SANTA MONICA — Becki Tweed was put in a difficult position when she was promoted to interim coach in June.
Angel City FC was in 11th place in the 12-team NWSL standings after the first 11 games, but in the second half of the season, she led the second-year club on a turnaround that resulted in a fifth-place finish and a berth in the playoffs.
On Thursday, months after joining Angel City ahead of the 2023 season in an assistant coach role, Tweed had the interim tag officially removed and was announced as the team’s head coach at a news conference at the club’s Santa Monica offices.
“The second half (of the season), you saw the team transform,” Angel City defender and captain Ali Riley said. “Her honesty, her clarity, how she held us accountable, I think this group of players, that type of mindset works really with us. Because we want to win, we want to improve, but we also want to have really high standards in our training environment. I think the competition she brings out in us and the way she found the ability to bring out the strengths in each player.”
Angel City went on an 8-2-5 run in league and Challenge Cup competition to conclude the regular season, including an impressive 5-1 rout of the Portland Thorns in a must-win game to get into the playoffs. The run ended with a 1-0 quarterfinal loss on a late goal by OL Reign in Seattle.
Despite that, General Manager Angela Hucles Mangano still had to do her job, conducting a “thorough search process.”
With an original target date to hire of Oct. 15, Mangano said there were 52 candidates, but that Tweed stood out due to the club’s performance.
“That was a huge piece that she had an advantage,” Mangano said of the club’s performance under Tweed. “I was able to see the behind-the-scenes of how she handled the day-to-day, how she worked with staff, how she talked with players, how she got the buy-in, the respect that she earned and the tough conversations that she had to have at different moments.
“These are things that you would want to see from a head coach and hope to see, but you’re never quite sure, just sitting across from someone in an interview process. I was able to see those things and ultimately she portrayed confidence and vulnerability, all at once. The passion and the energy that she showed up with every single day, the confidence that she instilled in the players, the language changed with these players and I think it was infectious and it was powerful and her process led to the results that we had.”
Tweed joined Angel City after three seasons with NJ/NY Gotham FC. She also had an assistant job with the U.S. U-20 Women’s national team.
Fast-forward to this season, she is one of three finalists for the NWSL Coach of the Year award and now preparing for her first offseason as coach as Angel City turns its attention toward its third season.
“You never know what’s going to happen, you just have to be prepared for whatever happens,” Tweed said of the recently completed season. “Everyone asks, ‘When do you know if you’re ready to be a head coach?’ I don’t think you ever know. You’re put in a position where, it was obviously for me, we can still do something this season and my goal and intention was to always make playoffs. We knew that if it got hard, we just have to be a little better every week.
“Once you’re put in those situations, you find out a lot about yourself and who you could be and who you really are.”
