Pilots Hire Michelle French!

by **PilotNut** Sat Dec 16, 2017 1:18 am

Shadrach wrote:Best news for Women's soccer in a long time. The great announcement about Michelle deserves its own thread on Pilot Nation but I don't know how to do that. Will someone please give her a much deserved headline! Thanks.

Here we go!

Welcome, Coach French!

UP Site Article Link

A nice early Christmas present... santa

by ExpatPilot Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:04 am

I am really excited about this hire! I think this is the best hire we could have made and we kept it "in house" sort of. Kept the Portland in Portland program. I imagine with her connections at all levels of US soccer (youth to senior national team) that she has scouted a lot of people and knows a lot of players, clubs, tactics, training, etc. She has been pretty successful wherever she has gone as far as I know.

Not to rain on any parades though, but could someone more knowledgable explain these comments to me?

Big Soccer Forum post wrote:Any national team player that played for her will surely not be going to Portland now

That is from Big Soccer Forum's Women's College discussion board.

And then this exchange on Twitter regarding Frenchie's hire:

@chris_awk wrote:Oh no.

Then, someone replied with:

Twitter Reply wrote:at least she’s away from US Soccer

by wrv Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:14 am

Michelle had to be at or near the top of Pilot list of candidates.

Negotiations may have been somewhat complicated, perhaps including staff salaries, and may have taken some time to complete.

Delays or not, the hire is indeed money for the Pilots.

by Sound Voltex Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:40 am

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:
Not to rain on any parades though, but could someone more knowledgable explain these comments to me?

Not a US Women's soccer expert, but a post a few replies down in the Big Soccer Forum thread probably answers your question:

I can see why Portland would want to make the French hire. An alum with good playing experience, female is a plus.

But a few questions. Hasn’t been a college head coach, can she step in and get it done? Big learning curve, but not impossible and can be done. And while she has experience coaching youth national teams, is it ‘good’ experience? Every national team she had coached has vastly underperformed. Will be interested to see how she pans out there over time.

From her Wikipedia, she does have some collegiate exposure as an assistant coach for UCLA and UW, though this was back in 2002 and 2005.

Regarding underperformance, during her tenure as USWNT U-20 coach, her teams failed to medal in the 2014 and 2016 U-20 World Cups (Eliminated in QFs and 4th place respectively). Given the winning benchmarks of the main USWNT and the fact this is supposed to be "development" for a possible future spot on the national team, probably not exactly the best results. Which is why you probably see some salt coming from some diehard US women's soccer fans.

http://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/shawhan-the-depressing-cynicism-of-the-u-s-u-20-womens-national-team/

by UPSoccerFanatic Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:41 am

I don't think the "Oh no" comment was about the hiring of Michelle. It was in response to someone else's tweet.

by DoubleDipper Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:49 pm

Personally not bothered by the criticism of French included in this Stumptown Footy article....but it's obvious she will come under scrutiny from some.

https://www.stumptownfooty.com/2017/12/16/16785886/michelle-french-hired-by-university-of-portland

Welcome, Michelle! Just like any program that has been down awhile, it will take some time to come back....but come back it will!

by ExpatPilot Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:58 pm

Thanks for the responses.

I’m no expert on this stuff, and I don’t pretend to be one, but I feel like it is difficult to criticize coaches for U23, U20, U17, U14, and other youth national teams. Those teams have huge pools of players and the point is not necessarily to win the U20 World Cup (would be nice) but it is to develop the one or two players who will eventually make the senior national team. It’s probably difficult to have a cohesive squad when you never know which of the several hundred potential players will be on your team.

The same criticism was levied at Caleb Porter.

This is all to say that the college game is very diffiferent than national team development. She will have one team of 20-30 players and that is it.

by Geezaldinho Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:27 pm

Frenchie also wasn’t the one who decided most of the roster selection and often on playing time.

Those decisions mostly came down from April Heinrichs and on the USSF head development coach April Kanter, who directed the squad selection for the u20 and u17 teams coached by BJ Snow. They also apparently informed the two coaches which players they wanted to see in particular games.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/13/24/us-soccer-hires-michelle-french-as-head-coach-for-the-u20-wnt

It was a criticism raised after the first u20 WC that the USA was eliminated by Germany, and the hope was that the second time around would be different. I’m not sure it was.

