USL PRO Feature
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. – Before the season began, Wilmington Hammerheads General Manager Jason Arnold spoke of his aim to ‘re-ignite’ and ‘re-energize’ the historic club.
One year in, he is certainly pleased with the direction the club is headed.
“It was really, really good,” Arnold said while visiting the league offices last week. “Going into a market and a club that’s been established there since ’96, it was really cool. It has such a good foothold in the market, and coming in and seeing the opportunities there and the potential for growth, and acquiring and partnering with a youth club and bringing all of the youth players under the umbrella and seeing them running around wearing our Hammerheads crest, it’s been really cool.
“On the pro side, it was a successful year, making the playoffs. I think we made some strides on the field with our culture and style of play, and off the field in the front office, getting things geared up.”
Having previously worked as USL PRO’s Operations Manager, Arnold had a lot of insight from a league perspective that he brought to Wilmington with him. Stepping in as a professional club’s general manager for the first time was a very different experience, but one that he embraced as a means to expand his own perspective.
“I think I’ve learned to really challenge myself more,” Arnold said. “Being able to take risks and being able to see the big picture of everything, where you’ve got to make tough decisions sometimes, and the coaching [decision] was one of them, but even some of the decisions you’ve got to make in the front office - where are we investing, where are we going to put our efforts, what’s the right move, do we make this move and partner with a youth club, is it going to be good for the community long-term? [It was] really challenging myself to have the power to make those decisions and feel confident in them. It was hard, but it was good.”
The coaching decision, of course, was the decision to part ways with longtime coach and a man who had in many ways become the face of the Hammerheads during the past decade in David Irving. Arnold said Irving’s position as an outstanding ambassador for the club off the field, and a coach who produced winning sides and helped develop players that moved on to the next level, made that decision the hardest he had to make in his first season.
“It’s easy to say that none of us would be in Wilmington, the club wouldn’t be there without David Irving, so it’s a lot of credit to him for sticking with the club and going through the ups and downs that they went through over the years,” Arnold said. “It was a very tough decision, but as the general manager and working with our ownership group, you look at the big picture and how we progress this club, how do we move forward in the way that we want, it was a decision that we had to make. It wasn’t necessarily the timeframe we wanted to make it in, but it was what needed to be done.”
When Irving departed, the Hammerheads called upon recently appointed Technical Director Carson Porter to take over as head coach, and the results certainly justified Arnold’s move. In danger of missing the playoffs on August 21, the Hammerheads went on a six-game undefeated streak that bagged the 12 points they needed to reach the postseason.
“We were really excited by [Carson’s] hiring,” Arnold said. “Becoming the technical director he had some responsibilities as it relates to our youth side and for our parent youth club in New Jersey, and with his experience coaching and being involved with U.S. Soccer and coaching on the college level, he certainly had the experience to step in, so it was an easy transition to push forward in the direction of the style of play and the culture, and he did an excellent job and kept us in the mix for the second half of the season and fortunately got us into the playoffs.”
The other big decision Arnold and the Hammerheads made during the season was to partner with Cape Fear Soccer, which as Hammerheads FC Youth will allow a strong development model to be incorporated in the club’s foundation. With a number of former Hammerheads players involved with the club, Arnold said securing the partnership was one of the things he was happiest about in his first year.
“That was one of the biggest things coming into that market when I took over the job there,” Arnold said. “We’re a small market, and for us being a developmental club and helping develop players is really huge, and we look at any of the partnerships we get into as a win-win-win – win for us, win for them, win for the community – and this fit right into that perfectly.
“Partnering with what was Cape Fear Soccer, and is now Hammerheads FC Youth, was the right decision. They had the right people in the front office - former Hammerhead players, guys who were looking forward and could see the path soccer is taking in our country, and the importance of giving these players a proper avenue to not only play good soccer on the field, but the off-field stuff. Partnering with a professional team as well gives them players to look up to, and just the possibilities and things we can work together to do on both sides is great for the kids and great for the brand.”
Arnold is now looking ahead to next season, with one of the aims for the Hammerheads to enhance the club’s game-day experience. While the game will remain central for the club, Arnold understands that a night out at the game is something that fans want to enjoy beyond the 90 minutes of action on the field.
“We’ve got to have the right kind of product on the field, and play the right style of soccer that’s fun to watch, and we’ve been making those changes and we’re making moves toward that, but outside of that there are a lot of people who come to our games that just want to have a good time, and have a good experience, and it’s important to create that,” he said. “To make a fun atmosphere for families and our fans is really important, so next year we’re hoping to invest a little bit in enhancing the VIP Area, the group area and our beer garden, and really create a bit more of a festive atmosphere and an intimate environment.”
Arnold is also hopeful that the continued move toward regionalized play in USL PRO will allow the club’s fans, led by the Port City Firm, to follow the team more throughout the season. As the Charlotte Independence join USL PRO in 2015, alongside the Hammerheads’ long-standing rivalries with the Charleston Battery and Richmond Kickers, Arnold is looking forward to regional rivalries becoming a bigger part of the league.
“Being able to play these teams multiple matches, and then being within the proximity that our fans can go and support on the road games, it’s going to really help build that up and it’s something we’re excited about,” Arnold said. “We even have the Carolina Cup that’s down there that’s been passed around for years and has kind of fallen off a bit in years past. We were fortunate enough to win it this year, but I think that’s something that now is going to get built back up and put some prestige behind. If all those teams in our region work together, we can create a really cool structure with that.”
More than anything, though, Arnold is looking forward to seeing what the Hammerheads can become on the field next year. While their late-season surge came to an end at the hands of eventual USL PRO champion Sacramento Republic FC in September, the way the side played late in the season has Arnold excited to see what a strong returning group will be able to accomplish next spring.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how we take what we ended the season with, and how well the guys were playing, and how happy they were to be on the field and playing soccer,” he said. “I think that’s going to transition really nicely into next season, and I think our team’s going to be really fun to watch. I’m excited for the first game of the season already.”