Speaker 1: That's our next guest. I could use a ton of superlatives.
Speaker 1: The Wall of the wasatch the best to ever do
Speaker 1: it in Major League soccer, and now we can add
Speaker 1: to it. Nick Romondo Hall of Famer as Nicky was
Speaker 1: inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame as part
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty five class just a few days ago,
Speaker 1: the first RSL player ever to be inducted. So Nick,
Speaker 1: the first thing first, man, So proud of you. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: how you doing, Thank you man?
Speaker 2: Yeah, World wind Tour. Just got back from being inducted
Speaker 2: in Dallas, and just so real for me to be
Speaker 2: amongst the names of so many great American soccer players
Speaker 2: and people being inducted into the Hall of Fame. So
Speaker 2: just feeling so happy, so grateful, so blessed. And to
Speaker 2: be the first to ever do it from oursel obviously
Speaker 2: that's a special feeling as well.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, Nick, because as I referenced,
Speaker 1: I certainly am proud of you. I know a lot
Speaker 1: of people, including my old man, very proud of you.
Speaker 1: What are you most proud about during this journey that
Speaker 1: is culminated with an induction into the Hall of Fame?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I tried to get your pops down there. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: you know, your dad has a busy schedule, but he
Speaker 2: was able to send me a nice little little gift
Speaker 2: to the house. That was very nice of him. But
Speaker 2: for me, I think just the consistency of being able
Speaker 2: to play for twenty years. You know what it takes
Speaker 2: to play for that long, to be able to take
Speaker 2: care of your body, have the trust from the organizations
Speaker 2: and teammates, your coaching staff, and to stay the longevity
Speaker 2: of just being at a club for so long, like
Speaker 2: Real Salt Lakes. So and again, I think I would
Speaker 2: be remiss not to say that, you know, the experiences
Speaker 2: I've had with the national team, going to represent the
Speaker 2: country down at the World Cup in twenty fourteen was
Speaker 2: very special for me. And obviously the whole journey, the
Speaker 2: whole journey makes me who I am as a player,
Speaker 2: as a person, and the ups and downs of my
Speaker 2: careers and just just again just this reminiscing and looking
Speaker 2: back on my career. There's so many ups and downs
Speaker 2: that maybe the person I am today And just just
Speaker 2: again just feeling so grateful to be in the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame.
Speaker 1: No, you're a big music guy. I was watching this documentary,
Speaker 1: this music documentary on Glastonbury, this music festival, and they
Speaker 1: interviewed Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, after that
Speaker 1: big cold Play, like their their first Glastonbury concert, and
Speaker 1: he said something that struck with me because they said,
Speaker 1: and you know, guys like you who achieve, and guys
Speaker 1: like lead singers of a band, you know, they start
Speaker 1: with a dream and then they followed the dream and
Speaker 1: work as hard as they could. And I'll never forget
Speaker 1: what he said. He said, my dreams never got this big.
Speaker 1: I never got here in my dreams. Were you did
Speaker 1: you dare to dream that something like this was a
Speaker 1: possibility for you when you were starting out playing soccer
Speaker 1: or did your dreams never get this big?
Speaker 2: No? You know, I never started playing soccer to be
Speaker 2: in the Hall of Fame. It was because I loved
Speaker 2: the sport. I loved the competition, I love the band.
Speaker 2: I love to see my teammates and being a part
Speaker 2: of the team and the goal to reach you know,
Speaker 2: the finals, the playoffs. That I was just a competitive person.
Speaker 2: And obviously when you start playing for as long as
Speaker 2: I did, to act like start to you know, accumulate
Speaker 2: a little bit more and more, and if you win,
Speaker 2: if you do well, you know, your name might get
Speaker 2: you know, shine bright a couple of times here and there.
Speaker 2: But I think if you ask anybody that has been inducted,
Speaker 2: they don't they don't do it to be in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame, to do it because they love the sport.
Speaker 2: And yeah, as you continue to play, those ambitions get
Speaker 2: a little bit bigger and bright. And as I, you know,
Speaker 2: won the MLS Cup, it's like, what could I do next,
Speaker 2: Let's go to the Goal Cup. Let's let's get on
Speaker 2: the national team. And then obviously the goal was to
Speaker 2: make it to the World Cup, and and uh, to
Speaker 2: be able to achieve that that goal the biggest goal
Speaker 2: of my of mine and playing and one of the
Speaker 2: biggest soccer tournaments or sports tournaments in the world was
Speaker 2: massive to me. And I guess when when you're done playing,
Speaker 2: maybe there's a little hope that that there's gonna be
Speaker 2: some recognition somewhere here and there, and and and to
Speaker 2: be recognized by the Hall of Fame and be inducted,
Speaker 2: that's that's the biggest for me.
