It is beginning to feel like a new dawn for the Houston Dash. Even though it is currently midseason, the winds of change are blowing in muggy southeast Texas.
On Thursday morning, club president Jessica O'Neill spoke to the media to officially unveil new interim head coach Juan Carlos Amorós, who was announced as the new leader of the team on Wednesday.
"This particular announcement was something that we've been working on, I've been working on for quite some time," said O'Neill. "I had hoped to be at this point sooner, but at the same time, felt very important to us to not rush a hire like this."
When head coach James Clarkson was suspended from the NWSL days before the start of the 2022 regular season, the Dash then named Sarah Lowdon as the acting head coach. O'Neill expanded how the club chose to act seven weeks ago.
"To give some background, when the announcement was made about the results and suggestions of the ongoing investigation, we immediately wanted to make sure that the role of the interim head coach was one that we took very seriously," said O'Neill.
During the address and subsequent questioning, O'Neill elaborated on this process that led to the hiring of Amoros, as well as how it was communicated to the acting head coach and players.
"This was also based on feedback from the players. I had conversations with them right away about what sort of the next steps, of how does this work because we were six days away from starting the season," she said.
"Sarah [Lowdon] knew that the team knew that we were very open with with them about the fact that we'd be looking for somebody with head coaching experience at the professional level within the women's game."
For many weeks leading up to the announcement, Houston had been searching for a more permanent interim. The club hired a search firm in May to identify ideal candidates for the position of interim head coach.
O'Neill says that the first time she met Amoros via zoom, she felt like "this could be it," but she continued to interview other candidates and got input from the staff to help make the final call to hire Amoros.
"It was a truly global search," explained O'Neill. "We brought more folks into the fold, Ted Siegel in our leadership team had a conversation with him that Sarah was involved as well."
The results of the investigation into Clarkson are still unknown at this time. No one has yet been able to give an update on the investigation into Clarkson or when it could be concluded. When asked for an update on the situation, the NWSL, O'Neill and the club have all declined to give comment.
What became clear on Thursday for the first time is that the rationale behind hiring Amoros goes beyond filling a need for the 2022 season.
When asked by The Striker Texas about whether she believes Amoros is a part of her long-term vision for the club, O'Neill responded "I do."
"This was a request directly from them [the Dash players]," O'Neill explained. "That the external interim hire be something and someone that we see having a long term future with the club, rather than finding, you know, a short-term solution to carry us through the season.
"To answer your question, we did this with a long-term plan in mind."
Where does this leave James Clarkson?
Officially, there is very little clarity on Clarkson's future in Houston or in the NWSL. When asked about Clarkson on Thursday, O'Neill again refrained from giving any comment.
There is clearly a legal aspect to this. Clarkson has not been fired from his post as head coach. He is indefinitely suspended, on administrative leave. Were Amoros to take the full title, it would be in breach of his contract, which expires at the end of the 2022 season.
After starting with the Houston Dynamo youth system in 2006 and then becoming the head coach and general manager of the Dash in 2019, it would appear that Clarkson's long tenure with the club could be coming to an end this autumn.
Although the Dash could not confirm the length of any contracts that Amoros has signed with the club, it's easy to picture a future in which Amoros would become the official head coach in Houston. On Thursday, he shared his enthusiasm for the Dash and why the interim tag isn't a concern for him at this time.
"The reason for me to be joining Houston is quite clear, I think I shared the vision of how they embrace [women's] soccer and what they see of the club not only for now but also for the future. I really wanted to be part of it," he said.
"I don't look at the job title, I look at the opportunity. I think the opportunity to be with the Dash, and as I said with the project they have. What want to do for the players, what they want to do for the staff, for the for the city, that's something I really identify myself with."
Clarification on Lowdon's new role
During Thursday's press conference we also learned more about how the Dash plans to proceed with acting head coach Lowdon. For now Lowdon will continue to lead the team until Amoros' visa is approved. Once he arrives, Lowdon will then become the first assistant coach of the Dash.
"We elected not to use the word promotion because obviously she's serving in a larger role right now," said O'Neill. "But yes, we want to support her. I think it's a great point about ensuring that there's a best way behind that support in preparing her for the next step of her career.
"Her opinion and thoughts behind the conversation she had with Juan were very important to us, because she's with the team every single day and she has a great understanding of what the team needs and has been able to be what the team needs. Yes, we'd love to continue supporting her however that looks, including evaluating what we can do to help propel her. Obviously, we understand that she's got a very bright future ahead of her.”
Having taken control of eight matches so far, and going 3-3-2 in that time, Lowdon has been a success both on and off the pitch. She has also been an incredible face of the club. And has led Houston through difficult times, including the Clarkson suspension in April and the Uvalde shooting in May.
"I believe in general we have asked her to do what it was almost an impossible task," said O'Neill. "When you look at when she joined the club timewise and the date in which I called and said ‘we'd like you to serve as our acting head coach,’ and we realized that's a big ask and ‘what do you think about it and let me know.’ Since then, she has done a phenomenal job at leading the team, collaborating with the team and the staff, having such a such an empathetic and thoughtful approach, I can't say enough great things about her."
Amoros spoke up about being impressed with Lowdon's work with the Dash over the past seven weeks, referring to her coaching as "brilliant" while on the call. Houston's new interim coach explained that he not only wants to collaborate with Lowdon moving forward, but he has already started a dialogue with her over the past couple of weeks to learn more about the team.
"I've been already working a little bit with her on you know, as Jessica said, on Zoom and the same with the rest of the coaching team. They are fantastic, they are very committed. Hiro (Suzuki), Michael (Balogun), Matt (Lampson), and the medical team there.
"It's a very exciting team to work for because you can feel that they are really passionate about it and that they are really focused and committed to do the best they can for the club or for the players and the fans. I'm really excited to get to know her in person and maybe stop talking via Zoom."