The path to success for many tends to be an uncharted course that can be full of surprises at every turn.
In the case of Rob Vincent, if he thought about becoming the full-time manager of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, it probably didn’t involve replacing the man who gave him his start as a coach in pro soccer.
The same coach who was placed on administrative leave under cloudy circumstances. With the same group, one that was struggling to find its way. Only to then lead that team to seven straight wins and a USL Championship trophy.
Yet last Oct. 10, late on a Friday afternoon, that scenario played out at Highmark Stadium. As the Riverhounds sat in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, hosting the Indy 11 the next day in what was a crucial game for both teams fighting to make the playoffs, Vincent got a call that changed the course of his coaching career.
“You get a call on a Friday afternoon, then in the office with (owner Tuffy Shallenberger) and (president Jeff Garner) and they kind of tell you a little bit of what’s happening and then flat out ask you if you’re ready to take the team over tomorrow,” Vincent said in a phone interview. “It was important in that moment to exude confidence and exude a kind of composure and relay that to the team too. I don’t want to say I put on an act, but put on a face that we’re going to get on with this and plow on and make the best of the season.”
And sure enough, the team did make the best of it, registering a 2-1 win at home to secure its eighth consecutive playoff appearance while also snapping a five-match winless streak. It was truly a tipping point of sorts for the season, one that could have easily ended poorly and finished like the previous 25 before it with no championship to celebrate.
It’s impossible to know how the team would have handled Bob Lilley’s “administrative leave” had the Riverhounds not gone on to win it all. There is a good deal of speculation that had the club been knocked out at some point in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Shallenberger might have brought Lilley back. But in the end, the team showed a different spark under Vincent.
“In terms of the rest of the run, it was a bit of a perfect storm,” Vincent recalled. “Everybody was healthy. Maybe my style gave the guys a bit of more freedom, take the shackles off the guys and let them express themselves and enjoy what was left of the season. All of a sudden, you hit a patch of form and you are playing really well, and you can make a run in the playoffs.”
There is a clear personality difference between Lilley and Vincent that is noticeable both on the surface and digging deeper into who Vincent is.
A lifelong student of soccer, growing up in England and eventually migrating to the United States to play, Vincent is also married and recently his wife had their second child. Personality wise, Lilley and Vincent are night and day. Regardless, Vincent has seized this chance and made the most of it by being open to learning every step of the way in his soccer life.
“I knew that I always wanted to go into coaching while playing,’ said Vincent. “At 19 or 20, I used to make notes in my journal about what the coaches would do, and I thought about that. You observe. What I liked or didn’t like. You start to mentally prepare. Would I change this if I was the head coach? I go back to that Oct. 10 moment and when I got thrown in, you have all this knowledge stored up and have to figure out how to get it across to the guys.”
Vincent said he is was very grateful for what Lilley has meant to him getting to this point — an uneasy spot to be in for sure.
Now that the hard part is over, Vincent has full command of the 26-man roster. He had a hand in either re-signing or adding 22 of the players for this coming season.
“The guys who we brought back, (Danny Griffin, Robbie Mertz), we’ve identified them as players we want on this team,” Vincent said. “Beto (Ydrach) and others. We have less work to do to get them up to speed. To go and get (Albert Dikwa), he’s at a point of his career where all he wants to do is score goals. He doesn’t need to have 40 touches a game. Just in the right place at the right time. Can we add more goals to the midfield? How do we replace Sean Suber at the back? It’s been fun to fill those roles and make it all click together.”
The new era of the Riverhounds will commence Saturday from Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., when the club faces the Charleston Battery for a 6 p.m. kickoff.