This week on The IX Sports Podcast Soccer Edition, host Kathleen Gier is joined by Dustyn Richardson of Bayou City Soccer to talk about the Houston Dash.
Richardson said that the team has struggled to build a fan base, even though the city boasts people from all over the world, plus a diverse array of youth soccer clubs.
The team also parted ways with Head Coach Fabrice Gautrat last month, and is currently in 12th place with three matches left in the regular season.
“The NWSL in general, I feel like has kind of turned the last few years into just recycling a lot of these coaches, which is kind of odd. So, I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see Fabrice somewhere else next year,” Gier said.
Gier also said that it felt like a lot of coaching decisions across the league this year have been “surprising,” citing both Gautrat and the ouster of Seb Hines in Orlando.
“I feel like you know, big picture, all of the coach decisions this year in the NWSL still have been kind of surprising,” Gier said. “Feels like there’s just a much shorter window of opportunity for them.”
Richardson said that in the future, he could see the Dash picking up someone like Becky Tweed to coach the team. Tweed is an assistant coach with San Diego Wave FC, and previously led Angel City FC to a playoff run a few years back.
The Dash also fired Twila Kilgore as the club’s technical director after less than a year on the job.
“I think there’s been a lot of uncertainty just around this team and around the the club as a whole, but overall, I think they’re putting together, they’re building it the right way,” Richardson said. “And if you would have told me — if we’d have had this talk two weeks ago — I’d have said they’re doing a really great job and going in the right direction,” prior to the two firings.
Houston has a good foundation of women’s soccer though, Richardson said, with several prominent college teams in the area.
“I think like as as it continues to grow, it’s going to take time, right? Like it’s not an overnight thing as fans might hope, but I think there’s a lot of there’s a lot of that foundation in place here,” Richardson said.
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