Head Coach Ryan Martin has been at the helm of Loudoun United FC since June 2019 when he became the second head coach in the club’s history and has been with the club ever since. From being a development squad to becoming an independent club in the USL Championship, he has been a part of every milestone that LUFC has seen.
Prior to becoming the head coach of Loudoun United, Martin served as the director of D.C. United's academy and coached the U17 squad. LUFC was established in 2018 to connect D.C. United with the academy, making Martin the ideal candidate to lead Loudoun.
“Coaching was always my passion and really what I wanted to do. When I had the opportunity to coach, it was kind of the best of both worlds,” said Martin. “It was ‘can you help these young kids accelerate their growth in that gap between the Academy and the first team and then can I coach at a professional level’, so it was a best of both worlds scenario.”
On February 2, 2023, it was announced that Attain Sports and Entertainment would have a controlling ownership stake in Loudoun United. Attain is led by Greg Baroni, who is the CEO and Managing General Partner, and they took over operation of the club prior to the 2023 USL Championship season. He currently serves as the Principal Owner of LUFC and represents the club on the USL Board of Governors.
Martin says that the transition from being D.C. United’s second team to their own club has been great and it has been nice to build their own culture as an independent club.
“To have a place where you can build a true culture, and build a true environment where people can win jobs, lose jobs, and you can build consistency and continuity within the group has been a massive thing,” said Martin. “We have a new ownership group, Greg Baroni and Attain Sports, who also own a number of minor league baseball teams, but to have a guy that really cares about building something for the community, building something different, and still giving young local talent chance, but also fueling a team that can compete, win and make the community proud, it's been a great journey. It's been very different, but it's been a great journey.”
Greg Baroni and Martin would meet for dinner and discuss their goals, ambitions and values for the club. Throughout all of these conversations, Baroni asked Martin to be patient and that patience has finally paid off.
“He kept telling me it will come and to be fair, it’s come. We have a Sporting Director and we've got Director of Scouting which are two positions we've never had before,” said Martin. “I went from one full time assistant to three, and we now have a number of guys that are veterans in the league and have won MLS Supporters Shields and U.S. Open Cups. You have a true culture and a true group of people that are all really rolling towards the same direction for a goal and the goal is to win here at Loudoun.”
Martin reflected on what it has been like to watch Loudoun United grow into the club it is today, and he emphasized how proud he was of the successes that players and staff have had, and how Loudoun was a part of those successes.
Forward Riley Bidois was called up to the New Zealand National Team for the 2024 Olympics and two former players who have played for Loudoun United are on the USMNT roster for the 2024 Olympics, Kevin Paredes, who currently plays for Wolfsburg, and Griffin Yow, who currently plays for Westerlo.
Martin’s old video analyst who was with him in the academy at D.C. United and Loudoun is going to the Olympics with Emma Hayes and the USWNT.
“In five years, you have four different people representing three different teams in the Olympics, it’s a very proud and humbling thing. The best part about it all is that I still communicate with all of these people,” said Martin. “I'm gonna go to the women's game to support my former assistant before they head off to France, and they still come back for games and we still text. I think that's the sign that you are doing something right for someone in their journey, so that's an incredibly humbling and proud moment for what we're trying to accomplish here.”
In its short history of being a club, Loudoun United has continued to see success. LUFC currently sits in 7th in the eastern conference of the USL Championship, and has a seven game unbeaten streak which is the longest in club history.
LUFC also made it to the round of 16 in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, falling to LAFC 3-0 in that match. Martin thinks that their 2-1 victory against Orange County in the USOC was the turning point of the season for them.
“I think that was a really big turning point of belief that this club can be something special. It was a belief that what we are doing is paying off,” said Martin. “For years and years of what we've been trying to develop here and go through here to have a moment like that, to really kind of set the course of where we are today, and where we want to go tomorrow, so that's a really big one for me.
Martin attributed all the success the club has achieved this season to the players, their mentality, and the connections they have established at LUFC.
“I think before you look at building a common goal, a sense of belonging and what you're trying to do, you've got to understand where people came from and what connects you all to this moment to get to where you want to go. We spent a lot of time discussing shared experiences, shared beliefs, values, and that started in preseason,” said Martin. “It took three months, because it's not an overnight conversation, but to make a connection, bone deep and not skin deep. It takes time. I think the connection and the chemistry is really showing right now. You know, we're going to lose a game at some point, we're not naive enough to think we won't, but we also think we're strong enough to weather most storms at this point.”
Head Coach Ryan Martin has been there through every milestone LUFC has had and the journey with Loudoun is far from over. As for his legacy with the club, he wants to leave Loudoun United better than he found it.
“Anytime you leave a place, you just want to leave it better than when you found it,” said Martin. “I want people that played here to be proud that they've played at Loudoun United because we say it is a great place to be from. When you talk to players that have played here, they still come back to games, they still call and text, and are proud of their journey here. I know I am.”
✍️: Madison Crews 📷: Loudoun United
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