Mark Parsons, former NWSL coach, joins Angel City FC as sporting director: ‘I want to be here for as long as possible’

Angel City FC have hired Mark Parsons as the team’s new sporting director, they announced Wednesday. Parsons, who has extensive NWSL head coaching experience from the Washington Spirit and Portland Thorns FC, as well as the Netherlands women’s national team, will fully shift into leading the Los Angeles club’s soccer operations, including oversight of the technical staff, scouting and analytics department, as well medical, performance, nutrition and player care departments as well. 

He’s also starting this new role with a new club during a devastating time for Los Angeles, as the wildfires continue to burn — even as the start of the team’s preseason is only a matter of days away.

“The only starting point is understanding, and realizing that everyone will be dealing with this terrible moment in the city very differently,” Parsons told The Athletic in a one-on-one interview shortly ahead of his official announcement on Wednesday. “When I meet all the staff and all the players, probably the first thing they’ll hear from me is make sure that you are taking care of yourself and your family and friends.”

There are staff and players at the club who have been directly impacted by the wildfires, most notably Ali Riley who lost her family home three days before her wedding. For Parsons, he said he wants to be clear that soccer is second, right now.

But there is plenty for Parsons to work through over the coming weeks, and he seemed fully aware that the main task ahead is matching the on-field ambition with the standards Angel City have set off the field.

“While I can sit here and say they can be world-leading on the field as well, to hear that there is not the vision and commitment and real purpose to want to pursue that — to hear that, to feel that and believe it — from ownership and leadership, is all I needed to be even more excited,” he said Wednesday. Parsons also believes that success on the field will have a far greater impact than just Los Angeles, or even the NWSL — but on a global scale.

“I feel great responsibility to be able to support our sporting departments to get to that level,” Parsons said.

There is the immediate pressing matter of naming Angel City’s next head coach, after the club parted ways with Becki Tweed in December. Eleri Earnshaw was named interim head coach as part of that announcement, and Parsons said he expects to wrap up the technical staff by the end of the week — and not put a timeline on hiring a new head coach.

“There has been some foundation work done,” he said, “but really, that process starts tomorrow in the sense that we run a full process. The first part is data-based: does a coach and their methodology and how their teams play match what we believe Angel City will represent? From there, we get into a lot more important factors. I will always value the soccer piece, but leadership, connection and building an accountable culture is also important. We’re reluctant to put a timeline on that.”

Parsons said the team will have everything in place to give them the flexibility to run a search process as long as it takes, because they don’t want to rush the process.

“Let’s find the best person to come and lead this team, that represents what this fan base and the players and the staff are crying out for — to be involved in the biggest games of the year.”

On the roster front, Parsons was enthusiastic about the team’s blend of veterans like Sydney Leroux and younger talent, but also said there was still work ahead to get the team into playoff shape. He pointed to his own experience coming into head coaching roles with the Spirit and the Thorns, where teams bounced back from poor season finishes to make the playoffs the following year. He also named Orlando, Kansas City and Washington as the top three teams he thinks are getting the big decisions right across identity, recruitment and development.

“I’ve rarely ever walked into an environment, maybe never, where it’s already where it needs to be and just needs to be maintained,” he said. “We’ve got some work to do to bring in the right people in, to bring this vision to life. On the roster, while we’re feeling pretty good, I’m sure there is some work to do there as well.”

(And on the more immediate concerns of the club’s roster, Parsons smiled when asked about Christen Press — a free agent this offseason. “I think we’ll have a positive update soon.”)

It’s an ambitious project ahead for Parsons, for an ambitious team that has long been dogged by criticism of their product on the field. He will report directly to Angel City’s president, Julie Uhrman. 

“I want to be here for as long as possible,” Parsons said, “helping build Angel City into what it is off the field — a world-leading sporting organization — on the field.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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