Speaker 1: Here with the soccer down here one to be one
Speaker 1: to catching up with the head coach of Rhode Island FC,
Speaker 1: Cono Smith, coach, thanks for dropping by for a quick
Speaker 1: one b one. I know you're kind of busy at
Speaker 1: the moment.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Uh yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: What's the season been like up there? A to r
Speaker 1: f C building something from scratch?
Speaker 2: Overall, it has been fun. You know, with any any
Speaker 2: sports team, you have highs and lows, but we personally
Speaker 2: try to stay try to stay even keeled and and
Speaker 2: try to preach the same to the players. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's been a lot of fun and we've
Speaker 2: had some tough moments for sure, but sticking to who
Speaker 2: we are as people and as athletes. It makes it
Speaker 2: all the sweeter when when you get rewards like we've
Speaker 2: gotten recently.
Speaker 1: What's the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself as a
Speaker 1: coach in a season like this?
Speaker 2: Really good question. I feel I feel like it's hard
Speaker 2: for me to deal with hard for me to deal
Speaker 2: with losses, so, you know, again, trying to preach to
Speaker 2: myself and try and stick to you know. I know
Speaker 2: it's cliche like stick to the process. But when things
Speaker 2: don't go your way, it's really hard to accept that. Ultimately,
Speaker 2: you can control what you can control. And I try
Speaker 2: to stick to myself and who I am as a
Speaker 2: person and what I believe as a coach and as
Speaker 2: a as a man, and try to be respectful of
Speaker 2: my players, try to treat them the right way, try
Speaker 2: and treat them how I would like to be treated.
Speaker 2: But also I have to make tough decisions as a leader.
Speaker 2: So I know everybody's not going to accept up, but
Speaker 2: at least I think they would say that I'm fair.
Speaker 1: When it came to the early part of the season,
Speaker 1: the running SoundBite around the USL Championship was is that
Speaker 1: RIFC were the draw kings of the league, and those
Speaker 1: draws turned into wins as the season went further and
Speaker 1: further along. What was the difference or what was that
Speaker 1: trigger the instigator that turned things over from being just
Speaker 1: one point at a time to three points at a
Speaker 1: time to get you north of the playoff bar, to
Speaker 1: get you into the postseason.
Speaker 2: You think, honestly, I think the draw record. I've certainly
Speaker 2: heard that. You know that when the draw kings, and honestly,
Speaker 2: It's something that I'm actually really proud of in our
Speaker 2: first year because you can go around and look at
Speaker 2: expansion teams in this league and other leagues and other sports,
Speaker 2: and sometimes we maybe have fifteen losses. So we've only
Speaker 2: lost seven times, and the two teams that have lost,
Speaker 2: the only two teams that have lost two games us
Speaker 2: our Louisville and Charleston. So you know, I think that
Speaker 2: puts US in pretty pretty good company. So I just
Speaker 2: feel like it made us we were difficult to beat
Speaker 2: instead of it wasn't eat. I think it was more
Speaker 2: that US be difficult to beat than it was us
Speaker 2: not being able to win games. And I think if
Speaker 2: you put any group of people together and any sport,
Speaker 2: in any business in any world and expect immediate results
Speaker 2: by like April and May, when we got together in
Speaker 2: January fifteenth, I think, I think it's a pretty tough ask.
Speaker 2: So I think we were building, we were building our armor,
Speaker 2: build us in kevlar. We was making ourselves tough to beat.
Speaker 2: And I think the real defining moment for me, I
Speaker 2: don't know what it was. I don't know what happened,
Speaker 2: but something happened against Memphis when we went to Memphis
Speaker 2: and we only had one one game. We were up
Speaker 2: to nil, gave up a penalty, got a red card
Speaker 2: in the eighty fifth minute, and end up tying the game.
Speaker 2: So I think something happened in that locker room. I
Speaker 2: think we gave the players three days off. You know,
Speaker 2: in some situations they may say, no, it's a terrible performance,
Speaker 2: like you're back in the next day. Like we gave
Speaker 2: them three days off and we say, go clear your heads,
Speaker 2: let's come back. We're going to the toughest and best
Speaker 2: team in the league, toughest venue in Louisville, and let's
Speaker 2: see what we're made of. And we won the game
Speaker 2: five too. So I think something happened in that Memphis
Speaker 2: locker room. I can't quite put my hand on it,
Speaker 2: but I think we grew that night.
