July 19, 2010 HERE WE GO AGAIN Sky Blue fires Miettinen as coach, names Stainton as her replacement
Sky Blue FC gave Pauliina Miettinen her walking papers on Monday. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
Sky Blue FC announced Monday that head coach Pauliina Miettinen and assistant coach Anne Parnila have been fired.
Assistant coach Rick Stainton has been promoted to the position of head coach. Stainton became the fifth head coach in less than two years for the Women's Professional Soccer team. Sky Blue used three in 2009, the last being U.S. international defender and captain Christie Rampone, who directed the team to the4 first WPS title.
"We respect Pauliina a great deal and appreciate the effort she put forth for our organization," Sky Blue FC general manager Gerry Marrone said in a statement. "Her hard work and passion for the team and the game were never in question. Sometimes, a situation simply does not work out. That is part of the learning process involved when it comes to professional sports. We have to be resilient, as well as continue to adapt and grow."
Miettinen was hired prior to the 2010 season.
"I have 100 percent trust going forward," Rampone said. "It's a new season, with 10 games and a playoff run left to go."
Stainton, a USSF "B" License holder, brings to Sky Blue FC a bit of local flavor with coaching experience at various levels within New Jersey. After finishing up a collegiate career at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont, he served as a coach for the boy's team at Brick Memorial (NJ) High School for five seasons before returning to his alma mater to become the head coach of the women's soccer program. His next two stops were as head coach of the women's team at Caldwell College and as an assistant at Rider University. The Garden State native also served as the goalkeeper coach for the New Jersey Wildcats of the USL W-League in 2009, where he groomed current Philadelphia Independence netminder Robyn Jones. Additionally, Stainton currently holds an NSCAA Premier Diploma and NSCAA National Goalkeeper Diploma.
"This is an opportunity that I truly look forward to embracing," Stainton said in a statement. "I am extremely humbled and appreciative of the trust that the organization is showing in me to complete the task at hand. In talking with the team, they have shown a sincere confidence in the direction in which we are going and our ability to be successful. Together, I know we can achieve great things going forward, both on and off the field."
Immediately prior to joining the Sky Blue coaching staff, Stainton served as the administrator of the women's soccer program at Seton Hall University alongside head coach Kazbek Tambi, who is also the current head coach of the U-17 U.S. Women's National Team.
