New head coach, but objective remains for Utah Royals: to empower women
“Yes, he’s done a fantastic job. But we need to make sure we are supporting him to keep supporting the players," Utah Royals sporting director Kelly Cousins said of new head coach Jimmy Coenraets.
When the relaunched Utah Royals FC rejoined the National Women’s Soccer League ahead of the 2024 campaign, the club made a decisive plan to be a leader amongst women in sports.
That decision included the hiring of Amy Rodriguez as head coach and team president Michelle Hyncik — but it didn’t stop there.
So with Rodriguez and Hyncik both departing the club midway through the maiden season of the re-introduced club, the technical staff and on-field direction of the organization fell on interim head coach Jimmy Coenraets.
But even without the interim tag, which Utah formally removed Thursday morning, Coenraets will continue to lead a club dedicated to the empowerment and progress of women in sports.
Confused? Don’t be; Coenraets is a man, but his position only constitutes part of the overall direction of the club, sporting director Kelly Cousins told reporters at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
And that direction includes the advancement of women in the beautiful game.
”I understand,” Cousins said, acknowledging the portion of the fanbase that had hoped to see a woman in the lead technical role with the Utah Royals. “I think what we have done with the appointment of Jimmy is that he’s shown he’s empowered our female players to produce what they’re producing on the pitch.”
Watch: Utah Royals FC Press Conference | Head Coach Jimmy Coenraets & Sporting Director Kelly Cousins
Objectives and directions are important, and they’ll remain under Cousins’ watch. But results matter, and they have to matter in the case of a professional sports franchise. Hence, the way the team played under Coenraets — and the culture developed therein — couldnt’ be ignored, either.
URFC performance coach and analyst Sam Lismont will stay on in his current role, as well newly hired goalkeeper coach James White, the club confirmed to Salt City FC, though additional hires will be made to round out Coenraets’ technical staff.
But beyond coaching, the Royals are a varied organization with men and women filling a variety of roles. There’s Cousins, who made the front-office move as sporting director after serving as head coach of Reading Women in her native England, and Jessica Gelman, the Kraft Analytics CEO whose investment makes her a co-owner with global football executive David Blitzer and Utah Jazz majority owner Ryan Smith.
There’s also Jessica Mendez, the team’s head of performance; Meghan Elizabeth Chambers, head athletic trainer; applied sports scientist Maxine Furtado; equipment manager Maddie Holmberg; and Mirelle Van Rijbroek, who leads the club’s talent identification, development and strategy (scouting).
“Over 70% of our Royals-dedicated staff are female. And we have more appointments coming up; Jimmy is not the only person,” Cousins said, hinting at further hires to come. “Yes, he’s done a fantastic job. But we need to make sure we are supporting him to keep supporting the players.
“Watch this space, but I think we’re going in the right direction, to make sure we keep empowering women and make sure we keep empowering them in the right way.”
What Coenraets brought was a resume that couldn’t be ignored.
Since taking over as interim manager, the Royals went 5-3-2 in NWSL playing, tripling their previous points total with 17 that currently sits 10th in the league with one match remaining. Utah also won its group in the inaugural NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, played during the Paris Olympics international break, beat Crystal Palace Women 3-0 in an international friendly before resuming league play, and had an outside shot at the playoffs until the penultimate week of the regular season.
But more important than results is the message, and Coenraets’ was clear when he took over following the seemingly sudden departure of Rodriguez — the 37-year-old former U.S. international and Utah Royals legend — after a 2-11-2 start.
Within a few days, players were commenting on Coenraets’ scheme, on his organization of training sessions and the strict goals he had for individual players. The players had a week off due to the break, but the Belgium international went to work immediately, with extensive video analysis, performance scheduling, and individual plans for each member of the roster.
Those all led to results — though not enough to get Utah into the playoffs. But the team saw a similar process play out as when the 29-year-old Coenraets’ took over at OH Leuven in Belgium, when he took a team ranked last in the table to a title contender and second in the league a year later.
In five seasons at OH Leuven, Coenraets was 77-26-12.
“Results are very important,” he said of the team’s late-season surge. “But once you get the message, you can make decisions in a more sustainable way of looking at players and the group.”
That message was instilled quickly in the team, with help from Lismont, as well.
“I think it was a Monday, when we met — and we just wanted to go,” Coenraets recalled. “As an interim, you’re very dependent on how much credit the group is willing to give you … But they were 100% ready to do what we had to do.
“They wanted to become better … and I think that’s the most important part of being the interim head coach: the buy-in of the team.”
Cousins noted Coenraets’ relationship with his players as a driving force behind the club’s ultimate decision to extend a three-year head coaching contract to the Belgian, which Coenraets mentioned they began talking about a month ago — with a cheeky nod to many late nights and eight-hour time different conversations with his family back in Europe.
But mostly, it was the hope for the future — something Cousins initially noted upon Rodriguez’s dismissal — that led to the second head coach hiring in Utah Royals’ 2.0 history.
“As a interim head coach, I didn’t feel the urge to prove myself, to just start working towards that future plan,” Coenraets said. “I think in the end, you can try to prove yourself, or you can try to already start building towards whatever you want this club to look like,”