I'll criticize head coaches. I'll question them. But I'll never claim to know what it's like to be one.
This despite pretty much living next door to one these days.
Bob Lilley, the new head coach of Riverhounds SC and already a United Soccer League Hall of Famer who's won big-time wherever he's been, operates with a motor unlike anyone I've seen. And I strongly suspect that's just because he's the only one I've witnessed this closely, since his office is immediately adjacent to ours at Highmark Stadium. If Mike Tomlin, Mike Sullivan or Clint Hurdle were working over there, I'm sure the perception would be no different.
Lilley rises with the sun, reports before rush hour, begins planning the day's training hours before the athletes arrive, runs a vibrant and vocal practice -- seriously, the man shouts inconsistent striker Romeo Parkes' name loudly enough to echo off nearby Mount Washington -- and his day's only beginning. He and longtime assistant Mark Pulisic, father of U.S. national team wunderkind Christian Pulisic, lock themselves up in the office in meetings to discuss the training, the depth chart and potential moves. On those rare occasions that Lilley emerges, because he's also the de facto general manager, he's on the phone with some agent or another, still seeking to add to the roster.
Somewhere in there, he eats, I presume. But maybe not, since he's picked at enough of the candy in our office that, the other day, my wife Dali surprised him with a big tub of that same candy on his office desk.
That should be the end of it, but it isn't close. He's around all night, too. Well past dark.
And he's human. This is my favorite facet to see up close.
The Hounds open their 2018 regular season tomorrow in Nashville. It'll be a huge challenge on several fronts, as the opponent's city was just accepted into Major League Soccer for either 2019 or 2020. So many tickets were sold for this match that it was moved to Nissan Stadium, the home of the NFL Titans, and so much money's been spent on the roster that they'll be tough on the pitch, too.
Lilley deals with all this as a person day after day. Yesterday, he popped into the office to say hello and opened up about some of his emotions, his nerves, his anxiety about this match. He won't look or sound that way once the ball is kicked or when he faces cameras or microphones, but he can and does like this.
And when it happens, I find myself again wondering about Tomlin, Sullivan, Hurdle and all the rest, what their lives are like in the little time they have to enjoy any real life.
A week ago at Madison Square Garden, the Penguins were wrapping up their morning skate when Sullivan saw me watching from a corner behind the glass. He walked up to say hello, asked how I was doing, all that. After I replied, and having Lilley's workload and burden in my thoughts, I asked Sullivan how he was doing, how he was holding up through the grind.
He seemed surprised that I'd ask, or that anyone would ask.
And he then, of course, remarked that he was just fine and that he really liked the way the team was coming together.
• Speaking of Pittsburgh and Nashville and Sullivan, in that specific moment that Sullivan raised the Cup after Game 6 last summer, he looked in the direction of his cheering players and shouted out, "You guys are the best!"
That's what makes guys like him special.
It's also what gets them rewarded:
[caption id="attachment_591176" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Mike Sullivan celebrates in Nashville, Tenn., June 11, 2017. – MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
• The Hounds can win that opener. Lilley has legitimately amassed contender-level skill, speed and depth. My concern after covering most of their preseason matches is a lack of size on the back line -- Joe Greenspan's 6-6 in the center, but he's about it -- and that the group's had so little time to gel with so many new faces, including those Lilley brought along from Rochester after the bankruptcy up there made them all nomads.
"I think we're ready," Lilley told me yesterday, "but I don't know if it's where we'll need to be right away. We'll see."
Our Matt Grubba, who's traveling to Nashville to cover the opener for us, sat with Lilley yesterday for a special Morning Java:
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