Richie Williams

For other people named Richard Williams, see Richard 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)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Real Salt Lake (assistant coach)
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 U-20
1992 United States U-23
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 U-18
2012–2015 United States U-17
2015– Real Salt Lake (assistant)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Richie Williams (born June 3, 1970) is a retired American professional soccer player currently serving as an assistant coach with Real Salt Lake.

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.

Playing career

Early career

Williams was born in Middletown Township, New Jersey. 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.[1] 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.

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

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 8 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.[3]

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]

Managerial stats

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

References

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