The Development coach position was created in 2011 before Michelle was hired.

Previous coaches ( Swanson, Waldren) had more autonomy. DiCicco an his own show.

by DoubleDipper Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:09 pm

Not personally able to attend, I look forward to reading comments from those who meet-and-greet with Coach French at 3 o'clock today in the HOF Room in the Chiles Center.

I understand there will be FREE FOOD!! Shocked

by Geezaldinho Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:31 pm

DD wrote:I understand there will be FREE FOOD!! Shocked

Hopein’ for free beer.

Let us know if you made par.

by Geezaldinho Mon Dec 18, 2017 2:41 pm

Aaand. I’m not disappointed

by Geezaldinho Mon Dec 18, 2017 4:39 pm

It was a very positive intro from Michelle. All the right things were said, but the most telling thing was that with a whole room of people waiting to meet her, she gathered the most important people to chat with right after her presentation.

Pilots Hire Michelle French! Ac973010

by A_Fan Mon Dec 18, 2017 7:17 pm

She mentioned that several former players had already reached out to her and were interested in getting involved with the program. Rachel Rapinoe was at the event, she was very enthusiastic about the new coach.

by DoubleDipper Mon Dec 18, 2017 10:36 pm

Fr. Mark may have made her cry, but from our first look at Michelle now back at UP after 19 years, she's an impressive lady who's ready to get to work revitalizing the program.

Nice that she and Scott both thanked Garrett during their remarks. Cool

by ejjqb Tue Dec 19, 2017 11:05 pm

Interesting that the Pilots roll out a new ticket pricing initiative along with the introduction of Michelle French. Frankly, they needed to do something to entice more butts in the seats. Most of the games got pretty lonely this year. I hope that it has great success along with the teams on the field. We were getting tired of being surrounded by opponents' fans in the reserved seating area.

by DoubleDipper Wed Dec 20, 2017 11:00 am

Don't forget this week's Portside With the Pilots will include an in-depth interview with Coach French....

It's on NBC Sports Northwest tomorrow (Thursday, 12/21) at 5:30.

by purple passion Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:13 pm

After reading the remarks of others, I can see why I was asked my opinion about Michelle when my new season ticket rep called today. If I knew what impact she will have in the W column, I would have run down to 7 11 and bought a lottery ticket today. I DO know a little about head coaches and their success or failure is almost always heavily determined by the assistants. As a season ticket holder, I will try to come up with ideas for putting fans in the seats for 2018.

by DoubleDipper Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:03 pm

I was asked last evening what I know about Coach French's assistants, and my answer was, "very little," but I have heard she has "one starting this week," which I took to understand a new coach will be starting the first week in January.

As purplepassion wrote, "I DO know a little about head coaches and their success or failure is almost always heavily determined by the assistants."

My only recommendation is she hire a Goal Keeper Coach to go along with other assistants!! I believe a coach concentrating on goal keepers only is essential in the best of times, but it is especially important when your offense is scoring so few goals.

Next year's roster is set in that the number of incoming recruits currently equals the number of graduating seniors, but as soccer scholarships can be shared, I expect we'll see some international players being recruited, maybe some even south of the equator, as we get closer to NLI signing time.

Frenchie and other soccer alums recognize the need to recruit outside the US and certainly outside FC Portland where so many recruits have come from in recent years. Not a knock on FC Portland, but the Pilots have to do better if they are begin winning in the WCC again!

by Geezaldinho Sun Dec 31, 2017 10:03 pm

There is a NYT camp for most ages starting the fifth in Florida. I’m pretty sure the goal was to get recruiting assistant(s) on board to attend.

by DoubleDipper Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:21 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:I was asked last evening what I know about Coach French's assistants, and my answer was, "very little," but I have heard she has "one starting this week," which I took to understand a new coach will be starting the first week in January.

No announcement made regarding any new assistants, but I'm led to believe Coach French will hire a total of three assistants, including a much needed goal keeper coach.

Our spy in Florida attending many of the numerous youth tournaments this month indicates that in addition to Frenchie, there is at least one assistant coach representing UP, and he was NOT on the staff previously....and apparently he is NOT a UP alum.

by Geezaldinho Wed Jan 03, 2018 2:29 pm

We have spies everywhere!

by DoubleDipper Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:57 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:No announcement made regarding any new assistants, but I'm led to believe Coach French will hire a total of three assistants, including a much needed goal keeper coach.

