The Wait Is Over

Change At The Helm

The Boston Breakers distribute the following press release:

December 4, 2020

Beard to Pursue New Opportunities

Matt Beard, head coach of the Boston Breakers, has left the club with immediate effect. A search has commenced to find a replacement.

NWSL

Boston Breakers - Matt Beard resigns as head coach

***

One month later, on January 4, 2021, Lee Billiard steps to the podium at Harvard University to introduce Boston's new coach.

Billiard: Thank you for attending. When Matt Beard unexpectedly chose to pursue coaching opportunities back in England, we felt that finding the right person to take the Breakers that last few steps towards a championship was going to be a difficult task. Actually, it turned out to be rather easy. We were fortunate that one of the leading figures in international women's soccer over the past decade was interested in entering the professional game, and the timing could not have been better for him or for us. His resume speaks for itself: three Olympic medals, a successful home Women's World Cup in 2015 and a fourth-place finish in France in 2019. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the new head coach of the Boston Breakers, John Herdman.

Herdman: Thank you for that kind introduction, Lee. I am honored to have been given such a prestigious opportunity as this for my first gig in the professional game. The Breakers have all the pieces in place to win multiple titles, and we will attempt to add more pieces to the fold through the draft, through strategic trades, and through the discovery process. I'll take questions now.

"John, how will you deal with the surplus the club has at goalkeeper? Clearly, you can't keep Abby Smith, Libby Stout, and Sammy Jo Prudhomme with the roster limitations and with Prudhomme heading into her fifth season with the club."

Herdman: Clearly you haven't paid attention to their health statuses over the recent past. It has been rare over the past four seasons that all three goalkeepers have been healthy and match-fit. I admit we have depth at the position, but I wouldn't go so far as to say we have surplus. A time might come where we will need to move one to improve the rest of the squad, but I don't know when or if that will occur.

"Coach Herdman, will you be targeting players from the Canadian National Team to bolster the Breakers' roster?"

Herdman: "NWSL rules are such that doing so would be counterproductive. With the league having moved to roster salary subsidization from player salary subsidization, being able to pay the level of wages to potential targets to bring them in would not be in the best interest of the club long-term. Having said that, we already have Jessie Fleming on the roster, and there are a couple of my former players that, given the right circumstances, I could see pursuing."

"John, now that you're no longer 'young', will we see you move away from the too-tight button-downs and become part of  the track suit generation?"

Herdman: Steph, why is THAT your question of me?! Honestly, as long as I still have the figure to pull it off, I'll keep with my natural style. Now, when I start to develop the pouch in front, we can talk.

Last question. "John, will you be bringing your 'women leading women' philosophy to Boston that has proven to be so successful in Canada?"

Herdman: Short answer is yes. Longer answer is that we will implement that philosophy on a broader scale in Boston than how I was able to do it with the CSA. I have been working with an organization called the Urban Coaching Project, based in Milwaukee, for a couple of years now, trying to find a way to utilize the curriculum for their women's coaching seminar in my own work. With the vast array of teams we have under the Breakers umbrella, from youth teams through to the College Academy, Reserves, and senior squads, being able to forge a licensing agreement with UCP will allow us to spread that knowledge and the corresponding practices to a much larger group of young women eager to get on the track to a future coaching career.

Billiard and Herdman depart from the front of the room, stopping to informally talk with a couple members of the media on their way out.

NWSL

Boston Breakers - Named John Herdman head coach.