Angel City narrows coaching search to 4 candidates, sporting director says
Angel City FC has narrowed its coaching search to four candidates, sporting director Mark Parsons tells The Athletic.
'There are two options at this point — we'll have someone on March 1 or we'll have someone in June or July,' Parsons said in an interview that will air in its entirety on the 'Full Time with Meg Linehan' podcast on Feb. 27.
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'We're down to four candidates. It's been a very detailed and thorough process, one that I'm loving and enjoying being on the other side of — getting to hear great, top-talent coaches share their vision and thoughts,' said Parsons, who previously coached the Portland Thorns and Washington Spirit in NWSL and the Netherlands' women's national team.
Angel City parted ways with previous head coach Becki Tweed in December after the team missed the 2024 playoffs, finishing 12th of 14 in the NWSL standings.
The club changed interim head coaches following Parsons' arrival, with the experienced Sam Laity stepping in on Jan. 22 in place of Eleri Earnshaw, who remains with the club in an assistant capacity. Laity previously served as the head coach of the Houston Dash but is mostly known for his time with the Seattle Reign as an assistant coach under Laura Harvey.
Parsons said he expects the club to provide an update by the first of the month.
'The team is in a good place, where we are happy with the progression of the team. Of course, we're only approaching (the) halfway (mark) of preseason. There's a lot of work to do,' Parsons said, citing the performance and structure of the technical staff already in place. 'It gives us calmness to get the right person and not to rush the process.'
Parsons has overseen the coaching hiring process since he joined Angel City last month as the club's sporting director following the departure of general manager Angela Hucles. Hucles parted ways with the club in December, two months after the NWSL fined the organization for salary cap violations earlier last season, including a $200,000 fine and a three-point deduction from its 2024 standings for violations of league rules in the 2023 season that resulted in the club exceeding the salary cap in 2024. Hucles, along with club president Julie Uhrman, were suspended from all player transaction duties.
Last month, Parsons told The Athletic he was reluctant to put a timeline on the head coach search, especially as he was stressing leadership and culture qualities to candidates as much as the soccer and data parts of the process.
While Parsons has confidence in the current staff, the start of the season is less than a month away. Angel City's preference is for the club to have clarity heading into the 2025 season.
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'Out of the four, I think one is available now and three available in June (or) July, so the odds are looking towards that,' Parsons said. This could mean that three candidates are on the fall-spring schedule for their respective clubs as opposed to the NWSL's current calendar.
If Angel City is forced to wait, they wouldn't be the first NWSL club to make the coaching swap following the conclusion of another league's season — it worked to great effect last year with the Washington Spirit and former Barcelona head coach Jonatan Giráldez.
'We're just excited to be able to do this properly and get this right,' he said, 'and make sure we bring in someone who's going to complement the qualities of our players and staff — and most importantly, take us to a place that we've never been.'
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