Speaker 1: I wonder Nick, because you know, the hero's journey contains
Speaker 1: a lot of ups and downs, and life is not
Speaker 1: a straight line and careers are not linear. And you
Speaker 1: had a really interesting career where you started out, you know,
Speaker 1: on a trajectory that was going straight up with Miami
Speaker 1: and you want a supporter shield. You know, you were
Speaker 1: a starter as a rookie, and then you went to
Speaker 1: d C and you know, you were able to get
Speaker 1: the starting job for a minute, you guys want a
Speaker 1: cup and then you lost your starting job and ultimately
Speaker 1: you landed here in in a trade that brought RSL.
Speaker 1: Freddy you do and you turned out to be the
Speaker 1: gem of that deal. But at the time, I think
Speaker 1: there were some questions. Did you ever question yourself during
Speaker 1: that time when you had lost your job and you
Speaker 1: landed here, grabbed the starting job and the rest is history.
Speaker 1: But did you ever have doubts during that process?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Of course, And again like that's I touched on
Speaker 2: a little bit. But who made It's what made me
Speaker 2: as a player, the down more than anything, the injuries,
Speaker 2: the not playing someone else taking my starting position. It's
Speaker 2: believing in yourself, pushing yourself through there are in those moments,
Speaker 2: letting that be the feel not you know, not the
Speaker 2: ceiling of who you are as a player and a person.
Speaker 2: And I really think if I didn't have any setbacks
Speaker 2: in my in my career and everything was just jolly
Speaker 2: and going straightforward, I wouldn't be where I'm at. Uh.
Speaker 2: It's those it's those setbacks and injuries that again made
Speaker 2: me and made me go through the hard times in
Speaker 2: my career and and really really flourish and the good
Speaker 2: times and and uh, you know, push me through to
Speaker 2: get to those moments, you know, winning in two thousand
Speaker 2: and nine, going to the MLS club and even losing.
Speaker 2: I think I believe those twenty twelves a KC. Those
Speaker 2: feelings stick with you and and and you don't want
Speaker 2: to feel those feelings again. So you get back on
Speaker 2: that on that on that field and in the gym,
Speaker 2: and you try to do whatever you can not to
Speaker 2: have that feeling again of losing, and it just pushes
Speaker 2: you through. Everybody has more innovation in their own way,
Speaker 2: and and and mind was through the losses and and
Speaker 2: and those learning experiences and how to get back on
Speaker 2: that horse.
Speaker 1: You know what I didn't know until recently because we
Speaker 1: were talking about your induction. You never won MLS Keeper
Speaker 1: of the year. In your entire career, that award never
Speaker 1: came your way once.
Speaker 2: No, no, I figure I was close a couple of times,
Speaker 2: but uh never never was able to get it. And
Speaker 2: and and listen, there were some good goalkeepers in my
Speaker 2: time and not not to you know, be that humble
Speaker 2: guy all the time, but you got to give it
Speaker 2: to some of these goalkeepers. Man, every time I thought
Speaker 2: I maybe had it, and again you don't. You don't
Speaker 2: start the year it may be a goal, but you
Speaker 2: don't push for it. And at the end of the
Speaker 2: year you're like, Okay, maybe I got it and it
Speaker 2: was just never on the table for me. And I'm
Speaker 2: okay with that. I'm okay with that. I have so
Speaker 2: many more experiences and uh and then friendships and teammates
Speaker 2: and awards that I got through my career and and
Speaker 2: but it is. It is a talking point for sure.
Speaker 1: Look, dude, you have the MLS records for minutes games played, wins,
Speaker 1: clean sheets, saves, and penalty kicks. There's literally nothing else
Speaker 1: you could have done. So I will complain for you.
Speaker 1: The fact that you never won that award once is
Speaker 1: beyond stupid.
Speaker 2: I think you and my mom agreed.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough. Well that I'm in good company because
Speaker 1: I've met your mother. Of course, she's a lovely lady. Hey,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this, What was it about, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it was simply salt Lake being a new fresh
Speaker 1: start or John Ellinger and then Jason christ you know,
Speaker 1: believing in you. What was it that made this market
Speaker 1: at that time the right fit for you, that allowed
Speaker 1: you to go on to break all these records.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, for me, it needed I needed a change.