Speaker 1: When it comes to building a franchise, have you always
Speaker 1: thought of yourself as a builder when it comes to
Speaker 1: taking something from scratch, reveling in that idea, seeing it grow, germanate,
Speaker 1: pollinate and expand it and become something large and successful.
Speaker 1: Or was this something when it came to having this
Speaker 1: as an opportunity, it was one of those ideas that
Speaker 1: you couldn't pass up because you got to build something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was all of that, you know.
Speaker 2: I don't think I certainly saw myself as a builder.
Speaker 2: Like a year ago, I certainly didn't have it figure
Speaker 2: it out. I was trying to figure it out on
Speaker 2: the fly because it's just it's all new. But I
Speaker 2: had been in two situations prior, one in this league
Speaker 2: in Birmingham where we were an expansion team, and then
Speaker 2: my first year really as a professional coach as an
Speaker 2: assistant in Orlando coaching the NWSL team, So I had
Speaker 2: some experience with it. But I think the game in
Speaker 2: both leagues, it has grown so much. That was what
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, So in eight years time, both leagues have
Speaker 2: grown so much. Our league has grown so much since
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen to now, well, I guess still last year.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I certainly I think I've done things in
Speaker 2: my life to kind of set myself up for that situation,
Speaker 2: being in those two environments. But I know it sounds crazy,
Speaker 2: but I felt like I always was a builder. Like
Speaker 2: in video games, like I enjoyed their process, like in
Speaker 2: the Championship Manager, you're playing FIFA like career mode, Like
Speaker 2: I like that stuff, and ultimately it's about being around
Speaker 2: the game and building a roster and the club is
Speaker 2: a fun part of that process.
Speaker 1: All right. So when you're doing FIFA and you're building
Speaker 1: a championship team, how what was this roster construction like
Speaker 1: for you? What was what was it like? Who was
Speaker 1: on that roster?
Speaker 2: Of years? Nothing like it? I think most of the
Speaker 2: time I probably spent building a team with Manchester United
Speaker 2: and have millions and billions of dollars to be able
Speaker 2: to go and sign whoever you want. But that wasn't
Speaker 2: the case. But I think what we what we tried
Speaker 2: to do was we tried to build a roster of
Speaker 2: ultimately guys that have good USL championship experience, because free
Speaker 2: agency is pretty prevalent in this league, not like MLS
Speaker 2: and other leagues around the world. Were guys on long
Speaker 2: term contracts, players on short term contracts. So if you
Speaker 2: can build a good product and sell players on what
Speaker 2: you want to be on and off the field as
Speaker 2: a club and why they should join you, I think
Speaker 2: you could attract some pretty good players. So I think
Speaker 2: we did a pretty good job of that. We tried
Speaker 2: to stay younger. The core of the roster. I think
Speaker 2: the average age for us now is right around twenty
Speaker 2: five years of age, so that gives us a lot
Speaker 2: of legs, a lot of any They are craving information
Speaker 2: and they want they want to be taught, So I
Speaker 2: think we have a good young core. That's something that
Speaker 2: we really wanted to focus on, players that could play
Speaker 2: in the manner that we wanted them to.
Speaker 1: What was the biggest surprise, most pleasant surprise dealing with
Speaker 1: what soccer means to Rhode Island and to that section
Speaker 1: of the Northeast. Was there something that stood out to
Speaker 1: you as something that you got to learn about the
Speaker 1: fan base up there, or was the expectation met going in, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we know what this is the culture, We know that
Speaker 1: this is going to gravitate to Burn, we know what
Speaker 1: it's going to be like. Or was it a pleasant
Speaker 1: surprise to see how Burn turned into a fortress and
Speaker 1: you really had a difficult time being there as an
Speaker 1: away team going to play you guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for me, you know, I think again
Speaker 2: for me how I see the game, and I think
Speaker 2: every team needs to be unique to the culture of
Speaker 2: the environment. As you said, so if you look at
Speaker 2: Rhode Islanders, it's the smallest state in re Union. It's cold.
