FC Cincinnati is becoming a national hub for goalkeepers. Here's how and why
Midway through the 2023 Major League Soccer season, Roman Celentano found himself unprepared when FC Cincinnati's Head of Goalkeeping, Paul Rogers, started quizzing him on moments from his time playing at Indiana University.
“I was talking to him about a couple of situations in college he got into that he had no idea I knew about,” Rogers recalled of the conversation. “I said, ‘Roman, do you think we drafted you without me knowing everything that was possible for me to know?’ Which he was laughing about.”
Celentano was hardly the first player stunned by Rogers’ in-depth research. Evan Louro, 27, who signed a two-year contract extension at FC Cincinnati this autumn, was impressed to learn Rogers had developed a 12-year-old scouting file on him after just one week working together during a U.S. Under-17 national team camp.
"(Rogers) told me he's been keeping his eye on me since... I was 15 at the time," Louro said during a Dec. 5 interview. "He came for a week because we were in between coaches (with the U17's). A couple guys were going in and out. So, he came and I worked with him there. I didn't know if he remembered but I remembered, and now that I do know that he remembers, credit to his work and scouting networks... (Rogers) scours and the globe, I promise you. They have, like, unreal scouting. It's interesting to see that side of it and see how far he goes with all that stuff."
Celentano's and Louro's stories aren't unique when it comes to how Rogers does his job. Rogers possesses an uncommon thoroughness and attention to detail, and FC Cincinnati's leaned on that expertise since it hired Rogers in January 2022.
When Rogers arrived after seven years at Houston Dynamo FC, he brought with him one of the most important features of his scouting and on-field development efforts: his professional goalkeeper combine, which returned to the FC Cincinnati's Mercy Health Training Center for the second consecutive year Thursday through Sunday.
The event is free, and it's a gathering of the top college prospects in the country. The addition of a coaching clinic made it a true marketplace of ideas on the goalkeeping front. Many of the attendees consider the combine the foremost event of its kind in America for goalkeepers, and that's helped quietly make FC Cincinnati a national hub for goalkeeping expertise, and training and playing opportunities.
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"I want us to be known at the club as a hub for goalkeepers," Rogers said. "Whether that be the 10-year-old who wants to get in the academy, whether that’s someone who wants to be in the first-team because they’re a top goalkeeper already, or whether it’s a college kid that wants a chance to be in MLS Next Pro or the first-team because they’re coming through the draft. What I wouldn’t want is someone saying, ‘Cincinnati’s not the place for goalkeeping.’ I want it to be the place, somewhere goalkeepers want to be and where they’re happy to be selected or signed to."
Many of those in attendance at the combine consider Rogers the foremost goalkeeping expert in the country. “Paul is just the godfather of goalkeeping in the U.S.,” said Francesco Montali, a senior and two-time Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year out of Boston University.
Coaches agreed with that sentiment.
“He’s an outstanding coach,” said Andy Swift, a goalkeeping coach at Indy XI of the USL Championship. “He’s known for his level of detail, his attention to detail… Paul’s up there on a pedestal with the great goalkeeper coaches in this country.”
Rogers' bona fides are rooted in the fact that he's well-traveled and gets results. In less than two years on the job at FC Cincinnati, the club became a model of goalkeeping depth and consistency. Celentano is just the tip of the spear − the clearest and most visible manifestation of the work of Rogers and his talented staff of goalkeeper coaches.
Behind Celentano, who finished second in 2023 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year voting, there's a stocked cabinet of first-team and second-team goalkeeping talent. All the way down to the academy ranks, Rogers is positioning each goalkeeper wearing an FCC badge to push the players in front of them.
(Rogers also has a year-round camp system in place that allows him to survey the top goalkeeping talent from the youth ranks in Greater Cincinnati and budding professionals from around the country, and the camps have resulted in academy pickups for FCC).
Rogers wants to elevate goalkeeping across the board, not just at FC Cincinnati. Players and coaches know the event isn't just about serving the club's purposes because they know Rogers doesn't operate that way. They benefit from attending as much or more than FCC does from staging the event.
"We want to improve goalkeeping at the club, top to bottom," Rogers said. "But also improve coaching as well. We've got our group of coaches working the event but others that have been invited in to watch, and then I'm going through the sessions with them, going through different ideas in goalkeeping on and off the field... That was another way we wanted to add to share information."
Inside FC Cincinnati's pro goalkeeping combine
More than 20 of the best NCAA goalkeeping prospects from around America convened in Milford for four days of intensive instruction. It all starts with the invites.
The combine is invite-only, and the calls to participate come from the film study and other scouting efforts of FCC's entire goalkeeping staff.
Invites to the combine are treated like golden tickets. Feathers get ruffled when FCC passes on a player, and those who do get the call sometimes make big sacrifices to ensure they can attend.
Take Wisconsin goalkeeper Nate Crockford for example. After a Friday interview with The Enquirer following that morning’s session at the Mercy Health Training Center, Crockford returned to the hotel to complete a final exam, and later returned for the evening session.
"Paul is one of the greatest goalie coaches in America," Crockford said during the aforementioned interview. "I would say this (combine) a very valuable. Just training in an environment with 'keepers who are at the highest levels in college, it's nice to see where you are. Being in an environment to learn from some of the best goalie coaches while also kind of showcasing yourself and showing yourself because the goal, obviously, is to be a pro and being able to put yourself in front of pro coaches is very important in reaching the next level."
