Herriman Craig Harrington wanted a challenge.<\/p>\n
The newly minted Utah Royals FC coach had experienced success a decade ago when he was part of the academy system with the L.A. Galaxy for three years. He worked for the Galaxy at a time when the organizations pro team won back-to-back championships.<\/p>\n
Harrington, in his late 20s at the time, enjoyed it, but wanted a more direct piece of the action. He longed for more of an influence on winning. He wanted to matter.<\/p>\n
I probably had a bit of arrogance about me, Harrington said.<\/p>\n
So following the advice of a mentor, the England native went searching for his next opportunity. The Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association answered his call.<\/p>\n
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British territory in the Caribbean, about 620 miles southeast of Miami. Harrington became the associations new technical director in 2014, at a time when both the mens and womens side wasnt very competitive.<\/p>\n
He helped the TCI mens team to its highest-ever FIFA ranking and led its attempt to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. TCI lost in the first round of qualifying.<\/p>\n
But it was his work with the women both on and off the field that made the most impact on his career.<\/p>\n
It really branched and opened me up to the game of women, Harrington said of his TCI experience.<\/p>\n
One of the endeavors Harrington embarked upon was entering his womens team into the 2014 Caribbean Womens Cup, a new competition at the time that served as a qualifier for the CONCACAF Womens Championship, a tournament where the winner qualified for the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup.<\/p>\n
Harrington told soccer website The Equalizer that he was using the competition to assess his program.<\/p>\n
The tournament will be a benchmark for us to see where we are at, not just from the players point of view, [but] the infrastructure, coaching, management and medical, Harrington told the website.<\/p>\n
Turks and Caicos lost all three games in its group.<\/p>\n
He remembers watching the 2015 Womens World Cup with his wife and eldest daughter, drawing inspiration from American Carli Lloyd as she scored goals against Japan.<\/p>\n
Harrington has always wanted to be a head coach and said hes been ruthless in his pursuit of that goal one he has now accomplished.<\/p>\n
While life with TCI didnt come with titles upon titles like his time with the Galaxy did, Harringtons takeaway from that period is more all-encompassing. He learned to be a better communicator. He overcame cultural differences. He built positive and useful relationships all throughout the organization. He united everyone under a common goal.<\/p>\n
I think thats what that environment gave me, Harrington said. It led me to get me to understand how I can do that better.<\/p>\n
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Read the original post: <\/p>\n
Utah Royals' new coach draws inspiration from his time in the Caribbean - Salt Lake Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Herriman Craig Harrington wanted a challenge. Continue reading