Recently, new Boston Breakers head coach Lisa Cole spoke with me about succeeding her mentor Tony DiCicco as head coach and replacing departed GM Andy Crossley on an interim basis.
Cole has been DiCicco’s assistant coach since the Breakers made their 2009 WPS debut and formerly worked for him as president and assistant coach of SoccerPlus Connecticut Reds of Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL). Prior to the Breakers, she was assistant coach at Florida State, head coach at University of Rhode Island and assistant coach at the University of Connecticut. Cole holds a USSF “A” license and NSCAA Premier Diploma and is an NSCAA staff coach and a member of the Region I Olympic Development Program (ODP) staff.
The Boston Breakers, one of the two remaining franchises since the inaugural 2009 season, is in a state of transition with minority owner Mike Stoller looking to replace Gary Loveman, who bowed out of his majority ownership. Although the Breakers reached the playoffs for the past two consecutive years and in 2011 led the league in season ticket sales [1,200] and drew crowds as large as 7,118, professional women’s soccer is still a precarious enterprise. Although several credible investors are looking to enter teams in new markets in WPS in 2012, the existing six ownership groups are still looking for ways to survive.
Interview with Lisa Cole
LE: How do you see WPS in 2012?
Cole: I’m excited, but we’ve got some work to do before we get players on the field. There’s expansion looking to happen and the League owners are looking for ways to save money, which may mean that player salaries come down. It may mean that we see a cap, which we didn’t have this year, but the main goal of the League is to make sure that we continue to exist.
Right now, individual teams are signing players and it’s up to the individual teams to decide what they’re going to spend. But there is the talk that we’ll go to a salary cap so we don’t have the haves and have-nots in the League and we can keep some parity.
LE: Are you in the process of selecting 2012 players now?
Cole: Right now we’re able to exercise options on players that we currently have options on, we’re able to sign and talk to free agents that are on our team, but after October 14, we’re in quiet period. Then on November 9, we’ll be able to talk to other players and sign other free agents. Right now, we’re just looking at our roster and making decisions on players we want to keep or release.
LE: Have you made any decisions on that yet?
Cole: We don’t have too many options on players, but we’re looking at exercising Keelin Winters’ option and Taryn Hemmings' and Kelly Smith's. Those would be the three right now.
LE: Are international players more expensive?
Cole: Yes, because even if the cost of an international is the same salary-wise or housing-wise, you have to go through the visa process and that costs money. They also tend to be more expensive. They have an expectation that they’ll make more money than a young American will make.
LE: How much does the average international cost compared to Americans?
Cole: Marta blows that right out of the water and so do some of these other players. You have some internationals that are earning the minimum of what other players are earning. We had an international on our team and her salary was the same as a rookie and then we have Kelly Smith who’s earning something else. It just depends on the quality of the player.
LE: What are the differences in style between you and Tony DiCicco?
Cole: Tony has mentored me for a long time and we have a lot of similarities, but I like to let the game teach. I have some opinions on players and those sometimes differ on what we need at times. I’ll look to have a younger team than maybe we had last year, maybe give some players some confidence and opportunities to prove themselves going forward.
LE: When were you offered the job of head coach?
Cole: On and off, Tony was talking about retiring. It’s been hard for him and his wife for him to be here in Boston and to be apart. We sat down and talked about it last year at the end of the year and at the beginning of this year, so I kind of expected it was going to go in that direction. At the end of the season, the ownership asked me if I’d be interested in taking the position.
LE: Have you chosen an assistant yet?
Cole: I haven’t done any hiring yet. Nathan Kip was our goalie coach last year, but I haven’t had a conversation with him yet about next year at this point.
LE: How did you become interim GM when Andy Crossley left?
Cole: We needed somebody to spearhead our office to make sure we were in line with the League and with closing up shop as far as moving our office from one location to another location, cleaning up the locker room and all those things. I was willing to do that and it’s gone pretty smoothly. I was the GM for the SoccerPlus Connecticut Reds, I ran that W-League team, so the easiest person to have do it was me, but I’m going to be really happy to give those responsibilities to somebody else here soon.
We’re just focused on ownership and then we’ll make those decisions, assistant coaches and so forth, after we’ve found our ownership piece.
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