Rob Gale Named Head Coach of Portland Thorns
The team is removing his interim tag and giving him the permanent role of head coach.
The team has ended their global head coaching search. Portland Thorns FC and Karina LeBlanc have announced Rob Gale as their official head coach.
“At the end of the day, we wanted to make sure that we did right with all of our stakeholders in this process …” LeBlanc told the Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday. “You have to do right by the fans, the community, (and) obviously within the organization, the staff and the players, ownership, the investors. When we said we were going to do it, we wanted to make sure it was right.”
In an interview with Jeff Kassouf, she mentioned the global search was done in conjunction with a reputable talent identification company in which she declined to name.
Rob Gale was Portland’s interim head coach for the past 12 games and accumulated a record of 8-2-2. After starting from the bottom of the standings, he has got Portland back into it at fifth place. Although Orlando Pride and Kansas City Current have ran away with the shield race, the Thorns still have a chance to host a first round playoff game if they can pass NY/NJ Gotham FC by the end of the season.
He has been spoken glowingly by assistants: Sarah Lowdon, Vytas, and Jordan Franken. The team’s morale and culture has also seen a boost since him taking over.
“It’s a humbling moment,” Gale told the Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday afternoon. “You feel very proud. You think about all the people in your life who’ve made sacrifices for you and continue to do so for you to be able to do what you do. (It’s) just sort of an overwhelming feeling of appreciation and gratitude, really.”
Karina LeBlanc last two hires have now come from within the organization in Mike Norris and Rob Gale. And for the last two global searches to end with just promotions raises a few questions to say the least…
Can Rob Gale lift the team the rest of the season? We shall see.
You can read the team’s full press release here.
Be on the lookout for our Quick Take Hot Take to get our reactions to the news later this afternoon.
There is only one way this ends well. Gale demands top-level signings in the summer. He gets them and the Thorns are in the final. Then in the winter Gales remakes a big chunk of the team. He ends up staying at the club for many years.
There are a near-infinity of ways this ends badly. The Thorns make no summer signings. We don't make the playoffs. Gale is fired and we start over for the fourth time in three years. No reputable coach wants to work for a bunch of flakes like our FO, so Loudon or Vitas gets the job and the cycle repeats.
As others have pointed out, there was literally NO reason to make this announcement today. If he becomes head coach in November, it's the exact same as giving him a new sign on the door today. But if we waited until November, maybe we could have found somebody actually qualified to do the job in the interim. That option is gone now.
A sad day.
I like Rob, he seems like a stand up guy. I'm just not sure he's the world class coach we should be aiming for. There's been a bit of regression performance wise from the six match streak so I'd like to see him figure out how to raise the performance level besides get it to Soph and hope for the best