Richie Williams

Richie Williams
Personal information
Full nameRichard Williams
Date of birthJune 3, 1970
Place of birthMiddletown Township, New Jersey, United States
Height5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
United States U-17 (manager)
Youth career
1988–1991Virginia Cavaliers
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1992–1993Buffalo Blizzard (indoor)30(10)
1993Richmond Kickers
1993–1994Ayr United
1994–1995Richmond Kickers
1996–2000D.C. United143(8)
2001MetroStars21(0)
2002D.C. United26(0)
2003MetroStars26(0)
2004–2005Richmond Kickers53(2)
Total299(20)
National team
1989United States U-20
1992United States U-23
1998–2002United States20(0)
Teams managed
2005–2006University of Virginia (assistant)
2006–2011New York Red Bulls (assistant)
2006New York Red Bulls (interim)
2009New York Red Bulls (interim)
2011–2012United States U-18
2012–United States U-17
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Richie Williams (born June 3, 1970 in Middletown Township, New Jersey) is an American former professional soccer player and current coach of the United States men's national under-17 soccer team.

Known for his diminutive height and his dogged tackling, Williams spent the vast majority of his playing career in the United States, playing one season in the National Professional Soccer League, two in USISL, two in the USL A-League, and eight in Major League Soccer, most notably for MetroStars and D.C. United. He also amassed 20 caps for the United States men's national soccer team, and spent time as the interim head coach of New York Red Bulls.

Williams played at Mater Dei High School.[1]

Playing career

Club

Williams' career has been closely tied to Bruce Arena, former coach of the United States men's national team. Arena first coached Williams at the University of Virginia. The two parted ways after Williams graduated. In 1992, Williams signed with Buffalo Blizzard in the National Professional Soccer League.[2] He played thirty games for the Blizzard during the 1992-1993 winter indoor season. In the spring of 1993, he signed with the Richmond Kickers of the USISL. That fall, he moved to Ayr United in Scottish Football League but then came back to the United States, signing with the Richmond Kickers of the USISL in 1994. Williams played two seasons with the Kickers, helping them to the 1995 U.S. Open Cup and USISL titles.

In February 1996, Williams was drafted by Arena, who then coached D.C. United, in the fourth round of the 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. Making up for his height with his ferocious shadowing of the opponent's top playmaker, he became an integral member of the early DC teams, helping them to three MLS Cup titles.

Williams was traded to MetroStars for Mike Ammann in 2001, spent a year there and was sent back to D.C. for Brian Kamler. His MLS career ended with the Metros in a trade with Eddie Pope and Jaime Moreno for Mike Petke, a draft pick, and an allocation before the 2003 season. Williams tallied just eight goals and added 33 assists in 216 regular season games in MLS (plus two goals and four assists in 26 playoff games).

Williams signed with his original American team Richmond Kickers which then played in the USL A-League, prior to the 2004 season, but left the club in September 2005 after disagreements with the coach Leigh Cowlishaw, and retired from playing shortly thereafter.

International

Williams earned his first cap for the United States on November 6, 1998, against Australia, and went on to appear 20 times for the national team.

Honors

United States

D.C. United

Richmond Kickers

Coaching career

Williams spent several years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Virginia, before being named an assistant coach with the MetroStars in January 2006. On June 27, 2006, Williams was named interim head coach of the re-branded New York Red Bulls, and went back as assistant following former United States men's national soccer team head coach Bruce Arena's appointment with the club. He remained as the club's top assistant coach, until he was once again called on to serve as the club's interim coach replacing Juan Carlos Osorio for the remaining 8 matches of the 2009 season.

Williams was retained by Red Bulls as an assistant coach for the 2010 season before being abruptly fired on February 28, 2011, just three weeks before the start of the 2011 MLS season.[1]

Williams was appointed as the head coach for the United States U-18 men's team in October 2011.[3] Williams was a member of the U.S. National team with his most prestigious moment coming when he was a part of the 2002 U.S. squad that won the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

In October 2011 Richie Williams was hired as the Head Coach of the U-18 National Team.[4] Three months later he was named head coach of the United States men's national under-17 soccer team.[5]

Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
PWDLGFGAWin %
New York Red Bulls (interim coach) United States June 2006 August 2006 6 1 2 3 5 7 16.67
New York Red Bulls (interim coach) United States August 2009 October 2009 8 3 2 3 11 8 37.50
Total 14 4 4 6 16 15 28.57

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Giase, Frank. "Red Bulls fire longtime assistant coaches Richie Williams, Des McAleenan", The Star-Ledger, February 28, 2011. Accessed July 20, 2011. "Williams, a Mater Dei graduate who played eight years in MLS, including stints with the MetroStars in 2001 and 2003, was entering his sixth year as an assistant coach, but he has been much more important to the team than that."
  2. ↑ NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LEAGUE FINAL OFFICIAL STATISTICS -- 1992-1993
  3. ↑ http://usfutblog.com/2011-articles/october/richie-williams-appointed-mens-u-18-head-coach.html Richie Williams Appointed Men's U-18 head coach
  4. ↑ http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-18-MNT/2011/10/Richie-Williams-Named-Head-Coach-of-U-18-Mens-National-Team.aspx
  5. ↑ http://www.ussoccer.com/news/u-17-mnt/2012/01/richie-williams-named-us-u17-mnt-head-coach.aspx

External links