Megan Rapinoe’s final U.S. women’s national team head coach may not have been in charge for all that long, but she still has a “Pinoe” story.
Speaking to reporters after the USWNT icon played her final game for the national team, interim coach Twila Kilgore said that getting to coach Rapinoe and Julie Ertz (whose retirement became official on Thursday night) was an honor.
“We have a heads of department meeting in the evenings,” explained Kilgore following Sunday’s 2-0 win over South Africa. “I kind of shared a little bit and just said, ‘man, like how lucky are we that we get to be the coaches and the staff that’s here for both these players’ last games?’ Out of all the coaches in the world, I get to do that.”
“It’s because of who they are as players, but also as people, and what they’ve done for the soccer community and beyond. It’s a monumental thing. I think we’ll all be telling the next generation of kids and stuff in our families about.”
For Kilgore, the unique moment was combined with a more personal bit of gratitude, with the interim coach saying Rapinoe even got in touch to encourage her once she was handed the keys to such a vaunted program.
“Her first phone call to me when I was got this job, she said ‘Twila, coach us. Coach us, be you, and coach us,’ said Kilgore. “She does that for everybody.”
Kilgore on Rapinoe: ‘She’s gonna champion everybody’
Kilgore, who was on former head coach Vlatko Andonovski’s staff from last year through the World Cup, gave a peek into what life is like when such a huge star like Rapinoe is in your locker room.
“I joked last night in front of the group, you never know exactly what you’re gonna get with Pinoe: what music she’s gonna be playing, what outfit she’s gonna be [wearing],” said Kilgore. “She gets a phone call, it could be like a friend, Sue [Bird, Rapinoe’s fiancée and WNBA legend], or the president of the United States. Like, you just don’t know.
“But you know that consistently on the pitch, you’re gonna get somebody who’s going to be a goalscoring threat. She’s gonna provide amazing service. She’s gonna probably make some sort of tactical adjustment on her own, and she’s gonna encourage the people around her to be her, you know?”
Kilgore’s emphasis was clear: Rapinoe doesn’t want the other USWNT players to be another Megan Rapinoe, but rather to be the most iconic version of themselves.
“Off the field, she’s gonna champion everybody to champion others,” added Kilgore, alluding to Rapinoe’s embrace of social causes, particularly those pertaining to racial justice and equal rights for women and the LGBTQ+ community. “Whether that’s big, big, large-scale movements, or just protecting and helping the person next to her.”
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