Opinion: The dream hire for the Portland Thorns

Who should be considered for the President of Operations and General Manager role? There should only be one name.

Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer

Karina LeBlanc and the Portland Thorns have recently announced that she would be transitioning out of the General Manager & President of Thorns FC Operations role into a community position with RAJ Sports covering both Portland women’s sports teams. Now, the new ownership group must find the next person to take up the role.

Karina LeBlanc to transition out of Thorns General Manager role

If they plan on promoting internally again, it could backfire and set the club back even further. It’s one of the most important times of the franchise’s history. There is a chance for the Portland Thorns to make a decision that could change their course of history — not just for the good, but for the best.

With that being said: is it time to bring back Mark Parsons? Would he be even interested in returning to a different type of role? You have to at least ask him.

The answer to if you ask him is for Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal to decide.

However at the very least, they need to do their due diligence, reach out, and have a real conversation. Here’s some reasons for why the new ownership group should make that call:

13 Reasons Why a Return Makes Sense

• Excellence: Mark Parsons is a proven winner. He is the winningest manager in club history and was also key in all roster developments including multiple revamps/retools. Parsons compiled a 73-32-35 overall record with the Thorns. During his Thorns’ tenure, Portland accumulated 62 regular season wins and 214 regular season points, more than any other NWSL club. He knows exactly the players it’ll take to win hardware again.

• Stability: No head coach, scout/talent finder extraordinaire, or culture builder in history has stayed as long with this club like he did. In a new era with new ownership, they need someone who is willing to call Portland home and bring it back to the glory days. There is no one who loves this city and club more. He also has the second longest consecutive tenure with any one team in NWSL history, being with the Thorns from 2016-2021.

• Joy & Fun: When the love of the game is being taken away, it is a difficult road to rediscover that passion again. It’s become very apparent that the happiness on the pitch for the Thorns right now has almost vanished. The morale for the club is at dangerously low levels right now. Parsons’ love for the coaches, players, and supporters is needed now more than ever. Throughout his time in Portland, he consistently spoke about building a culture that emphasized mutual respect, love, and happiness for one another. At his final press conference in 2021, Parsons laid it out: “What’s my message? People first, people second, people third, and then there’s a bit of soccer there.”

• Soph Smith & Sam Coffey Extensions: Mark Parsons is probably one of the only people who could get both superstars to sign extensions. He built great rapport with both of them during the draft process. Parsons also worked with Soph for her first two seasons in Portland (including 2020). Smith and Coffey are franchise players and they have all the leverage. They both deserve to get paid boatloads of money, but also deserve to be led by someone like Mark Parsons. If they voice their opinion or sign off on this, it’s a no-brainer.

• Roster Construction: There has never been someone who built rosters the way he did. In Portland, his squads were truly the first superteams that attracted top talent from around the world. With way less restrictions on spending, he’d be able to take this club to heights unseen.
  
  In the entirety of his time with Portland Thorns, his player first mentality as a coach led to unprecedented roster stability and low turnover. He also compiled some incredible teams. For example, the 2017 Championship Starting XI: Tobin Heath, Hayley Raso, Christine Sinclair, Lindsey Horan, Amandine Henry, Ashleigh Sykes, Meghan Klingenberg, Emily Menges, Emily Sonnett, and Katherine Reynolds.

  And then by 2021, the club added Becky Sauerbrunn, Natalia “Natu” Kuikka, Yazmeen Ryan, Angela Salem, Raquel “Rocky” Rodríguez, Morgan Weaver, and Soph Smith — all names largely responsible for the 2022 NWSL Championship

  He rebuilt the roster three times in his time and could reshape it again this offseason, if given the opportunity.

• New CBA: With the elimination of the college draft, it’ll take someone with great relationships with coaches, players, and agents to continue to build rosters effectively. For someone who has found gems in the NWSL draft before, Parsons will be able to go after his top targets with incredible ease. The Portland Thorns would struggle to do that right now. This is his biggest strength and a major asset that would give the team a clear advantage over all other clubs