KC Current: Fire your Head Coach, win Matches
By Mike Gambill
Sometimes soccer can be a matter for the “unlucky” and sometimes teams just need to shake off bad vibes or that sense that things are not heading in the right direction. For the Kansas City Current, the 2023 NWSL season has been anything but kind to the squad and so without further adieu, let’s fire your head coach and really get the season rolling.
Matt Potter: From underdog hero to out of a job.
Matt Potter built himself a bit of a legend during this stay with the Kansas City Current. When he was hired after a disastrous 2021 season, expectations for this franchise had hit rock bottom. With little or no “big name” stars on the roster, the 2022 version of this squad literally played with a chip on their collective shoulder and went from worst in the league to the NWSL championship match in one year. Sounds like a coach who found his niche, right?
In response to their success in 2022, the KC Current spent the off-season in a free agency frenzy and signed Brazilian star Debinha to picking up free agents Morgan Gautrat and Vanessa DiBernardo from the Chicago Red Stars. Along with a number of top draft picks including Michelle Cooper and Alexa Spaanstra, you would think that the Current were on their way to building a bit of a dynasty early on this current season.
Along the way to building a dynasty, two things happened: injuries and a lack of goal-scoring. If you know anything about any team sports, injuries to a few key players can be devastating; having 11 players currently on the injured list is an entire starting 11 soccer team. Furthermore, not putting the round thing inside of the big square thing (actually a big rectangle but you get the meaning) means that either you draw a lot of your matches or you lose them all. Guess what? An 0-3-0 start to the season meant that the Kansas City Current was on a downward spiral, ready to repeat the disastrous 2021 season.
Fire your head coach, and start winning matches.
This past week, apparently the Current front office had enough of the losing ways and showed Matt Potter the front door as a way of saying thank you for your service now leave. The timing of the termination is dubious at best given that the Current had a Challenge Cup match and a regular match scheduled for the week and assistant coach Caroline Sjoblom stepped in as the interim head coach and guess what happened? Two wins in a row including a solid 2-0 Challenge Cup win against the Houston Dash and another 2-0 win versus the Orlando Pride on Sunday have changed the trajectory of this franchise. Respectability and moving up the NWSL table are now within reach of the Kansas City Current and if any of the underdog is left in them from last season, they should shift their focus on winning more matches down the road.
Are we missing anything in this scenario?
I understand that coaches get fired after poor seasons but Matt Potter just led a major overhaul of a downtrodden NWSL franchise into a winner. Yes, being winless this season doesn’t look good but the optics of this firing seem, well, off. The 2023 season is only three matches old and “sacking the gaffer” after just three losses seems a bit extreme.
Enter another, more dubious scenario. Current general manager Camille Ashton is quoted as saying that Potter’s abrupt dismissal is based on “issues about leadership and employment responsibilities.” Well, that sums it up, right? That blanket statement could mean just about anything.
Of course, complaints from Kansas City Current draftee Mykkia Minniss about her treatment in training camp and subsequently being cut from the team do present itself as more of a back story for the Potter dismissal. However, it’s probably far more prudent to allow the NWSL Players’ Association to make a more thorough investigation into this matter before we start firing up the blame throwers here. Whether this coaching change is based on some ill-advised treatment of rookie players or a current player mutiny is at this point pure conjecture, and better understood by the parties involved than the public. What is certain is one thing for the Kansas City Current: fire your head coach, and start winning matches.
