Bob Lilley orchestrates a ‘big cleaning project’ for Riverhounds to develop a clear identity for 2025 campaign

Photo courtesy Ed Thompson

As a professional soccer coach for nearly three decades, in some respects, Riverhounds SC Head Coach Bob Lilley may be set in his ways when it comes to some of his routines and processes.

On the other hand, Lilley often recognizes when it’s time to shake things up and make changes.

Entering his eighth season at the helm in Pittsburgh, Lilley sat down in his office after the players completed their Monday morning training session by taking a deep breath, then unloaded in a heavily optimistic tone as he spent a good part of the next hour sharing his thoughts about his team as they prepare to kick the season off on Saturday, at North Carolina.

Lilley has finished each season in Pittsburgh with a winning record and playoff berth (as he has in every one of his 24 previous professional coaching seasons on U.S. pro soccer circuit), but after last season ended, something just didn’t sit right with him.

Since the start of preseason, Lilley’s made it no secret that he wants to change the identity of his club.

“There’s weekend house cleaning. Then there’s spring cleaning,” Lilley told Pittsburgh Soccer Now earlier this week after a morning training at AHN Montour Sports Complex.

“This feels like a bigger project. It’s necessary after last year.”

The Riverhounds finished the 2024 regular season on a strong note, losing only once in the last 15 matches to salvage a spot in the postseason for the seventh straight year, but with the club’s uncharacteristic long stretch of inconsistent play that put the team in a big hole and down in the standings below the playoff line, Lilley knew it was time to take a long, hard look at the what type of approach he wanted the team to take moving forward.

“We definitely want to get better and and I think our decisions in the offseason in terms of signings and everything we’re doing and training, we’re moving aggressively in that direction to hopefully have more of the ball this year.”

Lilley cited that when the club won the USL Championship’s Players Shield for most overall points during the 2023 regular season, and in 2024, they found most of their goals in transition.

As the league gets stronger — Lilley acknowledges that style of play gets harder and harder.

“We want to be in a position to dictate and have the ball. We certainly have players when you look at our midfield, the ones returning, like Danny Griffin, Robbie Mertz, Jackson Walti, Brad Sample and some of the new ones we’ve added, to do this. I don’t feel like we have to be chasing. We’d rather keep hold of the ball and dictate more and you know, we want to be able to play in a back four a lot more.”

In his first five seasons with the club, from 2018 to 2022, Lilley acknowledged the Hounds’ moved formations more and were pretty efficient in possession, as outlined in a bit more detail in a recent edition of Riverhounds Notebook.  In 2023 and 2024, the Hounds fell to the very bottom of the league’s key possession statistical categories (finishing 2024 ranked 23rd out of 24 teams in average possession – 44.5% and dead last in passing accuracy – 73%)

Riverhounds Notebook: Versatile midfield core becomes focal point of shift to improve possession

The adjustments that the Hounds have been making in the preseason have included more formations with added midfielders and attackers.

“I think it’s a big step,” Lilley exclaimed.

“The team’s progressing, even though we’re making changes tactically and we’re bringing in new players, I think it’s an opportunity for all of us to grow, including the staff and to challenge ourselves to be better.”

The first part of the process to the overhaul was bringing back a strong core.

By picking up contract options and additional contracts already in place for 10 players, the Hounds re-signed two veteran returnees, Illal Osumanu and Junior Etou, for two-year deals with a third year club option — bringing the number of returnees to 12.  Add Bertin Jacquesson (who came to the club on loan in 2024) and Pablo Linzoian (on USL Academy Contract), the Hounds enter the new season with 14 players who were on the roster last season.

By and large, under Lilley, the Hounds have operated in giving most new players and even re-signed players one year contracts with a club option for a second season.  The only exceptions to that in recent years were extended deals with Kenardo Forbes, Danny Griffin and Robbie Mertz.

When re-signing Osumanu and Etou, Lilley felt that the two veterans who were key pieces in the previous two seasons, describing them as ‘valuable cornerstones’ for the club.

“In Illal and Junior’s case. They’re older players. They’re good and mature players for our group.  Last year, our leadership was certainly driven by Danny, Robbie, Kenny, but our leadership evolved into Junior, Illal and Pat Hogan (who signed with Indy Eleven in the offseason).  That’s important that we had more guys step forward,” Lilley explained.

From that point, the Riverhounds focused bringing in new players who could help with the veteran coach’s initiative to become even more dynamic in the attack and as a club that can dictate terms of matches with better possession.

The Hounds had their sights set on adding proven, dynamic scorers.

Bringing on Jacquesson to the club on a new deal was the first big step. The former Pitt standout who was under Adidas New Generation contract with Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer in 2023 and 2024, played a big part when he came to Pittsburgh for an end-of-year loan where he scored five goals and had two assists.

