Laura Harvey Extends Contract Through 2023 Season
OL Reign today announced that the club has extended the contract of head coach Laura Harvey through the 2023 season. Harvey, who previously led OL Reign from 2013 to 2017—earning NWSL Coach of the Year honors twice—engineered a dramatic transformation of the club’s fortunes since her arrival, picking up 23 points from a 7-2-2 record since taking charge in early August, prior to the club’s fourteenth match of the NWSL Regular Season.
In the first seven games of the season, OL Reign picked up just seven points, earning a record of two wins, four losses and one draw. Many counted the team out of playoff contention early on, but after the departure of former head coach Farid Benstiti on July 2, Assistant Coach Sam Laity took the helm for six matches, yielding 12 points on a 4-2-0 record. When it was announced that Harvey would be returning to the team following the conclusion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she sought to continue the pattern of success initiated by Laity.
“I think just getting the players to believe in something was key,” said Harvey. “Getting them to believe in themselves and what they could achieve as a group was important. Obviously, huge credit to Sam. He started that process off. I just came in and just tried to continue that and provide a bit of structure and clarity on what they needed to do and get the group to believe in themselves so that they could go out there and execute. The more we did that, the more confident we got which enabled us to go on the run that we did.”
In her first stint with the Reign, Harvey finished with a regular season record of 51 wins, 33 losses and 26 draws and led the club to consecutive NWSL Shields and NWSL Championship match appearances in 2014 and 2015. She was the first NWSL head coach to reach 100 matches coached and the first to reach 50 wins. After stepping away from the Reign at the end of the 2017 season, Harvey served as the head coach of the Utah Royals for its 2018 and 2019 seasons. Harvey then moved to join U.S. Soccer as the Under-20 Women’s National Team head coach in January 2020, where she led the U-20s through a seven-game unbeaten run at the 2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship in the Dominican Republic to win the title.
Now signed through the 2023 season, Harvey is not only focused on winning the NWSL Championship this season but continuing to develop the club culture with the future in mind. Through the various challenges this season has brought, Harvey has never thought about backing down and is looking forward to bringing that same energy to any challenges that arrive in the future.
“I’m really happy to have extended my contract with this team and this organization. When I signed my contract earlier this season, there was a lot of uncertainty about where the team was at and I’m glad we were able to put performances on the field that we have been proud of. I see a long-term vision of what we are trying to achieve at the club, and I am so happy to be a part of it,” said Harvey.