SANDY, Utah (Monday, December 28, 2015) – Real Salt Lake announced on Monday that it has hired former U.S. U-17 National Team coach Richie Williams as an Assistant Coach under Head Coach Jeff Cassar. Williams will join the club immediately and will serve as RSL’s main midfield coach.
“Richie has had a lot of success as a player and as a coach. He’s such a fierce competitor and has a lot of experience that will enhance our coaching staff,” RSL General Manager Craig Waibel said. “When we started looking at adding a coach he was at the top of the list and the process was very smooth because the interest was mutual.”
Williams joins Real Salt Lake’s coaching staff after eight decorated seasons in MLS as a player and six more as an assistant coach with the New York Red Bulls. During his career playing with D.C. United (1996-2000, 2002) and the MetroStars (2001, 2003) saw him win three MLS Cup titles (1996, 1997 and 1999), two MLS Supporters’ Shield titles (1997 and 1999), one Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (1996), the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup (1998) and the Interamerican Cup (1998). As a player, he logged 216 career regular season matches with eight goals and 33 assists from his holding midfield position. He also had two goals and four assists in 26 career MLS Cup playoff matches.
In addition to his experience in MLS, Williams also won USISL and U.S. Open Cup championships with the Richmond Kickers in 1995, two NCAA titles with the University of Virginia in 1989 and 1991 and the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup with the U.S. National Team, for whom he played 20 matches from 1998-2002.
“He’s a well-rounded coach. He’s been successful in MLS with D.C. winning championships and playing for the Metrostars. With the Red Bulls he was a good assistant and got good head coaching experience,” Cassar said. “Now he’s been part of the U-17 National Team for two cycles and he’s very educated in the MLS players and he’s very educated in the young college players and I think that’s going to be a great asset to our organization.”
Since playing his final two professional seasons with Richmond in 2004 and 2005, Williams has been a mainstay in the coaching ranks. He started with his alma mater, working as an assistant to George Gelnovatch for two seasons at Virginia before moving to the professional level. He started in 2006 with the MetroStars before the New York club was rebranded to the New York Red Bulls later that season. There he worked under Mo Johnston, Bruce Arena, Juan Carlos Osorio and Hans Backe, serving as interim coach on two separate occasions in 2006 and 2009. In 2011, he took the reins of the U.S. U-18 National Team and then moved to the U-17 National Team in 2012, where he remained until joining RSL’s staff.
“Real Salt Lake is one of the better organizations in the league and has had a lot of success over the years,” Williams said. “After meeting up with Craig and Jeff, I thought it would be a very good opportunity. Being part of this staff, we all have the common goal of winning the MLS Cup and I think those are things that made me want to come on board.”
Williams joins a coaching staff under Cassar that includes Ted Eck, Tyrone Marshall and Daryl Shore. Under the watch of that staff, Real Salt Lake won its group to advance to the Quarterfinal Round of CONCACAF Champions League as the third seed, where it will meet UANL Tigres in a two-leg, aggregate-goal series on February 24 in Monterrey, Mexico, and March 3 at Rio Tinto Stadium. The team also advanced to the semifinals in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup before being eliminated by eventual champions Sporting Kansas City. Andy Williams made the move from the coaching staff to return to his role as Head Scout.
