The last two weeks have been a rollercoaster at Rio Tinto Stadium, as both Real Salt Lake and the Real Monarchs saw coaching changes early in their seasons with Mike Petke leaving the head job with the Monarchs for the same post at RSL and his assistant Mark Briggs replacing him with the Monarchs.
For Briggs, chaos has been a way of life over the last year, so a little turbulence did nothing to thwart him in helping the Monarchs improve to 2-0-0 with a 2-0 win over Phoenix Rising FC in his debut for the club on Saturday.
“It was a crazy week. The focus and the energy was here there and everywhere in different directions,” said Briggs, who was promoted to Head Coach last Wednesday. “Luckily enough the players had a good mentality and a good focus and we were able to get the result.”
Going back to the start of a tumultuous time, though, it’s easy to see how the former soccer nomad would be able to guide the Monarchs to success.
Briggs took over coaching duties with the Wilmington Hammerheads prior to the 2016 season. After a career that saw him play at 19 different clubs in his first 14 years on the pitch, he seemed to have found a home in Wilmington in his second stint with the Hammerheads in 2012. After two seasons to close out his career, he moved into the coaching ranks, starting with the youth club and working through the academy and working as a first team assistant before landing the head role.
That meteoric rise through the organization could not prepare him for what his first season as Head Coach would bring though. After a good run in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup that ended in a shootout against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium, he had the Hammerheads in contention for a playoff berth when he was faced with the difficult news that the club would fold after the season.
“It was a roller coaster first year as a head coach with Wilmington and I learned a lot from it. It was hard to managed the roster and the fans and there are all sorts of things that people don’t necessary know about dealing with a small community.”
He thought first of his players, then the fans, then the community that had adopted the team as its own.
Somewhere in there, he also had to look out for himself and once the season ended, he had another tough decision – stay in Wilmington where he had started a family with his girlfriend or look for a new coaching job elsewhere. Then, the phone rang with an opportunity to work as an assistant to Freddy Juarez with the Monarchs in Salt Lake City.
“What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?” Briggs recalled thinking. “This turned up and it was a blessing in disguise.”
Before 10 days had passed, Juarez was promoted to the first team to work as an assistant coach and it wasn’t long before Petke was named his replacement as Head Coach of the Monarchs. In between, Briggs was a candidate, but once he met his new bench boss the two quickly found themselves on the same page.
Then, as Briggs put it, came the final twist.
After going through preseason and earning a 2-1 road win over Portland Timbers 2, Petke was promoted to RSL Head Coach and Briggs to the Head Coach of the Monarchs in a whirlwind week that had come to be nearly comfortable surroundings for Briggs.
“Hopefully now the dust will settle a little bit and we can just focus on the actual role I’m in and give my best to the club and the players I’m working with,” said Briggs. “I’m hoping that it calms down now and it settles and we can focus on the goals that we’ve set.”
With a steady hand leading the way, the Monarchs now will meet Reno 1868 FC on Thursday night at Rio Tinto Stadium with sights set on the best start in the club’s brief history.
