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SALT LAKE CITY — Michelle Hyncik and Amy Rodriguez were teammates two decades ago at Santa Margarita Catholic High in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. The two sat together on Thursday as the first two faces of the new Utah Royals organization.
Hyncik is two years older and was Rodriguez's team captain when she first entered high school, and now she's the club president as Rodriguez enters the NWSL coaching ranks for the first time as the Royals' new head coach.
"I've always respected Michelle, and she was always the smartest one in school, the hardest worker on the field," Rodriguez said. "You look to the players before you and above you and she set a great example; she's still setting a good example. So, super proud to be joining arms with her and kind of starting this organization off on what seems to be an amazing foot."
Hyncik — appointed team president during the Royals' return announcement in March — reached out to Rodriguez earlier this year to reconnect. The two "grew up in the same soccer circles" but hadn't communicated in "several years."
Rodriguez was surprised when Hyncik sent her a Zoom link instead of calling her on the phone — a move she said "accelerated the conversation quite quickly." Rodriguez was even more shocked when Hyncik told her they wanted her to be the head coach of the Royals, a team Rodriguez captained as a player from 2018-20.
"(I was) a little bit flabbergasted," Rodriguez said. "I didn't think that I was necessarily the one to look to for this position."
Rodriguez called it a "huge role" taking charge of an expansion team but repeatedly called it "an honor" to be back in Utah.
Amy Rodriguez talks about her reaction to the opportunity to return to Utah and her path to coaching after being a player. pic.twitter.com/X2QlHUHPOi
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) April 20, 2023
As far as what Hyncik saw in Rodriguez, it was really quite simple: the opportunity to develop and empower women in soccer.
"It's super important — and I think this shows — to empower your peers, your colleagues, your teammates, the women in your generation, and to help them advance their careers," Hyncik said. "I think that's what this new era of the NWSL is about, is empowering and uplifting each other."
When asked about Rodriguez's lack of head coaching experience, Hyncik pointed to her own inexperience when jumping from the world of finance law to working for MLS and then Real Salt Lake and the Utah Royals.
"I think for most women in the sports industry, experience begets experience," Hyncik said. "You can't get experience unless you're granted the opportunity for experience."
Even in her limited coaching experience as an assistant at USC, Rodriguez helped several players make their national team debuts and coached an All-American, in addition to bolstering her "roster building" ability through her connections at USC, NWSL and the U.S. women's national team, Hyncik said.
"One thing about me is that I care deeply about the players in this league. I want to see them develop, grow, win; and me myself, I love to win," Rodriguez said. "So if I can instill that here, if I can bring a championship here, that's what I want to do."
Hyncik said there was "never any doubt in their minds" as to Rodriguez's competency. Her lack of coaching experience was not seen as a "hurdle" by anyone with the Royals.
When asked about Rodriguez's lack of head coaching experience, Hyncik shared her own experience entering the soccer world with no prior experience and how "experience begets experience." pic.twitter.com/1h98BEPNlp
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) April 20, 2023
"I've experienced it as a teammate. She is the hardest worker I've ever met. She's the most competitive player on the field that I've ever witnessed," Hyncik said. "You rarely have that combination of true talent and a gift for the game, combined with just this insatiable, competitiveness and commitment to winning and to excellence."
Just as Hyncik led the freshman Rodriguez as her captain on the soccer field all those years ago, she's committed to giving her former teammate an opportunity in another field and helping her develop the skills and resume to lead "a championship team," as both women mentioned on Thursday.
Rodriguez never saw coaching in her future as a star player in the NWSL and U.S. women's national team, but she decided to sign up for a coaching license course several years ago when the NWSL Player Association offered it to the league's players.
"It was probably one of the greatest decisions I ever made," Rodriguez said. "I'm super thankful for NWSLPA to provide that for me, and look at the doors that it's opened."
Hyncik mentioned the coaching course and subsequent job at USC as being the main signposts that caught her attention and showed that Rodriguez could be the one to fill her first major hire as president of the Royals.
"It was an opportunity that we felt as an organization we had to totally capture and jump on," Hyncik said. "So what started out with kind of a check-in among very old, former high school teammates, quickly escalated to Zoom calls with ownership and where we are today."
