Wednesday September 5th, we sat down with Houston Dash head coach Randy Waldrum and Managing Director Brian Ching immediately following the Dash internal end of season meeting. We talked about a host of issues including the pair’s transition into new roles, the 2014 season and we discussed 2015.

Over the next week Orange in the Oven will publish several articles incorporating these interviews. This is look forward to 2015 with Waldrum & Ching. The 2014 review Part 1 can be found here and Part II here.

Coming off of a season where they had only a few months to pull together a roster and a limited pool of players to select from, Brian Ching and Randy Waldrum are focused on taking all they have learned this year and applying it towards turning the Dash around in 2015 both on an off the field.

Our goal is to go out there and get the best players that we can.

“I think we have to do a better job in putting the group together now. We have some time, so we have to get that right with the roster and I think we have got to do some things better in the community. I want us to be where we are Portland; where we are getting 10,000 here instead of 4,000. There is no reason that we should not be able to do that here in Houston,” says Waldrum.

The turnarounds engineered by the Seattle Reign and Washington Spirit show that worst to first (or at least to a playoff run) can be accomplished. “It’s still a players league so it is all about getting the players and I think that if you look at their rosters a year ago and you look at them today, they both improved dramatically,” notes Waldrum in talking about Seattle and Washington.

Both Waldrum and Ching point towards quality international players being key to the turnaround of Seattle – in particular – as well as Washington, and an important element of the Dash off-season plans.

“Their internationals were all really key internationals – [Jessica] Fishlock, Kim Little and [Naho] Kawasumi for Seattle, for sure they changed those teams. You look at Washington, although I don’t think [Kerstin] Garefrekes came in at the end and changed them a whole lot but you look at what he did with his allocated spots and a couple of the Spanish kids he had in there early on helped his roster. Jodie Taylor for sure was a big get for him upfront,” points out Waldrum.

Ching adds, “It’s a big area for us. I think we’ve learned from Seattle that there are great players out there to go after.”

“Obviously when we’re looking at our international slots we look at them differently than we did at the beginning of the year. We look at them as we want to bring in players like Kim Little, obviously Fishlock. We did that with Aya Sameshima, unfortuately she was injured when she came in here, but she could have been a player that helped change things for us. But we are definitely going for big impact players in the international market,” elaborates Ching.

Aug 31, 2014; Tukwila, WA, USA; FC Kansas City midfielder Erika Tymrak (15) and Seattle Reign FC midfielder Jessica Fishlock (10) and forward Naho Kawasumi (9) fight for the ball during the first half at Starfire Soccer Stadium. Kansas City defeated Seattle 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

There is full agreement between the Dash Head Coach and Managing Director that attracting quality top level internationals is of critical importance to building a contender for 2015. The second piece to the rebuild is finding and signing experienced players domestically that can help the team on day one of the new season.

Despite holding the #1 pick in the College Draft, the Dash see the draft as playing less of a role in engineering an immediate turnaround. “I think what you see if you go back and you look at the top 10 picks in the college draft – Chris, Brian and I did this the other day – you really only see that there were 4 or 5 of those first rounders that helped teams right away,” explains Waldrum.

A distinct lack of experience was an issue that plagued the Dash across the pitch in 2014. Frequent starters Ari Romero, Osi Ohale, Marissa Diggs, Jordan Jackson and Kealia Ohai were all first year players. Stephanie Ochs, while not technically a first year player was tantamount to one by virtue of the fact that it was her first year playing as a fullback. Several key substitutes were first year players as well. “We have got to get more experience in our team, so that is something that we will certainly be looking at as we move forward,” emphasizes Waldrum when talking about how the team needs to be developed.

Ching has spent time talking to the Washington Spirit about what they accomplished and the process they went through in rebuilding as well. “He [Mark Parsons of Washington] shared with me that they went through the same growing pains and problems that we did their first season in trying to figure out the league, the players and what not. They had a game plan going into their 2nd season and that’s something we are excited about is the fact that we will have a game plan and we will have a year under our belts of knowing how to do things and creating a standard here.”

When the Dash were founded, President Chris Canetti and Ching stated their goal to make the team the best women’s soccer team in the world. From where they sit today, there is long way to go in order to reach that objective however there is a visible path. “We understand that is going to be a process so I think we need to just continually build and continually get better,” says Ching.

“We definitely have our eye on a lot of players around the league that we’d love to have come in and help us out and we know that we need to strengthen our team and we are starting that process.”