Speaker 2: I wasn't the number one in DC. I was really
Speaker 2: in good with with DC United and the front office,
Speaker 2: so they helped me, you know, get out of there
Speaker 2: and gave me some options. It was Kansas City, Columbus,
Speaker 2: and I think Salt Lake City were at the top
Speaker 2: of the list for trading options. And honestly, for me,
Speaker 2: it was just trying to get as west as I could,
Speaker 2: and salt Lake was that and I was thinking, Okay,
Speaker 2: if I could somehow end my career in California, that
Speaker 2: would be great. I'm back to where you know I'm from,
Speaker 2: But salt Lake is it was a home. It fit me,
Speaker 2: it fit my family, the people here, that the relationships
Speaker 2: I built the club Now to this day. Have have
Speaker 2: a great relationship with them and I owe a lot
Speaker 2: to them. In my career, so many people did to name,
Speaker 2: but this is home. After I was done playing, there
Speaker 2: was there was, you know a handful of MLS clubs
Speaker 2: that wanted me to come and get into coaching with
Speaker 2: their first teams, And for me, it was just it
Speaker 2: wasn't the right time and and honestly, I wanted to
Speaker 2: see what coaching was about, what what that next level
Speaker 2: was about, and what better place to do do it
Speaker 2: at than my home club where my kids are and
Speaker 2: really dip my toes and what is coaching things all about?
Speaker 2: So again they open up their arms to me and
Speaker 2: let me be the coach version of myself and see
Speaker 2: if I like it or not. And I just love
Speaker 2: it here man, the weather, the changing of the weather,
Speaker 2: the people that you know where I live, ride in
Speaker 2: my bikes everywhere, that the concert scene, the restaurant scene.
Speaker 2: It's just evolving through the years, and I'm happy this
Speaker 2: is home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you really have carved out an excellent piece of
Speaker 1: real estate for yourself, both literally and figuraively in this
Speaker 1: market with the businesses you run, the coaching you're doing,
Speaker 1: and the presence you have. I wonder I want to
Speaker 1: kick the tires with the coaching stuff for a little bit, Nikki,
Speaker 1: because from my experience interviewing players and coaches over the years,
Speaker 1: and specifically players like you that decide to get into coaching,
Speaker 1: nothing will ever capture the buzz of playing, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that's fair to say. But does coaching come
Speaker 1: close at all? And what's your experience been like so
Speaker 1: Faruff you.
Speaker 2: Cut out a little bit spence.
Speaker 1: That again, Bud, I'll reduce it to make it quicker.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody, I don't think anything can ever
Speaker 1: capture the buzz of the buzz you had when you
Speaker 1: were playing. I just don't think that's possible. But does
Speaker 1: the coaching thing come close? And what's been your experience
Speaker 1: so far with the coaching experience?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, I mean when you step on the field
Speaker 2: and you put the mids on and you got the
Speaker 2: cleats underneath, the lights and the pressures and trying to
Speaker 2: accomplish something as a team, that's a whole different filling
Speaker 2: than you know, put it on the running shoes and
Speaker 2: a polo before a game, that's for sure, But you know,
Speaker 2: it keeps me involved you can't buy experiences, and the
Speaker 2: experience I've had in the game, I think, you know,
Speaker 2: real monitor the academy kids that I've been working with,
Speaker 2: and even the first team if if there's you know,
Speaker 2: I see them around a lot in the locker room
Speaker 2: and we you know, small talk hand. They're about games.
Speaker 2: But I think you're never going to get that same
Speaker 2: filling of being the player. But I hope that you know,
Speaker 2: my presence on the sideline, on the training, training field
Speaker 2: will give these players an upper hand, you know, with
Speaker 2: my experiences.
Speaker 1: All right, Nick, you before I set you loose, because
Speaker 1: I know you have to run. I always hesitate to
Speaker 1: either dismiss or annoint an MLS team based off the
Speaker 1: start because some of the best teams we've ever had
Speaker 1: here they've started slowly and some of the worst have
Speaker 1: started quickly. It has been an up and down start
Speaker 1: to say the least. But Rath has been really good.
