The Pittsburgh Riverhounds finally earned their first win of the season on Saturday night against Toronto FC II. However, the team is losing a member of their team.
The team hasn’t lost a player, but they have lost their coach. After the match, head coach Mark Steffens announced that he has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Riverhounds. This was Steffens’ second season with the Riverhounds. Steffens’ record this season was 0-4-3 before the win against Toronto.
The Riverhounds have already selected Steffens’ replacement. The team announced early Sunday morning that Dave Brandt would take over as head coach. Brandt’s coaching experience includes being the head coach at Messiah College from 1997-2008 and the head coach at United States Naval Academy from 2009-2015.
What seemed to seal the deal for Steffens’ departure was the Riverhounds 0-2 loss against amatuer team Lansdowne Bhoys FC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night. The Riverhounds didn’t make a move on Steffens’ until Friday, according to Steffens. He was told he was to coach one last time against Toronto.
“It’s a pretty tough day for me,” Steffens said after the match. “This was my last game coaching the Riverhounds. I was told that yesterday by the organization I was being let go. It’s bittersweet. I’m going to get pretty emotional here. I love my players. We didn’t start off well.
“I have no hard feelings toward [Riverhounds owner] Tuffy Shallenberger,” Steffens continued “Good people here [at the Riverhounds]. I wish I could be here for a lot longer. I wasn’t going to tell the players. But found out that a couple knew, so I went to the team prior to the game and it was emotional.”
It was easy to tell the players fought one last time for Steffens. After Lebo Moloto’s goal in the 68’ minute, which was the first of two for the Riverhounds, the whole team ran over to Steffens and enveloped him in a hug. Steffens admitted that he was shocked at the gesture.
“Never expected that after Lebo scored the goal that he would come over,” Steffens said. “That was special moment to be able to share that.”
The Riverhounds also had another goal, which resulted in another Steffens hug, scored by Corey Hertzog. The forward’s goal occurred in the 72’ minute. Tension and anxiety started to rise when Toronto’s Malik Johnson scored his goal in the 82’ minute after going one-on-one with goalkeeper Mauricio Vargas. However, the Riverhounds were able to hold off any more of Toronto’s advances for their first win of the season.
Even though it wasn’t a clean sheet for Vargas, he was happy with the team’s performance, complementing that he thought the defense played excellent.
“Tonight’s game was a tough one,” Vargas said. “The defense played an amazing game. It’s not easy to deal with players as fast as Toronto’s forwards. I’m really proud of the whole team. Most important than the clean sheet were the three points.”
Vargas said that he was caught off-guard about the departure of Steffens, but was grateful for his time with him.
“It was unexpected,” Vargas continued. “He’s the one that brought me here. He’s the one that believed in me. I will always be grateful for that.”
The Riverhounds also have yet to acknowledged if assistant coaches Josh Rife and Niko Katic are also relieved of their coaching duties. In a statement, owner Tuffy Shallenberger had nothing but good comments on his relationship and time with Steffens.
“We appreciate what Mark has done in his time with the club,” Shallenberger said. “You never like to see things of this nature happen, but we both agreed this was the best decision for the club’s future. We wish Mark the best of luck in his future endeavors.”
As for Brandt, the team announced they will hold a press conference on Monday, May 23 at 3 p.m. to formally introduce him. Brandt said that he’s excited to take on the challenge of replacing Steffens and hopes to get the Riverhounds consistently winning matches.
“I could not be more excited about the opportunity to join the Riverhounds organization,” said Brandt. “The Naval Academy is an extremely special institution, and one that I will always hold close to my heart. My time there was a truly life-impacting experience, but the opportunity to coach professionally in a great sports city like Pittsburgh is one that I couldn’t turn down. I am now looking forward to my time with the Riverhounds organization, one which without question has great potential.”
Shallenberger echoed Brandt’s excitement himself.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Dave, Diane and the entire Brandt family to our Riverhounds organization family,” Shallenberger said. ” Coach Brandt is exactly the type of person we were looking for in our next coach. I look forward to the Riverhounds fans having the opportunity to get to know him and his family.
“You can just see by Dave’s past success that he is someone who can come in here and make an immediate difference,” Shallenberger continued. “His incredible win total at the collegiate level is something I believe will translate extremely well to the United Soccer League. We set out to find the best coach for this club and I think we have it with Dave.”
Next for the Riverhounds, they will travel to New York to face the New York Red Bulls II on Saturday, May 28. The last time the two teams met up, former Riverhounds forward Romeo Parkes kicked Red Bulls II player Karl Ouimette. The two teams have yet to meet up since. Now, the Riverhounds will face the Red Bulls on their home turf and will do it without Parkes and a win under their belt.