Speaker 2: Sometimes people have a chip on the shoulder, sometimes they're angry,
Speaker 2: but they can also be very pleasant and can be
Speaker 2: very nice. But sometimes you just have to roll your
Speaker 2: sleeves up and battle and have some grit. But also
Speaker 2: in the summer, it's really beautiful and you have some
Speaker 2: of the best beaches in the United States. You have
Speaker 2: some of the best beach towns. So at some parts
Speaker 2: during the year we played some really beautiful soccer, but
Speaker 2: other times we needed to really grow up our sleeves
Speaker 2: and fight and have really good team spirit. So I
Speaker 2: think that's something that I'm really proud of with the group,
Speaker 2: that we have really good team spirit. And I think
Speaker 2: the club has now adopted this saying that we are
Speaker 2: going into the playoffs and never say die, we never
Speaker 2: give up. We've scored twelve plus goals now I think
Speaker 2: past the eightieth minute and beyond, so I think that's
Speaker 2: a testament to the team spirit. But ultimately, I think
Speaker 2: what was really nice after the game last week was
Speaker 2: our last home game and potentially last home game this season.
Speaker 2: Hopefully not hopefully we'll get a chance to host the
Speaker 2: playoff game, but the amount of people that came up
Speaker 2: and said said thank you coach, like we're really proud
Speaker 2: of this team, Like no matter what, that touched me
Speaker 2: the most because ultimately, I'm just trying to do my
Speaker 2: job and that's get results and win games. But if
Speaker 2: people people like my players and like me, that's just
Speaker 2: just a cherry on top of the cake.
Speaker 1: When you look at the offense that you've been able
Speaker 1: to piece together, it's been a lot of different goal
Speaker 1: scorers this year. I know that a lot of folks
Speaker 1: would gravitate to somebody and sit there and look at
Speaker 1: a guy like Albert Dikua and know a few son
Speaker 1: and JJ Williams with his experience, you get no darse
Speaker 1: Zachary Arevo. A lot of different guys contributing for you
Speaker 1: this year. To see that kind of it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: balanced because Albert had double digits and you had a
Speaker 1: bunch of different guys score, but just finding production from
Speaker 1: a bunch of different places obviously a point, a really
Speaker 1: good point that you can reference going forward, that I
Speaker 1: got a lot of guys that can contribute when I
Speaker 1: need to have them contribute.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's for me. It's just a test
Speaker 2: of what we've been preaching all year, like they're a team,
Speaker 2: they do it together. It's not every moment it's going
Speaker 2: to be somebody's moment. Not every moment is going to
Speaker 2: be Albert's moment to score. Not every moment it's going
Speaker 2: to be JJ's. Not every moment it's going to be
Speaker 2: a Alberts. Sometimes it's going to be Frank. Sometimes it's
Speaker 2: going to be Zach Grants chipped him at goals as
Speaker 2: a center back. Yeah, so I think that's just a
Speaker 2: real sign of a really good balanced team and that's
Speaker 2: what we want to Yeah, we would love to have
Speaker 2: somebody score twenty goals and have Albert scored twenty goals
Speaker 2: like he did last year. But last year he scored
Speaker 2: twenty goals. This year he scored ten, but last year
Speaker 2: I had no assists. This year has four. So yeah,
Speaker 2: still has fourteen goal involvements, which is you would take
Speaker 2: that from your number nine. Fourteen goal involvements no matter
Speaker 2: how they come, Like, I still feel that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2: It was going to be really hard for him to
Speaker 2: replicate last year's goal tally as it was for everybody,
Speaker 2: Like it's only one guy. I think it's only Marcalis
Speaker 2: that has twenty plus goals, So yeah, I think it's
Speaker 2: it shows that we're a real team and that we
Speaker 2: have threats from everywhere. We have guys scoring for midfield.
Speaker 2: Clayholes status full goals, Zach Harrivell has four, Marky Barrow
Speaker 2: number six has has won so our wing Maax have some.
Speaker 2: So yeah, however they contribute goals. I really I'm really
Speaker 2: not bothered. As long as its goals or assists and
Speaker 2: we're scoring goals, I'm not really bothered where it comes from.
Speaker 1: Right now, it's the four to five in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference and it's a catching up with Indy eleven. Getting
Speaker 1: ready for that matchup on the weekend. What has Study
Speaker 1: Hall been like for you getting ready for this one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a team that we know well. Obviously we
Speaker 2: played them twice. We played them here really entertaining game
Speaker 2: three to three at our place and then lost one
Speaker 2: zero at their place. Their place. Was our second game
Speaker 2: of a three game stretch, three games in a week,
Speaker 2: and it was probably the toughest stretch of the season.
Speaker 2: We were away to Detroit. We didn't even come home.
