The Houston Dash announced today that they had added Eddie Robinson, Monica Gonzalez and Brenton Saylor to their technical staff for the 2019 National Women's Soccer League.
Robinson and Gonzalez join the staff as assistant coaches and Saylor will come on as the goalkeeper coach. The club will now have a full-time technical staff for the first time in its history. The club is also looking to add to the staff with other support and analyst roles.
Clarkson welcomes the additional support
Head coach James Clarkson spoke to the team's official website about the addition to his staff and welcomed the new signings. Clarkson stated that he was "extremely excited" about the staff they had managed to put together so far as they all "bring a wealth of knowledge and experience". Clarkson also noted that the club was looking to "create an outstanding environment and culture" that will bring success to the club.
Robinson, Gonzalez and Saylor also released statements in the official announcement. Robinson stated that he was "thankful" to be retained by the club, Gonzales noted that "Houston has the most talent it has ever had" and that she looked forward to working with the players and the staff, and Saylor put forward that this had been "an opportunity he could not pass up".
All new staff members bring experience with them
Eddie Robinson worked with the Dash last season after joining as an assistant in May and helped the club reach a franchise-record nine victories in a season.
Monica Gonzalez was a staple of the Mexican national team and played at both the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Gonzalez also played college soccer in the United States of America with the University of Notre Dame and played in Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) for the Boston Breakers between 2002 and 2003.
Brenton Saylor has also been involved in the soccer world, having spent three seasons with the Rice University women's soccer team, during which they won the 2017 Conference USA title. Saylor was also at the team when Maya Hoyer earned Conference USA Goalkeeper of the Year honors in 2017 and helped the goalkeepers at Rice University keep 19 shutouts over three seasons.
The Houston Dash will look to make the NWSL Playoffs for the first time in their history and they hope that the experience and past history in soccer of their technical staff will help them achieve that goal.
Quotes via HoustonDynamo.com