Speaker 1: I wonder what your take is on this new keeper
Speaker 1: for the club and your thoughts on if Pablo and
Speaker 1: the group can turn around.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I see Rafa every day. His training habits are
Speaker 2: second to none. What he's doing on the field, isn't
Speaker 2: it surprising? Me because he comes in and works hard
Speaker 2: every single day. His technique is upstanding and other players
Speaker 2: to look up to, and I'm just really really proud
Speaker 2: to see Rafa step in and be so consistent with
Speaker 2: the team. And he's been one of the players in
Speaker 2: my opinion throughout throughout the season so far. Obviously you
Speaker 2: have to be you have to think of Diego Luna
Speaker 2: as well, who and we could get back on track.
Speaker 2: You know, we've had some injuries. I'm trying to get
Speaker 2: you know, I think some some.
Speaker 1: Let's let him go, all right, Uh there you go.
Speaker 1: I think he copped in his car. I think he
Speaker 1: probably had to get to practice, is my guest this
Speaker 1: time of day, right.
Speaker 3: I think actually another soccer game, daughter soccer game.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, he's got to uh two growing kids. I'm
Speaker 1: sure he's uh there there. There's there's nothing more complicated
Speaker 1: than you're doing an interview and you can tell that
Speaker 1: they're walking from their house to the car. Then you
Speaker 1: got to get in the car, got to start the car,
Speaker 1: got to pull out of the driveway. So that's my
Speaker 1: guest that we had Nick in his house and then
Speaker 1: he had to get in his vehicle.
Speaker 3: I think you actually when you cut out was him
Speaker 3: the headphones going into the the car. So I think
Speaker 3: you're spot.
Speaker 1: On, Nick Romando, Hall of Famer. I will repeat this now.
Speaker 1: We do this thing in our market where you know,
Speaker 1: we always complain to Jerry Sloan never one coach of
Speaker 1: the Year, which was a crime. I think Jerry had
Speaker 1: a case four or five different times. Nick Romondo has
Speaker 1: the MLS records for minutes played, games played, career wins,
Speaker 1: clean sheets, saves, and penalty kick saves. Is there anything
Speaker 1: else that you can Is there any other record you
Speaker 1: can hold as a keeper? I feel like Nick has
Speaker 1: literally every record in MLS history that you can carry
Speaker 1: as a as a goalkeeper.
Speaker 3: I think so, at least as we're talking career spans, right,
Speaker 3: there's no one that really comes close to Nick Romondo.
Speaker 3: And when you look at the comparison spence, they are
Speaker 3: several of them. They are records that appear like they
Speaker 3: could stand for a very long time in Major League soccer. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know that there's much more. You know, you
Speaker 3: don't rely on on goalies for goals, but I always
Speaker 3: like that one. That's always fun when a goalie has
Speaker 3: a couple of goals on the sheet.
Speaker 1: Maybe assists distribution out of the back porter.
Speaker 2: It's important.
Speaker 1: It's important soccer terms. I don't mean to get too deep,
Speaker 1: but you got to be able to provide distribution from
Speaker 1: the back line. Nick was actually good at that. I
Speaker 1: don't know how many career as Sissy have he had,
Speaker 1: but I think he had a few. So outside of
Speaker 1: goals and assists that you do not count on your
Speaker 1: keeper to provide, Nick has all of the meat and
Speaker 1: potato records in MLS.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I believe so. As you said, probably a crime
Speaker 3: that he was never given that award. And you go
Speaker 3: back to some of the ways that RSL won and
Speaker 3: one playoff games, one games down the stretch, it was shootouts.
Speaker 3: It was one nill right that I mean to rely
Speaker 3: on your keeper quite often. So yeah, shout out to Nikki.
Speaker 3: Well deserved Hall of Famer, even if he didn't get
Speaker 3: that Keeper of the Year wark.