Well, if I had known the rules, I would not have made that statement.

In women's soccer, the coaching staff can consist of the head coach and two paid assistants, and one paid Director of Soccer Operations. The staff can also have one volunteer assistant.

The only staff members allowed to recruit are the head coach and the two paid assistants.

(Most of you probably already knew all this, but I still can't figure out half the soccer rules, including most of the time when a player is offside Embarassed

)

One more note about assistants....it would appear now that none of the previous staff will be returning to work for Coach French.

by Geezaldinho Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:52 am

Well, there are rules and there are rules.

Here’s UNC’s staff listing.

http://goheels.com/roster.aspx?path=wsoc#sidearm-roster-coaches
Anson Dorrance Head Coach
Chris Ducar Assistant Coach
Damon Nahas Assistant Coach
Bill Palladino Assistant Coach
Brittani Bartok Marketing/Social Media Coordinator
Tom Sander Director of Women's Soccer Operations
Khara Vassell Undergraduate Assistant Coach
Sydney Wooten Undergraduate Assistant Coach

All three assistants are listed on North Carolina state payroll sites as making more than $100k a year.

The highest paid assistant is the Volunteer assistant Bill Palladino who has been at Anson’s side for 37 years.

Officially, he is retired. His “pension” is higher than his salary was when he was a paid coach.

Then, of course, there are the camps.
whatever money staff, including volunteer, make in camps or other salaried positions is exempt from the count.

One volunteer assistant UNC had was Cindy Parlow, who went directly from that volunteer position to first head coach of the Thorns.

For another example, Cal’s Volunteer assistant is John Lipsitz, who was previously Kentucky’s head coach for 8 seasons and took the wildcats To the tournament 4 times.

Schools find ways to keep volunteers volunteering.

by DoubleDipper Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:01 pm

It's been pretty quiet around the soccer office, but an unconfirmed report from Florida indicates the first assistant hired is former Linfield head coach and San Jose St. assistant, Dominic (Dom) Doty.

Doty was only 23 when he began his 4-year stint with Linfield women's soccer prior to joining Lauren Hanson's staff for 2 years. A McMinnville native, Doty played his soccer at Santa Clara and has most recently worked for Nike and owned Doty Performance.

I'm not sure I would recognize Rachael Rapinoe after more than 10 years away from the Bluff, but I've heard more than one report that she's been on campus lately.....could be nothing or it could be something. Razz

by Geezaldinho Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:27 pm

Oh God!,,, he’s a Bronco!

Dominic Doty was appointed as an assistant women's soccer coach in the spring of 2014.

In his first season on the staff, San José State finished 8-8-3 overall and 5-5-1 in Mountain West play. The mark was a vast improvement from just one season prior when the team finished 3-14-1 and 2-7-1 in conference play. Under Doty's guidence the team doubled its offensive output in 2014, scoring 22 goals after just 10 went into the net in 2013. The defense also saw a huge lift, allowing 18 goals when the year before it gave up 33.

Doty joined the Spartans' coaching staff after four years as the head coach of Linfield College's (McMinnville, Ore.) women's soccer program. Doty left as the program's winningst coach in history, amassing a record of 70-28-8. During his first full season as head coach in 2009, he guided the Wildcats to their first winning season in history, and highest Northwest Conference finish in seven years.

In the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons, Linfield set school records in wins and Northwest Conference placing. The team racked up three-consecutive second place conference finishes in 2011, 2012, and 2013 under Doty. Twenty-seven (27) of his athletes earned all-conference honors, and four were awarded conference Offensive or Defensive Player of the Year awards.

As a collegiate coach, Doty places heavy emphasis on the importance of academics. Doty coached four Wildcats to NSCAA All-Region honors and two CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees.

While at Linfield, Doty also served as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team from 2007-13 and an assistant coach for the men's soccer team from 2007-08. His father, Larry Doty, was head coach of the men's basketball team for 26 years and is the winningest coach in program history.

Doty graduated from Santa Clara University in 2007 with a Bachelor's degree in management. Doty competed for the men's soccer team for two seasons.

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