Utah Royals hire Jimmy Coenraets as new head coach

The Utah Royals have hired Jimmy Coenraets as the team’s new head coach.
Coenraets has led the team as the interim head coach since this summer after joining the club as an assistant coach in early June.
“I am incredibly proud to take on the role of head coach for the Utah Royals,” Coenraets said in a statement. “My focus is not only on winning but also on developing each player and colleague so that we can excel both as a team and as individuals, on and off the field. As the youngest coach in the league, I aim to grow alongside the club and work towards a long-term vision that benefits our fans and the community.”
Coenraets and sporting director Kelly Cousins met with the media Thursday in wake of the announcement.
Cousins noted that she was impressed with Coenraets early on in his tenure as he’s led the team from a 2-11-2 start to its current record of 7-4-14.
“I think he had immediate impact with the group, and we saw the conversations and the relationships that he was building with the players, which was extremely positive. So from the off, it was like a good start,” Cousins said.
Coenraets, whose new contract runs through 2027, told reporters that he’s known about the new title for roughly the last month and is excited for the future of the club. As interim head coach, he’s already started implementing building blocks for the future.
“As a interim head coach, I didn’t feel the urge to prove myself, to just start working towards that future plan. I think in the end, you can try to prove yourself, or you can try to already start building towards whatever you want this club to look like,” Coenraets said.
The Royals started their inaugural season back in the NWSL with former Royals player Amy Rodriguez as head coach. Rodriguez was fired in June after a 2-11-2 start. The club is now 7-4-14 but will miss the playoffs as it currently sits 10th in NWSL standings.
Coenraets’ appointment comes a week and a half before the team plays its season finale against Gotham FC on Nov. 1. But Cousins thought it was best to make the announcement before the offseason.
“I think the reason for it now is that we can start planning and not just planning for next season, planning long term. Obviously, I have my long term plans for the club, but it’s important that the head coach is involved in that, and I want Jimmy to be involved in that. And the sooner we could get this out, it’s easier for him to have conversations with players that we might want to bring in, or we’re talking to players that are in the current squad, that he can actually go, ‘This is what we’re planning going forward,’” Cousins said.
Following Rodriguez’s firing, Cousins and acting-president John Kimball met with the media and said the decision to move on from Rodriguez was performance based and not a disciplinary decision, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“We want to be performing. We want to be getting those points on the board. But I think right now for us it was, ‘What does next season look like and if we leave it any later, does that hinder next season?’ and that’s why we felt it’s the right decision to make now,” Cousins said in July.
When the Royals fired Rodriguez, the team’s front office switched their focus to next season and the identity and style of play they’d need to be successful.
“The reason for now is I believe that we’ve got a good six months to turn things around ready for next season,” Cousins said. “I think it gives the team time to really address where we need to be better, on and off the pitch, and for us to be ready to step into next season and really, really compete in this league. I think we’ve got a talented group that can do that.”
Now, four months later, the Royals believe they have done that with Coenraets. Though this is his first stint in the NWSL, he has nearly a decade of experience coaching women’s soccer and most recently served as the head coach of OH Leuven women’s team in Belgium for five seasons.