Yolanda Thomas has been appointed as the full-time head coach of the Orlando Pride, becoming the first Black woman in NWSL history to hold such a role.
“It does mean a lot because I recognize that I stand on the shoulders of many who went before me and some of whom, the door wasn’t open for,” Thomas told ESPN.
Thomas has been the team’s interim head coach since late August, when the team fired former head coach Seb Hines.
“Whether it’s my name or somebody else, it does deserve to be celebrated, and it deserves to be lamented, because it’s 2026 and it’s just now happening,”
Thomas said of becoming the first Black female head coach in the NWSL.
“I think in the same breath of celebrating — as we should, because I know what the impact of representation is — we can also kind of lament that and sit with the fact that it is happening now and it didn’t happen sooner. It’s not like there weren’t good candidates; there were. For that reason, I’m also sitting with the dichotomy of those things.”
Thomas first joined Orlando as an assistant coach ahead of the 2023 NWSL season and was considered by many to be one of the league’s top assistants who could soon become a head coach.
She has guest coached for the U-23 U.S. women’s national team several times over the past 18 months.
Orlando signed Thomas to a “multi-year contract.”
The Pride declined to specify the length of the deal when asked. Orlando Pride VP of soccer operations and general manager Caitlin Carducci said in a statement that Thomas’ “familiarity with our organization is a strength.”
“Yolanda has earned this opportunity through her expertise, tactical acumen, preparation and impact on our players and our club,” Carducci said.
“She is an exceptional coach who understands the importance of culture and what people need in different moments, and she has earned the trust and respect of our players and staff through her work over the past several years.”
Thomas said she had been preparing herself to make the leap into a head coaching role, she just didn’t know it would come this quickly.
She also didn’t expect the opportunity to arise in Orlando. Thomas said she received several text messages from other women coaches and male allies in the NWSL when she took the interim role.
Thomas said that the women coaching in the NWSL speak frequently and help support each other.
Coaching roles in the NWSL and the wider women’s soccer ecosystem are still dominated by men.
“I have absolutely accepted the fact that this is a responsibility that doesn’t feel like a negative weight,” Thomas said.
“It feels like a privileged responsibility to make sure that I open the doors for others behind me, and that I carry the position with grace, regardless of what results may happen.”
Orlando went 3W-1D-4L in eight games under Thomas to end the 2026 NWSL season.
She said the team improved in key performance indicators, including chance creation and goals scored.
Thomas holds a USSF A License and is in the process of completing her course for the USSF Pro License, which is required for a head coach in the NWSL.
Hines, who was the first Black head coach in NWSL history when he took the job in 2022, is a friend and mentor to Thomas.
Hines was the head coach and Thomas an assistant for the Pride during the team’s historic 2024 season, when Orlando won the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship after starting the season on a record 23-game unbeaten streak.
Thomas said that the hardest part of the past few months was not trying to make major tactical changes.
Instead, the emotional toll was the toughest to navigate for her and Orlando’s players.
“Seb was super supportive of me,” Thomas said. “He knew I was ready. To have, sort of, his blessing in the midst of a really difficult situation meant a lot to me. And I think it actually made it easier for me and for the players to move on, because they also knew that he had that faith in me.”
Next comes change on the field. Orlando finished 11th this season, missing the playoff cut line by 11 points.
The Pride relied heavily on forward Barbra Banda, who scored 17 of their 39 goals.
Banda missed the final three games of the year due to travel restrictions following international duty. Thomas said that she expects the Pride to have more “energy” and aggression off the ball in their defensive press.
Still, she said they need to improve defensively after conceding 47 goals.
“We have to establish habits and processes that ensure that we stay, if not the very top, at the top,” Thomas said.
“Winning year in and year out is really difficult and rare, and there are conditions in any professional sports that are sometimes out of your control.
“But to the extent that you can control it, are we controlling the daily habits and processes and resources we need to stay at the top? I think that’s where the focus of this next era is.”