Speaker 1: Throughout the course of RSL's runs back in the you know,
Speaker 1: the two thousand and seven to twenty fifteen sixteen run
Speaker 1: when Nick was really peaked. Nick, if you weren't there,
Speaker 1: or if you weren't watching consistently, it's hard to explain
Speaker 1: how many big time saves he came up with not
Speaker 1: just throughout the run of play soccer term, not trying
Speaker 1: to get too deep, but also just penalty kick saves
Speaker 1: PK shootouts. Certainly MLS Cup. They saw RSL beat that
Speaker 1: La Galaxy team that had landon Donovan and David Beckham
Speaker 1: on it. And you know, it's interesting to consider, you know,
Speaker 1: nicks Nick's story is a really really just simply a
Speaker 1: really good life lesson because as I talked to Nicky about,
Speaker 1: ironically enough, Nick's career started out in Miami with the
Speaker 1: Miami Fusion. They picked him thirty fifth overall in the
Speaker 1: third round of the draft, and the starting keeper in
Speaker 1: Miami at the time was a guy named Jeff Kassar,
Speaker 1: and Nick took Jeff's job. Ironically enough, Jeff was the
Speaker 1: goalkeeper coach under Jason Christ here in Salt Lake. So
Speaker 1: Nick was started as a rookie and then started twenty
Speaker 1: five games the next season, and the Fusion won the
Speaker 1: Supporter Shield in two thousand and one. With Nick and
Speaker 1: goal Miami now has a soccer team. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've heard they've got a player. I don't know
Speaker 1: how to pronounce his name. I think it's MESSI but
Speaker 1: Miami was contracted after the two thousand and one season,
Speaker 1: so Soccer and Miami was done and the players were
Speaker 1: dispersed via an allocation draft, and Nicky was taken by
Speaker 1: DC United, who was coached by Ray Hudson, who coached
Speaker 1: Nick in Miami. And in two thousand and two, Nick
Speaker 1: played in every game. Two thousand and three, he missed
Speaker 1: the end of the season with an injury, but then
Speaker 1: he lost his job to Troy Perkins because Ray Hudson
Speaker 1: lost his job, and I want to say, Bruce Arena
Speaker 1: took the job in DC and then Nick actually took
Speaker 1: the job back and they won MLS Cup that year.
Speaker 1: But then he lost out to Troykins again in two
Speaker 1: thousand and six, so he was their second string keeper.
Speaker 1: And I think what a lot of people may forget
Speaker 1: is we had Nick here for a minute. But then
Speaker 1: Nick lost his starting job here in saw Lake to
Speaker 1: a guy named Scott Garlic and so Nick was sent
Speaker 1: back to DC United. Okay, so he was sent back.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, he was actually traded to the New York
Speaker 1: Red Bulls. Okay, so he was traded to the New
Speaker 1: York Red Bulls because Scott Garlic won the job here.
Speaker 1: So Scott Garlic was going to be the keeper here.
Speaker 1: He was the first choice keeper, he had won the job,
Speaker 1: and Nick was in New York. Well, I'll never forget
Speaker 1: being in RSL's offices when a phone call came through
Speaker 1: and the general manager at the time, Steve Pastorino John Allinger,
Speaker 1: was kind of making most of the decisions. But John
Speaker 1: Allinger informed the staff that Scott Garlic was retiring from
Speaker 1: Major League Soccer because he got a good job in
Speaker 1: real estate. And I can remember thinking like, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is not the NBA, this is not the NFL. This
Speaker 1: is a different league. If you're starting keeper who had
Speaker 1: won the job and was under contract and probably had
Speaker 1: three or four years left to play, decided he was
Speaker 1: retiring from soccer because he wanted to pursue real estate.
Speaker 1: This is a different thing altogether. So John Ellinger, to
Speaker 1: his credit, had to scramble and he calls New York
Speaker 1: and as the story goes, New York I believe gave
Speaker 1: John the choice between two keepers and Nick was one
Speaker 1: of them, and John said, just send Nick back to
Speaker 1: us and let's see what we can do with that.
Speaker 1: And the deal again for Romando was made to acquire
Speaker 1: Freddie Adue, who was thought to be the future of
Speaker 1: American soccer. He was a teenage kid when he was
Speaker 1: receiving national team call ups, and Freddie had played for
Speaker 1: John Ellinger at the Bradenton Academy with the developmental program
Speaker 1: for the national team. So the attention in that transaction
Speaker 1: was on Freddie and not Nick. Nick was kind of
Speaker 1: a throw in, and then they had to panic to
Speaker 1: get Nick back because our keeper retired. They made Nick
Speaker 1: the number one overall keeper in two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: and all he did after that was go on to
Speaker 1: break every record that MLS has for keepers. So pretty
Speaker 1: phenomenal story. And Nick deserves a lot of credit because
Speaker 1: obviously RSL went on to win MLS Cup in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine, they went onto a CONCACAFF Champions Final,
Speaker 1: almost becoming the first MLS team to win the CONCACAFF
Speaker 1: Champions League, and then nearly won a Cup again but
Speaker 1: lost to KC in the final. And then Nick played
Speaker 1: through twenty nineteen, so it played another five years after that,
Speaker 1: and we'll go down as one of, if not the
Speaker 1: best keeper in the history of this league, and certainly
Speaker 1: a legend for RSL