Let’s look around at the coverage of Racing Louisville’s exciting appointment of Bev Yanez as its new head coach.
The Athletic:
“I think it’s creating an environment early on, where you’re building relationships with players that they trust that you’re genuinely interested in making sure that they improve,” Yanez said. “There’s one thing that players all share in common at this level, whether they’ve just been drafted, whether they’ve been in the league for two years, or they’ve been capped for their international team 18 times, is they all want to improve and they all want to be challenged in their environment. Within that you have to find a balance of building a relationship to understand when the support’s needed, when the challenge is needed, what type of challenge it is for this player in reference to this type of player. But it’s in building those relationships.” (link)
Equalizer Soccer
When asked about what Racing needs to change in order to win, Yanez didn’t mention tactics or strategy. Instead, she said the key to improving Racing’s fortunes is establishing an identity that is built around player growth and development. To do this, the coaching staff needs to be effective communicators and educators, not just tacticians. Players can’t just be told what to do; they need to understand how and why they’re doing it. That will require pushing ever-rising standards on behalf of the coaching and technical staff and herself and the head coach as well. (link)
CBS Sports
Yanez, a former player, had spent the previous season with Racing as an assistant coach. She played in the United States, Australia, Finland, and Japan — winning titles in every country she’s played in. She had a successful NWSL playing career with Seattle Reign (now OL Reign). Yanez scored 25 goals and recorded nine assists over 123 appearances, won two NWSL Sheilds, earned Best XI honors and was a 2015 MVP finalist. (link)
Just Women’s Sports
“I was just blown away by her,” Monaghan said of Yanez. “She treats everyone so well and just cares so much about every single person: whether you play 90 minutes, whether you’re playing five minutes, whether you’re not rostered, whether you’re hurt. She brings the best out of every single player. So, I think Louisville hiring someone like that and bringing her in on staff says a lot about the direction.” (link)
Local coverage
The Courier-Journal
WDRB
WHAS
WLKY
WAVE
Louisville Business First