The next big signing came at the very start of the preseason, when Augustine Williams, a proven scorer in the USL Championship, with 76 goals in his career, became the club’s big splash signing.

“To get Auggie Williams and Bertin in in the building, that gives us some good attacking options,” Lilley stated.

In addition, the Hounds made early signing announcements in January from some of the young players who stood out at the offseason combines, who Lilley said they wanted to secure right away — Brigham Larsen and Charles Ahl.

Through the preseason the Hounds kept a pretty solid core of non-roster invitees (trialists) with the club, with only a few who came in for short spurts, and Lilley had a chance to bring along a core group of young, hungry players who appear to be adding to the competitive nature of every intense training session, but are stepping up.

Since preseason started, the Hounds announced the signings of Max Broughton, Perrin Barnes, Beto Ydrach, Jason Bouregy and Jorge Garcia to bring the roster to 22 players. There will likely be at least one or two more additions by the season opener or shortly after.

Sitting in his office while glancing at his white board with a list of all the players on one side and a diagram of a formation on the other, Lilley exuded plenty of confidence in the group that will start the new season.  He was especially pleased with what he’s seen so far from the new, young players — stating that some will jump right into the mix and may even be in the starting lineup as soon as Saturday’s opener at WakeMed Park.

“We have enough experience and quality with guys who’ve been in the league.  It’s going to be how well we grow and how well we gel,” Lilley said and added that in last week’s final preseason scrimmage at Lexington (a scoreless draw), his team was without a number of key veterans, but the younger players stepped up.

“There’s a lot of talented teams with a lot of good players. This was big moment for some guys and they did fine. Every great, great player, was a young player at one point. They all have big upside and for me, I’m excited as it’s better than the group we had last year and they are guys who are already pushing. There will be some starters in that lineup who are there on merit and would be in the lineup even if everyone was healthy. And that’s not easy to do because most of the 12 (returning players) we brought back have all started games and yet we expect there to be more competition between jobs.”

Taking a look at the landscape of how competitive the USL Championship has become from top-to-bottom, with a glaring reminder that a poor start and playing without a purpose can put a club in a big hole, as was the case last season for the Riverhounds, Lilley is taking nothing for granted.

In Lilley’s eyes, earning a spot on the pitch in the starting lineup or in the 18, comes with going through the process and growing with the group.

“You don’t play because you’re talented. You play because your trusted.  When you earn that trust, you’re going to play.”

With that in mind, Lilley further elaborated on how players who stand out — separate themselves through intangibles.

“That’s what makes the game unique,” Lilley said.

“These guys are all fast. They’re all technical. (It’s) how do you see the game. What guys make better decisions in pressure.  To grow, mature and be able to do all the physical parts of the game.  The game is played at the higher levels so much from a mental standpoint. Everyone has tools, has good pieces. (But) what are the little separators?  That’s where we want to get back to being really sharp as a group.  Not just individually, but collectively. How we manage games.  How we play game in and game out. Do we have an identity? Do we know who we are? Can we put our best soccer out there consistently?  Those things are all important. That’s what wins you games.”

He knows that putting in a new system will probably not be a smooth transition at first, but Lilley has faith that his players will adapt.

“I think that’s us recognizing that good players adjust. Good teams have to adapt and adjust as well. That’s why I think there’s that added excitement because we’re seeing it’s not an easy thing to do, but we’re seeing guys adjusting and and growing quickly,” Lilley said.

Putting in the work and laying it all on the line, building cohesion and enjoying each other is also part of the big picture for Lilley who can cross from being ultra-demanding, yet the biggest advocate for each and every player.

“I think the players are enjoying their soccer right now and and that’s all is important. You know, most of the times when I’ve had successful teams, you got to get them to the point where they’re enjoying it, because you still got to work hard. You still got to be able to fend well as a team. You still got to do the dirty work. All those things will still be there. To come alive a bit more on the ball and to have a better rhythm and have more creativity in the group is a positive thing for us.”

Lilley believes that those bonds rarely fail to materialize because the players have created a welcoming environment with a core group of leaders.

“It will be important that this team create its own identity this year. It’s is a different team. We’re playing differently. We know this group has ability. We’ll learn if it has the maturity. There’s a lot of teams with good personnel.  But, how you manage games. How you progress through course of the season.  How you stay consistent.  You can have great personnel, but players can be up and down and you’re not going to win consistently.  This group will have to get a lot of those things right, so that we can maximize what we can do. I think we have players that are capable of not only succeeding, but getting better as a group and individually. We have some very interesting players. We don’t know yet what they’re fully capable.  I didn’t know what I had in (Danny) Griffin until halfway through the (2020) season.  After halfway point, I knew,” Lilley said.

The question heading into 2025, is how quickly will Lilley know what his team is fully capable of doing?

Only time will tell.