The Dash are counting on the advantages that the organization has through its linkage to the Houston Dynamo to put them at the forefront of attracting players. On the men’s side, the going theory is that some players do not wish to come to Houston due to the heat and other issues.

In addition, from a global perspective MLS is a second tier league. On the women’s side it is an entirely different story, however. NWSL is arguably the best league in the world for female soccer players to play in. Within NWSL, Houston has a significant advantage compared to most teams in the quality of their facilities at the support system for the players.

“I think players in the league realize that Houston is a great place to play. For one, we have the best field in the league, we have a grass field in the stadium and one of the best training facilities in the league which is also grass. We have plans to develop their own locker room, maybe not next year but 2016 is definitely a realistic thing for them. Once those things come in place it truly will be probably one of the best situations for female soccer players in the world,” says Ching.

Selecting and Identifying International Players

Despite the lack of their own internal scouting network, the Dash have a game plan for identifying and selecting the best international players they can. “Randy has a lot of contacts through his coaching years and he is going to go through a lot of that. A lot of internet scouting goes through watching games; international games. Having said that, we already have players on our radar. It’s just a matter of them being on a contract and wanting to come to the United States to play so we definitely have feelers out there already for some players who are on our radar,” says Ching.

Waldrum elaborates, “What we have done and what we will continue to do is, fortunately I have some good contacts around the world through so many years of coaching and we’ve hit all of them up to give us information on players which some have already helped us out quite a bit. Others are through agents, you know the connections that we have with agents who are representing those players abroad. Our players have been a great resource to be honest with you. Ella [Masar] and Erin [McLeod] have been around the league so long and they know a lot of the foreign players and have gotten us in touch with some of the players. So really it’s a little bit of everything.”

As part of the scouting process, Waldrum plans to spend a couple of weeks in Europe later this fall seeing players and teams first hand. “I have some contacts in England and want to go look at some of the teams in the league there. Denmark, obviously, with the Danish coach coming in we made a good connection with him [the national team coach of Denmark spent time with the Dash this summer].

“Germany I’ve got some really good contacts through my NSCAA contacts there. So I’ll spend about two weeks and pre-plan the clubs I am going to go visit and the games we want to see. I’ve already got a list probably of about 16-17 names internationally, even if some of them are what I have seen through Champions League and whether I know we’ll have a shot at them or we won’t, just kind of a wish list that we’ve put together that we’ll start to investigate and find out what the availability is.”

Impact of the World Cup

A critical issue that the Dash will need to keep in mind as they put together the roster for 2015 is the impact of the Women’s World Cup. The NWSL has released the schedule format for next season, the results of which has significant implications for teams. National team players will miss up to eight games out of a twenty game season. Within the existing roster, if all players returned that could mean as many as eight players missing time – Whitney Engen, Meghan Klingenberg, Erin McLeod, Kaylyn Kyle, Lauren Sesselmann, Teresa Noyola, Ari Romero and Osi Ohale.

Marissa Diggs, Credit: Nigel Brooks

To the extent the Dash bring in more national team players for next season, that means more players missing on national team duty. Missing players is nothing new to the Dash and, in fact, if all teams were missing their national team players this past season it might have leveled the playing field a bit, a fact that Ching noted. Nevertheless, there is a clear impact on how the roster gets put together.

“In some sense we are almost going to have to be building two teams if you think about it, because we know in the first half of the season we are going to be without all of those players,” says Waldrum. “So we’ve got to build a roster that can be winning when they’re gone and keep us at the forefront of the league instead of the back of the league and waiting until they come back, because playing catch up is just too hard to do when they come back.

“So, I think the plan is we are trying to build a roster that can help us win when those players aren’t here and then it will be more of a bonus when we get them back, so that’s kind of what Brian and I have set out to do in looking at the players, especially some of the players in the league already that are just players domestically that we can get. We are trying to find those players that we can either make some trades for or whatever that we can get in here that are going to help us win games without our national team players.”

Ching talks about the implications of carrying close to two teams full of players, “I think next year we are going to have a number of players who are here who will have the opportunity to be on the roster when our national team players are away. We carried a lot of players this year, our challenge for next year knowing the level of the league a lot more is having a competitive pool of players. Obviously I think that we’re going to find ways to get our reserve players and players who could potential play for us games other than NWSL games.”

A number of NWSL teams have reserve teams including Seattle, Sky Blue, Boston, Washington and Chicago. Some of the teams compete in WPSL while others are playing in the W-League. Chris Canetti has indicated in the past that a Dash reserve team is unlikely, however Ching’s comment opens the door to the possibility. While Ching stopped shy of using the term “reserves side”, at a minimum a formal partnership of some form would be required to get competitive playing time for players who are not on the active roster.

