LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After finishing a debut season that featured 22 points, a Women's Cup victory and the termination of the club's first head coach, Racing Louisville FC has major decisions to make in shaping its future.
The first one of those this offseason is obviously finding a new head coach. Mario Sanchez served as an interim leader after Louisville fired Christy Holly for cause on Aug. 31. Club executive vice president of development James O'Connor met with reporters on Tuesday and commended Sanchez for the trust he's built with the players and the job he did. O'Connor said the team has narrowed down its list of candidates to bring them through for more interviews after looking internally and externally.
"The hardest thing when you're going through a search like that is to make sure that you're leaving no stone unturned," O'Connor said.
According to O'Connor, the club has consulted with players on their candidates and plans to talk to player leadership more after this latest round of interviews. Soccer Holdings LLC, which owns both Racing and Louisville City FC, is measuring these candidates against its stated values.
"We run a pitch model, which basically is personal accountability, intellectually engaged, trust, commitment and humility," O'Connor said. "And that's something throughout our whole organization, the values and principles that we base our culture on."
Holly led Racing to a record of 4-6-3, good for 14 points before the club beat the Chicago Red Stars and FC Bayern Munich in penalty kicks to capture the first-ever Women's Cup at Lynn Family Stadium. Under Sanchez, Louisville struggled for a stretch, going winless for seven matches. Then, the expansion franchise finished the year with five points over its last three games.
"We have a great foundation to be able to spring forward," O'Connor said. "And that's something we want to make sure during the offseason: That we add some nice pieces and we will make sure we make the right hire, get people in the right places and look to have a great 2022."
There are more moving parts to ensure that. First, the NWSL and its players are working on a collective bargaining agreement. This is on the heels of the league meeting its players association's list of demands in light of systemic abuse, including verbal insults, sexual coercion and more, being uncovered at multiple clubs. This led to the firing of three head coaches over the course of the year. That doesn't include Holly, but the NWSLPA did issue a statement in support of Racing's handling of his firing since there have been no details disclosed as to what led to it.
"We worked in tandem at times with with the Players Association and the statement was a joint statement, which was great and very pleasing from our end to see that," O'Connor said. "So we've got a great relationship with the Players Association. I think when you look at what they're trying to do, what our players have said about their first-year experience, we're all sitting around really pleased."
"The biggest thing for all the players at the moment is we're working through the CBA. So we need to understand, from a salary cap perspective, what that looks like. And then that helps us to be able to make decisions on which players we can take up options on, which players we don't and then recruitment of new players. We follow a process as a club, we have the the head coach heavily involved in that process as well. So obviously, we need to make sure we have all that from from the league."
That will help figure out who to protect for the expansion draft on Dec. 16 involving Angel City FC and San Diego. All NWSL clubs must submit their protection lists by 5 p.m. on Dec. 10, which can only include nine players. San Diego, led by president and former United States Women's National Team head coach Jill Ellis, is eligible to pick from Racing's roster. Angel City FC gave Louisville roster protection as part of a trade package that sent the rights of USWNT star Christen Press from Racing to Angel City.
O'Connor said he has "enormous respect" for Ellis and a good relationship with the two-time World Cup winner. They've already spoken some about what San Diego could be looking for.
"It's a case of just trying to figure out what it is that maybe they feel they need, if that makes sense for us and just being fully transparent with all the players," O'Connor said. "I think that's the biggest thing for us is the honesty and the openness of how we approach every situation."
The Racing roster has a mix of promising young players like Emily Fox and Cece Kizer, international acquisitions like Gemma Bonner, Nadia Nadim and Ebony Salmon as well as established veterans who helped lead the team in its inaugural season like captain Michelle Betos, vice captain Savannah McCaskill and Yuki Nagasato. Louisville is weighing on and off-field performance, analytics and future projections for performance to figure out who to protect.
"There's so many layers that will actually go into it," O'Connor said. "So I think the perfect scenario is to have a conversation with Jill, try to understand what it is that they want and see if we can come up with a way that suits all parties."
The college draft will also serve as a chance for Louisville to add to its roster. Racing has two top-four selections: One is from the Press trade with Angel City, which will be a top-two pick. Then, Louisville picks fourth due to finishing in ninth place for the season. A new head coach, if hired in time, will certainly have a voice in those selections as well as the expansion protections.
"Hopefully at that stage, we have a culture in place," O'Connor said. "And I think one of the great things about the organization is now we have a collaborative effort to making sure that everyone follows the process. I think that's something we want to make sure: that the decisions are not left necessarily to just one individual."
For now, preparations will continue for Lynn Family Stadium to host the NWSL Championship on Nov. 20. And Racing reflects on a debut season that featured adversity, a leaguewide reckoning, major changes and some success.
"We were tested and I think we can take great pride from ownership right down to the whole organization in the way we've handled a turbulent time," O'Connor said. "We take enormous pride really in the way that the players played throughout the whole season and the way they've been embraced by the community. So many players were able to play their own role and participate through the course of the season. We can stand here with a lot of pride with the way the season went. We've got a nice foundation now to be able to build upon and hopefully, we'll have a strong offseason and go into next year full of excitement."
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