Speaker 2: We went straight to Indy. We rotated the team because
Speaker 2: ultimately we wanted guys fresh for the weekend, but also
Speaker 2: some guys deserve to get minutes and they deserve the shots,
Speaker 2: so we gave those guys a shot. Unfortunately, we didn't
Speaker 2: win the game, but it was still a competitive match
Speaker 2: and we had chances to certainly win it, but unfortunately
Speaker 2: we lost. But they've they've improved obviously since then, added
Speaker 2: some key players. They've added my league foster. But yeah,
Speaker 2: they have really good veteran experience, quality players all over
Speaker 2: the pitch, veteran defenders, good quality USL Championship defenders, good
Speaker 2: center midfielders, creative players, Aid and Quinn Jack Blake. Again,
Speaker 2: like I mentioned, Malik Foster, Augi Williams, one of the
Speaker 2: most dangerous attackers in the league, Aid and Stanley terrific
Speaker 2: left back. So yeah, they have a really good team
Speaker 2: and it's yeah, it should be a really really competitive.
Speaker 1: Match when it comes to USL Championship. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of folks may gravitate toward other leagues, foreign and domestic.
Speaker 1: What would you say is the greatest calling card for
Speaker 1: someone who might be just drifting into the playoffs and
Speaker 1: sampling the USL Championship for the first time they drift
Speaker 1: into your match and they see you in Indye eleven
Speaker 1: trading haymakers for a full ninety minutes. What what would
Speaker 1: you say is the greatest calling card that USL Championship
Speaker 1: has Where folks, once they come in under the tent,
Speaker 1: they should stay under the tent. Why USL Championship. I
Speaker 1: guess it's the question here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know, as the game continues to
Speaker 2: grow in this country, right, Like it's some exciting things
Speaker 2: that happen in World Cup, World Club Cup, you name it, all,
Speaker 2: the Gold Cup, everything that's going to happen. MLS is
Speaker 2: getting better. So as MLS gets better, they spend twenty
Speaker 2: to thirty million dollars on attackers. Somebody has to come
Speaker 2: and play in the USL Championship, right, So maybe when
Speaker 2: I was playing those those attackers are now playing in
Speaker 2: the USL Championship. So it's definitely definitely some high quality
Speaker 2: players and talent and skill level and ability in the
Speaker 2: USL Championship. I think, for me, what makes the USL
Speaker 2: unique and different from MLS. I think with these mid
Speaker 2: major market cities, however you want to call them, I
Speaker 2: think there's really passionate fan bases. I think it's it's
Speaker 2: really diversity's diversity of stadiums, diversity of cultures, the tough
Speaker 2: to get to like for us to get to Indy,
Speaker 2: like it's too small, airports, like it's really.
Speaker 1: You don't have the charters squared away from from Providence
Speaker 1: to Indy.
Speaker 2: There's exactly we are we actually are, which is nice.
Speaker 2: So yeah, well yeah, so the diversity of the league,
Speaker 2: for me, I think it's what's what's really what's really
Speaker 2: exciting about the league. No, no disrespect at all to MLS.
Speaker 2: I love the league. I watch it, I played in it,
Speaker 2: but I think it's very cookie cutter. I think it's
Speaker 2: a lot of teams that have the same architecture, stadiums,
Speaker 2: training grounds, playing styles, coaching styles, you name it, formations
Speaker 2: like I think it's very similar where USL. I think
Speaker 2: it's very very diverse. I think every team is completely different.
Speaker 2: Harford's ninety minutes up the road from US, and we're
Speaker 2: completely different than they are.
Speaker 1: Donald Smith, the head coach of Rhode Island FC, getting
Speaker 1: ready for the first round of the playoffs and USL
Speaker 1: Championship taking on Indy eleven this weekend. Coach, I know
Speaker 1: that your schedules super busy. I can't thank you enough
Speaker 1: for dropping by for a quick one v one. We'll
Speaker 1: be watching, we'll be looking, and thanks for everything that
Speaker 1: you have done this season up there at Rhode Island.
Speaker 1: And can you keep that guy Parkhurston line for us
Speaker 1: next time you see him?
Speaker 2: Heah, it's tough, you know, Park East Park, He's a
Speaker 2: tough one to keep in lining. You know, he talks
Speaker 2: a lot and he wants control of everything. But no,
Speaker 2: he's he's been amazing. He's been an amazing help to me.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm I'm, I'm really happy to have him
Speaker 2: and he just helps me out and gives me advice
Speaker 2: and lets me do my things. So but I'll try
Speaker 2: my best.