Short stay in Utah has Royals assistant Frédéric Brilliant ready to be head coach
The 38-year-old former D.C. United defender will be the first head coach of DC Power FC in the USL Super League.
Frédéric Brillant had no intention of leaving his first coaching job in the NWSL with Utah Royals FC midway through his first season.
But the best coaches adapt their tactics to new personnel, and a new opportunity to be a head coach for the first time in his career was too much to pass up.
Brillant will be the first head coach of DC Power FC, the USL Super League team launching in Washington, D.C., that counts D.C. United among its ownership and will play its home games at Audi Field (along with United, the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, and UFL’s DC Defenders) beginning in August 2024.
Was it an unpredictable move for the first-year NWSL assistant? Absolutely. But nothing about his current move through the coaching ranks has been predictable, either.
“Speaking about unpredictable, it was not the plan for me to coach a women’s team,” Brilliant admitted on an episode of the Salt City FC podcast. “I coached men before, and my life’s job, I thought, was with a men’s team. But when I received some interest from Utah and the NWSL, I thought, maybe it was time to coach ladies, no?
“I had a very good call with Amy and management, she explained to me the project, and I was very pleased. I loved the new project, the type of players she wanted, and the thought of creating a project together. It was very interesting, and I said, ‘why not?’ … And now I’m here right now in Utah. It was a good moment for me; I did not know what to expect (coaching) women, but I am very pleased so far.”
Utah added assistant coach Jimmy Coenraets and performance coach/analyst Sam Lismont to the technical staff, the club announced Friday, with both additions from Belgium’s OH Leuven pending visa approval.
In Coenraets’ second season as a professional club manager in 2021, he took OH Leuven — which ranked last in the league as recently as 2020 — into a title contender, earning Belgium Pro League manager of the year.
Brilliant was one of head coach Amy Rodriguez’s first hires with the relaunched Royals, and played a key role in shaping the first-time professional head coach’s tactics, training and establishing the foundation of Utah’s professional women’s soccer franchise. He stayed on through the Royals’ home match Saturday, June 8 with the Washington Spirit — in large part because another former assistant, Vanessa Mann, resigned from her position just a few months into Utah 2.0’s inaugural season.
You may see some of Utah in DC’s soon-to-be forthcoming squad, which opens its first season in August as part of the eight-team USL Super League — a season that will run fall-to-spring with an extended winter break for the newly launched first-division women’s soccer league.
For Brilliant, it’s a bit of a homecoming. The 38-year-old native of Sedan, France spent four seasons with D.C. United, scoring five goals in 99 appearances after moving to Major League Soccer with New York City FC.
It’s where Brilliant also set down roots, joining Wayne Rooney’s staff as an assistant coach immediately following his playing days in 2022.
“It wasn’t all about the city, because this wasn’t predictable. The plan was to move my family here (to Utah) after school, so this wasn’t the plan at all,” Brilliant admitted. “But when DC Power called me, it was hard to say no. I really liked the city a lot, and I know a lot of people over there, a lot of supporters and management. It was not an easy move.”
Listen to the complete podcast episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts.