Richie Williams

Richard "Richie" Williams (born June 3, 1970) is a retired American professional soccer player and coach.

For other people named Richie Williams, see Richie Williams (disambiguation).
Richie Williams
Personal information
Full name Richard Williams
Date of birth (1970-06-03) June 3, 1970
Place of birth Middletown Township, New Jersey, U.S.
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1988–1991 Virginia Cavaliers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1993 Buffalo Blizzard (indoor) 30 (10)
1993 Richmond Kickers
1993–1994 Ayr United
1994–1995 Richmond Kickers
1996–2000 D.C. United 143 (8)
2001 MetroStars 21 (0)
2002 D.C. United 26 (0)
2003 MetroStars 26 (0)
2004–2005 Richmond Kickers 53 (2)
Total 299 (20)
National team
1989 United States U20
1992 United States U23
1998–2002 United States 20 (0)
Teams managed
2005–2006 University of Virginia (assistant)
2006–2011 New York Red Bulls (assistant)
2006 New York Red Bulls (interim)
2009 New York Red Bulls (interim)
2011–2012 United States U18
2012–2015 United States U17
2015–2016 Real Salt Lake (assistant)
2017–2018 United States (assistant)
2019 Loudoun United
2019– New England Revolution (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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 earned 20 caps for the United States men's national soccer team.

Since the end of his playing career, Williams has been involved in coaching, and spent time as the interim head coach of New York Red Bulls and coaching various United States national youth teams. He is now assistant coach of the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer.

Playing career

Early career

Williams was born in Middletown Township, New Jersey and attended Mater Dei High School.[1] 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.[2] The two parted ways after Williams graduated. In 1992, Williams signed with Buffalo Blizzard in the National Professional Soccer League.[3] 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.

Major League Soccer

In February 1996, Williams was drafted by D.C. United head coach Bruce Arena 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
  • USISL Premier League Champions: 1995
  • US Open Cup Champions: 1995
  • James River Cup: 2004, 2005

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. In June 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 eight matches of the 2009 season. Williams was retained by Red Bulls as an assistant coach for the 2010 season before being abruptly fired just three weeks before the start of the 2011 MLS season.[1]

In October 2011, 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] After the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Williams departed the program.[6]

In January 2019, Williams was hired as the head coach of Loudoun United FC in the USL Championship.[7] He left the team on May 30 to take a job as an assistant coach for the New England Revolution.[8]

Managerial stats
Team From To Record
PWDLGFGAWin %
New York Red Bulls (interim coach) June 2006 August 2006 8 3 2 3 8 7 037.50
New York Red Bulls (interim coach) August 2009 October 2009 8 3 2 3 11 8 037.50
Loudoun United FC January 28, 2019 May 30, 2019 9 2 4 3 11 13 022.22
Total 25 8 8 9 30 28 032.00

References
  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. http://www.socceramerica.com/article/62904/a-world-cup-for-richie-williams-better-late-than.html
  3. NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LEAGUE FINAL OFFICIAL STATISTICS -- 1992-1993 Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  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
  6. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2015/12/23/18656772/john-hackworth-named-united-states-u-17-head-coach
  7. https://www.blackandredunited.com/2019/1/28/18200498/loudoun-united-richie-williams-coach-dc-united
  8. "Loudoun United Announces Departure of Williams". Loudoun County FC. May 30, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
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