Roy Lassiter up to challenge of building Carolina Core

Roy Lassiter, who set Major League Soccer records for most goals in a season and a career, is head coach of Carolina Core FC in MLS Next Pro.

Roy Lassiter’s new soccer journey isn’t supposed to be his last.

Lassiter, head coach of the MLS Next Pro expansion team Carolina Core, is back in his home state to build the High Point-based side from the ground up. After a distinguished professional career as a player, the North Carolina State alumnus is focused on putting young players on a pathway to a top-tier team and win in the process.

“There is a balance, and there’s probably an added balance to an independent team because at the end of the day, we do want to try to sell players to if we can,” he said. “My message to all these players is ‘don’t try to pitch a tent here. You’re not going to make your money here – you’re going to make your money at the next place.

“’Here, you're going to respect the process. You're going to give it every ounce you got because everybody is aspiring to get to the next level as coaches and players – we're all doing that – and so we’re all in the same boat, you as a player and me as a coach.’ When they start to see those type of things and hear those types of things, they know we’re in it all together.”

Lassiter, who grew up in Raleigh, knows what it’s like to play and excel in MLS. A forward, he set the league’s single season scoring record with 27 goals for Tampa Bay Mutiny in 1996 – a mark that stood for 22 years – and was a three-time All-Star. He also won the MLS Cup in 1997 with D.C. United and played with the U.S. Men's National Team for eight years. Upon retirement in 2002, Lassiter was MLS’s career goals leader with 88.

Before joining Carolina Core, Lassiter was director of coaching and methodology at Coastal Premier Alliance FC and head coach of Houston Dynamo’s U-20 team as well as an assistant with Houston Dynamo 2 and interim assistant with the first team.

Because the Core doesn’t report to an MLS parent club, it has the flexibility to create its own program. While it doesn’t get a first team’s infrastructure or support, the Core doesn’t play second banana, either.

“One advantage is that being an independent club, you are the first team,” Lassiter said. “So, when you’re at places like an MLS franchise team, you’re not the first team and in our training session, we can have our complete roster in training every day of the week, where the MLS franchise, you could have four or five guys going to train with the first team. You could find out that morning, so your training would have to be tailored and you’d have to adjust, which makes you a better coach.”

It also means the Core has the flexibility to build its own roster. To Lassiter, that means finding players who are especially hungry to make their mark in the sport.

“An advantage for us is the Major League Soccer club the main focus is the first team, not the MLS Next Pro team,” he said. “The first team is the main source, so if that first team doesn’t see that this MLS Next Pro player is going to be able to get inside that first team roster then he’s really of not much use. That’s when it becomes a really good advantage for the independent team because now the independent team will take them, see the good in them, put them on the field and let them go.”

The Core’s debut is March 17 against Crown Legacy FC, Charlotte FC’s affiliate. With the teams separated by an hour’s drive, the geography is in place for a good rivalry. Second-year Crown Legacy advanced to the MLS Next Pro playoffs in its debut season.

“Charlotte has a couple years on us already, so they’re ahead of us in terms of their base,” Lassiter said. “They’re ahead of us in terms of their knowledge and experience in MLS Next Pro, they have a professional team that is above that (level). They’re pretty much ahead of us and they’re kind of a metropolitan city … a big place where they can attract a lot of players and a lot of people, and they do – their first team for sure. Crown Legacy was very successful last season … so, I see it being good.”

This article corrects the date of the Carolina Core-Crown Legacy game.

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