Necessarily, experienced domestic players are a key element of building a deeper squad capable of competing on the front end of the season. “We’ve got to find some players around the league who want to be in Houston and I think there’s been a number already that have reached out to us so I don’t think that will be a problem. There are a number that want to be here and that want to play in Houston, so I think we’ll have a much better chance of getting some experienced players on that front end domestically that can get us here,” says Waldrum.

Credit: Nigel Brooks

Back on the international front; the best international players in the world are likely to be on teams that will be at the World Cup, so an obvious question is whether the Dash would shy away from using their international slots to get players who might miss up to half of the season on World Cup duty? Ching says absolutely not, “Our goal is to go out there and get the best players that we can. If they are playing in the World Cup, then they are playing in the World Cup and hopefully they lose in the 1st round.

“Joking aside, it’s definitely in our conversations. We have 3 international spots and like I said, I think if we can go out and get a Fishlock or a Kim Little, then we are going to sign them regardless of whether they are going to be gone for the entire World Cup because that would just set us up to be a better team in the future”

Waldrum is of a similar mind but would prefer to have at least one international who is not at the World Cup, “In an ideal world if I could find an international that is not going to be away at the World Cup that can help us that would be ideal. It may be that two are away for the World Cup and one is not or the other way. If we can keep from it, I’d hate to have all three internationals be gone for the whole World Cup along with our national team players but it just depends on the players that we ultimately end up with so it’s kind of really that concept of building two teams.”

The Dash have three international slots at the moment. They used all three this season on Osi Ohale, Nina Burger and Rafa Souza. While not official, it seems unlikely that Burger will return. Signing her was a calculated risk that did not pay off in the way the Dash might have hoped. Discussions have been held with Souza about applying for a green card which would move her out of the international slots. That would leave just Ohale, assuming she returns, and up to two international slots to work with.

Where Are the Dash Looking to Improve?

The Dash need to upgrade the roster across the board. However, despite the goals against record this year, if not for the World Cup then the defense would get the least attention. With a full season of all of their defenders available, the back line would actually look quite strong relative to other teams. The World Cup will essentially shred the back line, however. “If Osi’s gone if Nigeria qualifies, Engen and Kling if they both end up on the roster, Sesslemann, Romero, we could be back in the same boat,” says Waldrum.

“So we are probably going to have to go after a really good center back that has some experience. I’d rather not try and go into it with a young college player or a young player again and go through those growing pains. I don’t know if I can take those early goals again. So I think a center back is going to be a priority that we are going to have to find if possible. I think we have to do that just because of the World Cup.”

The biggest need on the roster, however, is in attack both from the standpoint of attacking midfielder and forwards. “We’ve got to find somebody that is proven that can score goals that’s done it and that’s done it at every level. I think that’s got to be a must for us,” says Waldrum.

“I think at an attacking midfielder as well. I think if you look at the differences between those teams, you watch KC and Seattle in the final and they are there largely because of Kim Little, and to an extent Fishlock, but Kim Little especially to add to that front line that they had. I think you can say the same for KC with [Lauren] Holiday in midfield and having Amy Rodriguez up front just scoring goals for them.”

Waldrum continues, “You know for us, I think we created a lot of chances this year but we didn’t still have that prolific goal scorer. I think Kealia [Ohai] is going to get better over time. She’s going to create an awful lot of chances for us but we have to improve her finishing and we have to do the same with Henderson so we need somebody who can carry that load for us upfront. So, those two to me – especially attacking mid and another really, really big-time forward if not maybe two. I think on the attacking side of things is a big, big priority for us.”

Roster Implications

So, what does that mean from the standpoint of returning players and new starters next season? The Dash will be returning the majority of the roster; between 15-17 players according to Waldrum and Ching. There are no guaranteed spots, however, and those 15-17 players will have to earn their way onto the team all over again.

Waldrum sees 6-8 new players perhaps on the active roster of 20 by the time all is said and done. Ching is more specific in terms of what that means for the starting lineup, “I think we are looking for 4-5 starters that can come in and make a difference. We need to have that many different players that can come in and kind of raise the level for us.”

That will make this off-season an active and intriguing one and set up next season to be compelling. Can the Dash accomplish the same thing that Washington did this season; go from last to the playoffs in a single year?

Tomorrow, the final piece from our interviews: Brian Ching’s transition from playing field to front office.

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