The list of attendees at the 2023 combine, which included 25 players representing five countries, featured: Paul Walters (FC Cincinnati first-team), Hunter Morse (FC Cincinnati 2), Jack Hudson (UAB), Jackson Weyman (Northwestern), Joseba Incera (University of New Hampshire), Lucas Morefield (IUPUI), Matt Zambetti (UMASS Amherst), Owen Jack (Vermont), Cole Hunter (East Tennessee State), Cameron Victor (Wofford), Francesco Montali (Boston University), Lukas Burns (Providence College), Cole Johnson (SMU), J.T. Harms (Indiana University), Shafique Wilson (Albany), Charlie Farrar (UNC-Asheville), Luke Pruter (UC Irvine), Mitch Budler (Akron), Nate Crockford (Wisconsin), Alex Svetanoff (Louisville), Jack Moxom (Pitt; FC Cincinnati Academy), Jonny Mennell (Xavier), Mikar Seger (Maryland), Nate Martinez (Georgia Southern), Kayne Rizvanovich (FC Cincinnati Academy U17).
From the time players arrived Thursday until they checked out from a nearby hotel Sunday, they received about 12 hours of on-field instruction. That was in addition to frequent discussions about training methods and debriefs after each on-field session.
Rogers came to the player hotel for meetings and informational sessions, too. On Saturday, players enjoyed lunch at TQL Stadium and a tour of the arena.
“You get to be in a pro environment. This is a first-team facility. Obviously, my goal is to play professional soccer so this is a little taste of the future,” Molinari said. “Once I got invited back this year, it was an easy ‘yeah, I’ll do whatever it takes.' Definitely get a lot out of it. It’s fun. Genuinely, across MLS there isn’t any kind of goalkeeper-specific combine and coaching clinic, helping other coaches. Just growing the area of goalkeeping in the U.S. is what Paul’s doing, and doing it really well. To my knowledge, there’s nothing else like this.”
For the players, there are several takeaways from attending. They come to the combine to size up the rest of the best in their peer group. The young goalkeepers receive a valuable networking opportunity – amongst each other and with potential future employers.
A sizable chunk of the attendees stand a reasonable chance of entering the professional soccer ranks domestically. Last year alone, at least two attendees ended up turning pro. Xavier University's Cole Jensen became the first goalkeeper selected in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft (No. 18 overall pick). FC Cincinnati signed Hunter Morse to an MLS Next Pro deal after selecting him in the second round of the SuperDraft.
For the club, the event helps Rogers keep his finger on the pulse of goalkeeping in the country, in addition to putting the FC Cincinnati brand in the middle of the national goalkeeping conversation. That's a lot of added value for the club on top of the end-product Rogers and Co. help facilitate throughout the club's own pool of goalkeepers.
Rogers isn’t hoarding his expertise, nor the knowledge he gathers from the annual combine. He throws open the gates of the Mercy Health Training Center, welcoming any club coaches and scouts to step onto the training pitch and observe.
Friday’s morning session featured a pack of more than a dozen college and professional coaches. As part of their participation in the coaching clinic, they were invited by Rogers to get as close to the drills as necessary in order to develop their own coaching methods. Some even pulled out their phones and filmed Rogers’ on-field tutorials, and Rogers’ welcomed that.
The coaches also get to use the club's new meeting area and video theater as Rogers explains his methods to them.
“For us, for Indy XI, there’s a lot of goalkeepers here we’re looking at. You’ve got some of the best goalkeepers around at this event,” Swift said. “To get everyone here is great and then also to get to see them within the exercises… It’s fantastic.
“You see the other coaches who are watching here. U.S. Soccer doesn’t do a good job of coaching education for goalkeepers. Flat out, there’s not enough offerings there, so anything like this gives coaches a chance to come learn and just the fact that Paul opens it up. It’s very easy to just do a closed-door events. All these keepers would have come just to FC Cincinnati, so it’s a kindness for us to be able to come and see it. Me and the other coaches appreciate that. It’s big time.”
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Rogers’ efforts are complemented by the stable of goalkeeping coaches at FC Cincinnati, all of whom have rich and varied histories in the professional game. Ryan Coulter is one of the most visible faces of the annual combine and is also renowned for his scouting and player-development work.
Bobby Edwards returned to FC Cincinnati to coach goalkeeping this year. Previously, he started regular-season matches for FCC during the 2020 regular season. He later player for Indy XI of the USL Championship and then coached goalkeeping there.
Dave Schureck, first hired by FCC in 2017 as its first-ever goalkeeping-specific assistant coach, is a well-known commodity in Greater Cincinnati also also coached at this year's combine.
Rogers started the goalkeeping combine during his time in Houston out of necessity. The club needed goalkeepers, and Rogers subscribed to the recruitment philosophy that you should prioritize players you have some kind of personal connection to.
Now, the combine is a coveted and desirable offseason highlight for players all over America. For FC Cincinnati, the club gets a look at the next wave of great goalkeepers being produced in the college ranks, creating for Rogers a base of knowledge the club can call upon later should it need to consider signing one of the players. A growing number of coaches walk away from the Mercy Health Training Center having been enriched by the experience, too.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati is becoming a national hub for goalkeepers. Here's how
