RI soccer club GM looks far and wide for players
PAWTUCKET — The past could offer some clues as to how Khano Smith wants Rhode Island FC to operate in its 2024 debut.
The club has yet to officially sign any players. That process in the USL Championship generally picks up in the fall. Smith will hope to draw from multiple pools — international, college, Major League Soccer, rival USL clubs, perhaps even from an open tryout — while assembling his roster.
Smith serves as head coach and general manager of Rhode Island FC. As a former assistant with Orlando Pride and Birmingham Legion, it represents a step forward in his career. Smith works directly with club president Brett Luy, who will oversee the majority of business interests.
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“Done a ton of scouting,” Smith said in an extended interview last week. “Been to a bunch of tournaments over the past few months. Looking at young players and older players in every league. Trying to get a pulse on everything that I can.”
Will the club mirror Smith’s time on the pitch? He’s a former national team captain with his native Bermuda, enjoyed a pair of stints with New England Revolution and played a lone season with Lincoln City, currently a third-tier English club side. He debuted for Dandy Town Hornets as a striker in the early 2000s and gradually made his way to the left wing as an attacker.
Two of Smith’s managers enjoyed significant slices of success as players overseas. Steve Nicol was part of a golden era at Liverpool, winning foreign and domestic trophies by the handful as a versatile defender and outside back before taking charge of the Revolution. Chris Sutton was a Premier League champion as a striker with Blackburn Rovers before guiding the Imps to the third round of the FA Cup.
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“We want to be able to dominate games and keep the ball the entire game,” Smith said. “But I’m not naïve — I know that’s not going to happen. We’re going to play against coaches who are going to have a plan, too.”
How many of those lessons could take hold when matches begin in March? Smith’s last two full seasons with Birmingham represent his most recent sample. The club’s best stretch came in 2021, with competence on display at both ends.
Birmingham finished 18-8-6 and qualified for the USL playoffs. Jamaican international Neco Brett led the line with 18 goals, as the club finished tied for 12th in scoring. Birmingham was also 12th in passes attempted — a decent rate, certainly, but nothing approaching the Barcelona sides of prime Leo Messi.
“We want the ball,” Smith said. “We want to have the ball the entire game.”
Birmingham’s defensive record that season was more impressive. They tied for sixth in the league with 10 clean sheets but were even sharper than that — conceding just 32 goals put them second in the USL. Birmingham also boasted a strong disciplinary record, receiving a single red card and closing 24th among 31 teams in yellow cards.
“I think we’re here to provide a service to people,” Smith said. “For sure, we need to be entertaining. But we also need to be adaptive trying to win games.
“There are going to be games where we’re going to have to dig in and try to hang in for a point.”
Smith spent four seasons under Tom Soehn, who has served as Birmingham coach since the club’s inception in 2018. Soehn was hired away from New England after five matches as interim coach at the close of the 2017 season. Smith won’t have MLS financial resources at his fingertips but still should carry the experience needed to sift through available talent.
“Honestly, I think the U.S. is so big,” Smith said. “There are so many different markets that have so many good players. You can go to the Carolinas, Florida, California, Texas — there are all these hotbeds of soccer.
“I wouldn’t say there’s one geographical area that produces one profile of player I like more than another.”
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island FC's coach and GM scouts far and wide for players
