Well, to the players of the Utah women's soccer program, this is no surprise. But maybe to some others...
Real Salt Lake will announce today that they will sign Utah head coach, Rich Manning, to a 1 month contract to play for the MLS team. Real has been looking for some midfield help with some of their players having visa problems getting back into the U.S. Coach Manning will provide some much-needed creativity to the RSL attack.
How did this come about? With the volatile weather the past few weeks here in Utah, RSL has been training indoors at the Spence Eccles Fieldhouse at the U. Several times they have trained right after the Utah women's team...while waiting to start training, Real head coach, Jason Kreis, was shocked by the skills and quick feet displayed by Coach Manning at his Ute training. (You can see some of the moves here as Coach Manning executes a very complex country line dancing maneuver).After inquiring some more, Jason learned about Coach Manning's legendary playing days at Santa Clara University...where he was called "The Maestro". Coach Kreis was elated to see that such a talented player was available right in his own backyard. And things progressed from there.
Coach Manning will become the oldest player in MLS at 44 years young. His new wife Sue is nervous but very proud! Coach Manning will continue to coach the Utes while under contract. Assistant Coach Laurel Roderick will take over when there are conflicts. Roderick is 8 months pregnant....however, the Utah training staff will have a table and equipment ready should they need to deliver the baby during practice. Stay tuned for more details as the situation unfolds.
Posts
