Utah Royals hire former Reading FC player, manager Kelly Cousins as sporting director
Utah Royals hire former Reading FC player, manager Kelly Cousins as sporting director
Once a royal, always a royal, Cousins said when she left Reading FC Women, her club the past two decades as a player and coach. Indeed, she is.
The task to build the roster for the Utah Royals’ Return of Royalty fell largely on one woman Tuesday morning.
That woman will be Kelly (Chambers) Cousins.
The former Reading women manager was installed as Utah’s first-ever sporting director Tuesday, joining a front office that also includes club president Michelle Hyncik after the hiring of head coach Amy Rodriguez.
Cousins inherits a club that will look to build through youth after earning the No. 1 pick in the NWSL entry draft next year. Utah also selected priority in the NWSL’s discovery order ranking as well as the waiver wire order.
The Royals will pick second in a two-team NWSL expansion draft with San Francisco-based Bay FC later this year.
"I am really looking forward to bringing my knowledge and experience to build a roster, a culture and most importantly a place that gives players everything they need to be able to perform at their best'," Cousins said through the club.
Cousins, who spent virtually her entire career with Reading FC Women since she was a teenager, eventually became captain of the women’s teams until her playing career was cut short by an ACL injury in 2012. She then evolved into the director of women’s and girls football for the club that recently finished 12th in England’s Women’s Super League.
“Kelly is truly a swiss army knife of Soccer Operations — from sporting side strategic planning and squad management infrastructure building, to scouting and recruitment, to coaching, to everything in between — she has done it all,” Hyncik said. “Even more importantly, getting to know Kelly on a personal level and seeing her skillset as a collaborator has been a joy. We could not be more excited to welcome her family to our Utah community.”
Cousins took the reins of Reading FC Women in 2012 and helped the club to the second tier of women’s football in England later that year. Three years later, she was again at the helm of the Royals’ second promotion to the WSL, where Reading would remain for eight seasons — including a fourth-place finish in 2017-18 that finished behind only powerhouses Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City (and ahead of both Everton and Liverton) and another top-five finish a year later before being relegated to the second division following the 2022-23 season.
She formally departed the club just a month ago, telling Reading supporters of the “extremely difficult decisions to step away” in an emotional message on social media.
“Once a royal, always a royal,” she concluded in her message.
Indeed — on both sides of the pond.
“The part Kelly has played within the modern era of Reading Football Club should not be underestimated or understated, nor should her love for the game or her club,” the club noted in a news release announcing her departure.
“Everyone would like to thank Kelly for her remarkable contribution to Reading Football Club, wish her the very best of luck in her future career and offer our very best wishes to her and her family as she prepares for the arrival of her second child in the coming weeks.”