assistant across the country last season.
She's part of a three-strong English coaching staff at Courage alongside Emma Thompson and Nathan Thackeray, while former Premier League breakout star Giles Barnes is assistant to Hines at the Pride, with goalkeeper coach Paul Crichton also in Orlando.
Katie Quinlan is an assistant coach at the Thorns after working for Blackburn for sometime in the Championship, while Louis Hunt moved to California from Wolverhampton in 2006 and is now an assistant at San Diego.
It goes further than coaches too. Well respected performance coach Julie Twaddle, formerly of Sunderland, Manchester City and Durham, joined Racing Louisville last year, while the legendary Dawn Scott is now part of Parsons' staff at Washington Spirit. Donna Newberry, formerly an analyst at clubs such as Chelsea and Wolfsburg, is now on the backroom staff at Kansas City Current.
Many have been in the USA for sometime after exploring those opportunities they couldn't get in England, and many have thrived in a completely different system and the influence of English coaches in the NWSL is growing by the season.
It's an intriguing pattern, and one I'll be delving into in more detail over the coming weeks elsewhere.