After a global head coaching search, the Portland Thorns are sticking with what they have.
The Thorns announced Friday that they have hired Rob Gale as the team's full-time head coach following Gale's successful stint as interim coach since mid-April.
“This is a club we want to see succeed, so Rob's record in the interim was impressive, but he also went beyond that,” Thorns general manager Karina LaBlanc told ESPN. “I mean, the players love him, the community loves him, the fans love him, the staff loves him. But early on, I told him, 'Make this a success.'” [decision] “It's hard for us.”
Gale did. She took over a winless Thorns team and has since guided Portland to an 8-2-2 record. The Thorns sit fifth in the National Women's Soccer League standings in the league's extended summer break following the regular season.
LeBlanc said the global search was conducted in conjunction with a reputable talent identification firm whose name he declined to reveal.
The long list included a diverse set of candidates from both men's and women's football. It was narrowed down to three final candidates and then to two final candidates.
The data (LeBlanc declined to share specifics, citing competitive advantages and other open coaching positions within the NWSL) supported the feelings of those at the club that Gale was the “adaptable” coach they needed.
“I would say, politely, that there were things that metrics or data can give clearer answers to,” LeBlanc said. “And then there are things that are subjective, and even in the process, even though we know Rob, he still had to do some testing along the way — situational testing.”
Gale was on vacation with her family in Greece during the NWSL's mandatory bye week when her phone showed a message from LeBlanc saying they wanted Gale to continue full-time.
“It's exciting, it's humbling when you find out,” Gale told ESPN. “It's a huge honor. A proud moment for me and my family, the people who supported me, the people who make sacrifices throughout their lives for you to do what you do and be able to do a job that we love, and it's a reward for that and all their hard work, just as much as it is for me.”
It's been a year of change for the Thorns on and off the field. The $63 million sale of the team to the Bhathal family, led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and her brother, Alex Bahthal, kicked off a process of disengaging the Thorns franchise from the Portland Timbers, the MLS club with which it had shared ownership since the NWSL's inauguration in 2013.
Portland began the season with three losses and one draw while conceding 10 goals before former head coach Mike Norris was reassigned to a newly created technical director position.
The Thorns look to return to the top of the NWSL after winning the 2022 NWSL Championship, their third league title.
There were some bumps along the way. They lost the NWSL Shield on the final day of two successive seasons in 2022 and 2023 after coming into the final weekend in first place each time.
Rhian Wilkinson guided the team to that 2022 title and resigned a few weeks later following a league investigation into a possible relationship with a player. Wilkinson was cleared of any wrongdoing but lost the locker room by her own admission. Norris, who was Wilkinson’s assistant, was hired in late 2022 after many players supported the move.
The players wanted continuity, multiple sources said at the time. Gale was hired by Norris ahead of the 2023 season as an assistant. Gale later revealed that a few weeks after arriving in Portland, he was diagnosed with throat cancer.
He had arrived in Portland without his family, and relied on the help of others within the organization who were more established, including Norris's family, to care for him during that time, which required throat surgery.
She was cancer-free and returned to the courts in late 2023.
“All of that hit me when I was offered the job,” Gale said this week. “These people really helped me and my family through it, connected us around the world and helped me get back on my feet. I hope this is my chance to give back to those people, to this organization. The Bhathal-Merage family has been amazing to me.”
LeBlanc told ESPN that the Thorns' captains, including veteran American center Becky Sauerbrunn, expressed support for signing Gale before the final decision was made.
The next steps, Gale said, are a “natural evolution” of the team to “continue to get younger and hungrier.”
She hopes to add more sophistication to a talented Thorns team in a rapidly evolving NWSL.
It will do so with the backing of a new ownership group that has committed, among other things, to building the team's own training facilities.
“The players have been phenomenal,” Gale said. “The staff have been fantastic to me. The fans have been so kind and supportive and connected with me, which gives you the advantage of that, but you also have to make sure that the vision and the Bhathal family’s vision for the brand and the goals and objectives going forward are aligned. It’s that process of combining the day-to-day and trying to think ahead and see where the tactical and technical evolution of the team can continue.”
