World Cup Champion coach Tony DiCicco has left the Boston Breakers after coaching the team since their WPS debut in 2009 and turned the reins over to his assistant Lisa Cole, the only female coach in WPS.
Besides winning the 1999 Womens' World Cup and the 1996 Olympic gold medal for the United States, DiCicco also led U.S. U-20s to win 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. DiCicco has accumulated a record of 103-8-8, making him the all-time wins leader in the U.S. National Soccer Team history. Early in his career, DiCicco was a goalkeeper in LASA and the American Soccer Leagues and coached the U.S. Men's National U-20 program in 1993. He also runs his own SoccerPlus camps and clubs and works as a commentator for ESPN, most recently at World Cup Germany.
The Boston Breakers, one of the most successful teams in WPS, is in a period of transition. Although the Breakers reached the playoffs for the past two consecutive years, led the league in 2011 season ticket sales [1,200], and drew crowds as large as 7,118, it has been a turbulent year. Owner Mike Stoller is currently looking for an investor to replace majority owner Gary Loveman, GM Andy Crossley recently left the organization and jersey sponsor Foxwoods Casino Resort discontinued the relationship in the preseason.
Today, DiCicco spoke with me about his departure, the future of the Boston Breakers and WPS, and MLS affiliation with women's teams.
Interview with Tony DiCicco on leaving the Boston Breakers
LE: What are your outgoing thoughts on leaving the Boston Breakers?
DiCicco: I loved coaching the Boston Breakers and appreciate the ownership giving me the opportunity to do that, but it was also a strain on me from a family standpoint. My wife was in Connecticut and I was up here in Boston for most of the summer.
I’m just happy to be able to turn the team over to Lisa Cole, who handled the team when I was in Germany working for ESPN. My only regret is I was hoping to win a Championship, which we didn’t do, but as far as having the opportunity to work with the great players and getting to know them on a personal basis was something I’ll always cherish.
This group was an awesome group to work with. They worked hard every day in training and they liked each other. The fact that we went to the playoffs in Florida and every player that wasn’t on the travel team got herself down to Florida on her own dime was an indication of how close that team was.
LE: Will Lisa Cole be Boston Breakers head coach next year?
DiCicco: Yes, I think so, she’s already been confirmed by the owners.
LE: How do you feel about that?
DiCicco: No. 1, she’s an outstanding coach. The players loved being coached by her when I was away in Germany this year. She’s been an understudy to me and other coaches for a while. Lisa is a very hard worker and she’s very talented, so she’s ready for a head coaching position and will be outstanding. And we need more female coaches, not only in the League, but throughout the sport.
LE: What’s next for you?
DiCicco: I don’t know, we’ll see. When something ends, something else opens up. I’m working with my camps, going through the business side of things.
LE: Can we expect to see you coaching another nation’s national team soon?
DiCicco: I don’t have anything out there right now. Coaching internationally is something I really enjoy, I’d love to have an opportunity to do it again, but right now I’m not speaking to any countries.
LE: In your three years in Boston, what did the Breakers do right and what could they have done better?
DiCicco: Good question. I know that I should have done better on the field. Winning on the field is always a piece of the equation on the business side. And I don’t think we did a good enough job with the media.
We should have done a better job of engaging the media to get coverage in the Boston Globe and Examiner, radio and TV. That’s something all the teams in the League should do a better job with.
LE: The Breakers had some real setbacks this year, including losing goal scorer Jordan Angeli in the first game and recently GM Andy Crossley.
DiCicco: I believe Andy has taken another position and right now Lisa Cole is the interim general manager until someone is named.
For a good part of the season, we lost our three top scorers from 2010 – Jordan Angeli, and Kelly Smith never came back anywhere near her top form after World Cup, and we lost Lauren Cheney after the World Cup with an ankle injury until the last two games. It hurt, but we still fought to get into the playoffs.
LE: What will become of the Breakers in 2012?
DiCicco: The Breakers are the best franchise in the League in some areas, not necessarily on the field, we didn’t win a championship, but it has the most season ticket holders - we’re probably close to twice as many as any other team in the League - and it’s the only team in a city, so it’s on public transit. It’s led the League in ticket revenues in the first few years and it’s among the teams that lose the least amount of money, and that goes back to the WUSA when it was one of the best franchises.
Boston has always been a really great market for sports, so I think it’s attractive. As to the search for additional investors, the conversations I’ve had have been positive.
LE: There’s been talk about a WPS team coming out of Connecticut.
DiCicco: I don’t know anything about that.
LE: What do you think the future holds for MLS and women’s soccer?
DiCicco: There’s real interest within individual markets in MLS. I don’t think every MLS team is looking at a women’s team, but certain teams are interested and have had a history of supporting women’s soccer and feel that they’re in good areas for women’s soccer. There are clearly MLS franchises that will want to also have women’s professional teams as part of the overall package.
MLS is a success story, there’s no question about it. Don Garber has done a great job with the League. The quality of the play has gotten better and better, but they also hit a crossroads in history where it came down to Philip Anschutz and Lamar Hunt picking up franchises that were being dropped and continuing to operate those franchises. Anschutz owned six teams at one time and Lamar owned three or four teams and eventually they were able to sell those back out as the League stabilized.
Professional soccer is not an easy business in America, but MLS has shown that it can be successful. WPS has some very engaged owners so I’m optimistic.
I’d like to see that if MLS teams get involved with professional women’s soccer they join WPS. That would be the best scenario. What we don’t want is competing leagues at that level because they’ll just cannibalize each other.
LE: You seem confident that there will be a WPS in 2012.
DiCicco: I am, yes, because I talked to owners and they’re confident there’s going to be a league. In the second half of the season after World Cup, there was a spike in attendance and interest. Star power is a wonderful quality. WPS for the first real time had America’s star power with Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach and Lauren Cheney and Heather O’Reilly and they've certainly become 100% better known.
LE: What should WPS do better?
DiCicco: They’ve got to control costs and I don’t think they’ve done a good job this past year controlling costs. When you control costs the things that are cut back are the number of people in marketing. But there’s a fine line between cutting costs and undermining the ability to get the word out and develop the brand.
Unlike the WNBA, WPS is a very unique demographic. It’s young girls that are so adept at social media and their families. It’s great family entertainment. It’s dynamic. I compare it to when I was a kid, fathers and their sons going to baseball games. Now what I see is fathers and their daughters going to soccer matches.
LE: Where is WPS going next year?
DiCicco: WPS was stable this year and there’s a lot of new interest. I was amazed when I spoke to the front office and they said they had dozens of markets that are interested in coming into WPS. Some of them are real legitimate situations and others are probably more wishful thinking, but if WPS can be stable and continue to grow you’ll see more franchises coming into the League and WPS will turn a corner.
FOLLOW BOSTON PRO SOCCER EXAMINER AND LE EISENMENGER ON TWITTER AND SUBSCRIBE TO EMAIL ALERTS.
Comments