There's a new boss in H-Town.
Sam Laity is the new head coach of the Houston Dash, and on Wednesday morning, he made his first media appearance in the new role at PNC Stadium, alongside general manager Alex Singer and club owner Ted Segal.
Laity is a long-tenured assistant in the NWSL. He arrives in Houston after 10 years in Seattle as the number two at OL Reign. The league original has overseen over 200 matches and three head coaches, Laura Harvey, Vlatko Andonovski and Farid Bensiti, in that time.
For a number of years, Laity has felt like an NWSL head coach in waiting. But the Englishman has had to patiently wait his turn to become a head coach for the first time in his career. Segal spoke about how thankful he was that other clubs had passed on Laity over the years, and how "OL Reign's loss was Houston's gain."
A true players coach, Singer spoke at length during the press conference about how Laity's coaching work with individual players to improve their abilities and consistency.
"His experience and coaching education proves that he's continuing not only to develop himself, but that of other coaches. And as I mentioned, that's what we want to do. Bring the best here but also cultivate that here with our own talent," Singer said.
Segal also admired how Laity has worked with some of the biggest names in women's soccer during his decade in the NWSL with Seattle.
The glowing recommendations from big-name players and coaches around the league were crucial to Laity getting hired in Houston. After many systemic coaching abuse incidents have rocked the league in recent years, someone of Laity's reputation was essential.
"Sam has coached some of the most notable players in the game. People like Megan Rapinoe, and Rose Lavelle," Segal opined on Wednesday. "But at the same time, he's been an integral figure in the development of many other players. So as we talked about this possibility, in the feedback that I heard from Alex [Singer] as she was continuing to vet Sam, this is an opportunity that is long overdue for Sam."
After the press conference concluded, the energetic and enthusiastic Laity took the time to sit down with The Striker for a quick one-on-one at PNC Stadium:
Hey Sam, welcome to Houston. How are you feeling? How have the past 48 hours been for you and the family?
Yeah, nuts. Yeah, honestly, it has been mental. There has been just so much going on. I mean, the itinerary ... it was like something prepared for the Oscars. I've never seen anything like it. But, yeah, positive.
Obviously, a lot of media responsibilities. In-house media stuff, photo shoots, those types of things. Meetings with various staff members. Alex [Singer] and Jess [O'Neill] and Ted [Segal], a little bit of social stuff as well with [them], which was really important.
I know you're a big architecture guy. So what vibe are you getting from Houston after two days?
It's a cool city. It's very clean, I always noticed that when we've come here. Really, the only architecture that I've really experienced has been in the hotel. And then in an Uber going off to various locations.
We did go to POST on our first evening, another very cool, lovely dinner. I like that, a great vibe, and good energy. It was pouring down rain.
It's really important to have a healthy balance, can't just be all about work, of course, you know, there'll be times when you're completely saturated. And, you know, we as a family, we're looking forward to getting out and exploring. It feels like a different world compared to where we're from at the moment in Seattle.
Seattle has been a huge part of your life. What's it been like, internally, with you and your family making that decision to leave?
Not as challenging as you'd think. We've been in Seattle for 21 years now. When we started packing on Sunday to come to this event, it was like: "Wow, this is you know, this is really happening." You have to take a deep breath a couple of times.
21 years in one place is a long time. It's practically half my life. But I'll be honest, it didn't seem as sort of intimidating as it probably could. And I think that's because it, it just feels like the right fit [in Houston].
What other head coaching options have you had in the NWSL or outside the league? Why was the Dash the right fit?
I had a couple of opportunities last year that we explored up until a point but then sort of pulled out of because we didn't get a sense it was the right fit. It had to be the right move might move it had to tick all the boxes. I interviewed for one job — well, one and a half jobs, really. And I sort of knew that very, very early on. So the scope was in the U.S.
You know, I've dedicated so much time in my career to the game in this country. For me, my wife, and my family to take the next step, it would need to be a head coaching job in this country. That will be the first step.
Then why does this feel like a right fit? I mean, part of it was gut instinct, right? It's one of the most underrated measuring tools. Going on gut instinct. It felt right.
The conversations with Alex [Singer], Jessica [O'Neill] and Ted [Segal] very early on were very positive. It's very clear that our values aligned. I am humbled to be here. I'm excited by the challenge. But I'm not satisfied just to be here. It's important for me that the club succeeds. And that's the ambition. I'm not happy just to be a head coach in the league. And I've got ambitions and I have aspirations.
What does Sam Laity offer as a coach that no one else does?
Well, I'm very unique in the terms of the league, I've worked with three very experienced and high-level coaches in the NWSL. And each of those characters has got different personality traits and different leadership styles.
So being able to take advantage of how they molded each of their sort of modus operandi, how each of those coaches and leaders worked, how they went about their work, how they managed players. I got a really, really close-up view of how things can work and how I would maybe do things differently.
When we were in Seattle, in 2016 and 2017, we were probably one of the best teams in the world. Two years in a row, with players in their prime, and we didn't make the playoffs, which you would say would be inconceivable with the squad and the players that we had.
And then, likewise, when the squad wasn't as strong as it had been in years gone by, we had an enormous amount of injuries. I think we had 13. In that period, to see what work we did to galvanize and bring that group of players together to get them into the playoffs was incredible.
Success leaves clues. And you know, I've been around a lot of successful people. And I think that's setting me up pretty well for the future.
On coaching collaboration, in Houston. Sarah Lowdon is a huge figure here. Have you talked about assistant coaching with her yet?
I have spoken with a number of staff. I spoke with Sarah [Lowdon], three weeks ago. I haven't quite gotten around to all the staff yet. But certainly have been in discussions and conversations with some of the sort of key players there.
Sarah did an incredible job when she took over the interim role. So I understand how important she is to the club. I also understand how important it is as a male head coach for there to be a strong female coach on staff. They can give a different perspective and give different eyes and ears per se. So yeah, I'm excited to have conversations with Sarah, and our staff has been very excited and positive right now.
You also have a history with Shea Groom, who played for the Reign while you were there. Have you caught up with her?
Shea [Groom] and I obviously worked together for a number of years in Seattle. Yeah, I love her personality, love her attitude. She's a winner. She's a warrior. And, you know, if we can get Shea in a position where she can be highly effective in the games, with and without the ball, then I think we'll see a change in her sort of outputs. But I'm excited to work with all the players.
What have you identified as the first thing the Dash needs to work on to improve in 2023?
I think we need more players clearly because a number of players have left the club. I don't know all the details obviously. But certainly, we need to bring more players in.
We're ambitious, I'm ambitious. We want to become a destination club, but we realize that we're probably not that right now. But we're going to be working towards that. Some of that is inside our control, and some of it is not. So we're going to do our very best to try and make this a destination club, but at the same time, not disrupting the culture and the positivity and the sort of cultural foundation that's in place.
If there are game changes available, and players that we think we've identified that can be very successful in this league. And that's the key point there, players that we think can be successful in this league, not players that are world-class and talented and can do well in Europe, or in or in South America and other countries.
Last question, on bringing players in, have you and Alex Singer spoken about how you divide up those duties?
SL: Yeah, I mean, a little bit. A little bit. Obviously, the draft is a big piece that's coming up, and they're well down the road with that. I will add my two cents to what we're looking for in terms of particular profiles from players.
It doesn't make sense to bring players in that are just good players. We need to bring good characters in first. We need to bring winners. We need to bring players that are winners, sort of organically, and then you know, behind that they have to be a good character. They have to be good in the locker room. They have to be good people; [they[ have to have good values. And if they can play a bit, then you know what? You're onto a winner.