Nielsen Brings A Lifetime Of Devotion
Soccer Lifer, Now Coach, Drawn To Area’s Interest In Sport
Jimmy Nielsen sat at a desk at a school in Denmark Monday through Friday as a 12-year-old just like all of his peers. But when the bell rang and class was dismissed, Nielsen’s life between Friday afternoon and Monday morning was unlike his other classmates.
After school, Nielsen’s mother would drive him to the airport, and he’d fly each weekend to a different European destination — Spain, Germany, France. His weekend was spent wherever the Norwich City soccer team was playing as he was a goalkeeper for its youth team.
And on Sunday night, he’d fly back to Denmark and go to school the next morning. For three years, this was Nielsen’s routine.
While Nielsen, now 41, went on to play four years with Sporting Kansas City in the MLS and a couple of years with a Danish team, becoming a coach seemed like the eventual career path, and it was always a goal. Back in elementary school at recess, Nielsen was the one separating players in order to make teams and played the role of both coach and referee.
“I’d probably been damn annoying,” he said with a laugh.
The new coach of Hartford Athletic, the capital city’s new pro team in the United Soccer League, was a captain at just about every stop of his professional career. During his time at Sporting Kansas City, where he was a two-time MLS All-Star, he coached at the youth academy, helping himself and his club.
When Nielsen joined the Hartford Athletic as its first coach earlier this month, it was something new, but not exactly different. Just four years ago, he signed on as the first head coach with the expansion Oklahoma City Energy FC. He resigned last November in search of something different.
“I’d been there for four years. I felt it was time for a new challenge,” he said. “To challenge myself and try and do something new.”
Three playoff trips and a resignation later, Nielsen is leading the new Hartford team.
“You would think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build up a team from scratch and build a franchise,” he said. “Listen, I’m here again for the second time.”
With Oklahoma City, Nielsen found immediate success in his first job as a full-time head coach. He deflected credit toward the people around him — players, coaches, ownership — but added that 19 years as a professional soccer player didn’t hurt.
Aside from the X’s and O’s, he had a deeper grasp on the intangibles like what motivates players and how to communicate. Most importantly, he said, he knew how to create a fun environment. His fear is that playing professional soccer starts to turn into a job, and not the game that these players fell in love with.
“We’ve got to make the players feel wanted and welcome,” Nielsen said. “When you have that feeling that someone wanted you, you were all the more willing to go the extra yard. I want to create a good, competitive environment.”
There’s no exaggeration in the statement that Nielsen has devoted his life to his craft. He said he believes that even on days off, you need to be doing “the right things.” To him, the worst part of his job is that come midnight, he has to go to bed knowing that someone else could be awake working. And when he does wake in the middle of the night, his mind is still on soccer, Nielsen says.
Nielsen isn’t shy about his enthusiasm about the team, the league, sport and even his new city. He said the league is “very, very” competitive. He found the job with Hartford to be “very, very” attractive. He thinks the fans are “very, very” passionate.
That fervor which Nielsen exudes now was something he’d been searching for since he left Oklahoma City. It didn’t take him more than a phone call with Hartford Athletic CEO and Chairman Bruce Mandell to realize that the Connecticut expansion team could offer him what he’d been looking for.
“His plan, his vision, his ideas, his energy, was very, very, very attractive,” Nielsen said. “There’s a lot I’ve liked about him in the short time I’ve known him. Very straightforward, very very honest. He sold me the idea of his plan for the club. It was a very, very attractive conversation.”
He flew to Hartford and spent a day-anda-half with Mandell, Joe Calafore and Scott Schooley — the other two members of the team’s ownership group. By the time Nielsen left Connecticut, he was ready to commit.
Nielsen was drawn to Hartford, and Connecticut, thanks to the area’s interest in soccer, too. When the Hartford Athletic first announced it would be selling season tickets, many fans put deposits down before the team even had a logo.
“That’s what I’ve been looking for. I want to be in that environment. That’s the environment that I grew up in, and played in my whole career. I want to be around soccer freaks like myself,” he said. “The short time I’ve been here, the people I’ve met on the street, my cable guy, stuff like that, they’ve all been very, very excited about this project here.”
With his ample experience playing and coaching, Nielsen said he knows what it will take to get the team going.
“A lot of coaches know what it takes, but can you take them there? That’s the question,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s a lot of work, but I know what it takes, but can I take them where I want them? That’s always a challenge. You can bring in Jose Mourinho here, or Jurgen Klopp, or whoever you think is the best coach in the world — there is no guarantees.”
To him, the biggest difference between starting in Hartford and starting in Oklahoma City is his knowledge of the league. He admittedly didn’t know much about the USL when he first became involved.
Now, as Nielsen claims, he knows everyone, and it might be enough to give him a leg up on the six other expansion franchises also entering the USL this spring.
“I’ve been on that level for a few years now, and I know every single player,” he said. “Not saying it’s going to be easy, but I’ve put myself in a way better situation.”
Nielsen and his team will spend the following months filling out the roster, hiring assistants and assembling a training staff. Come March, they’ll take the field for the first time. Nielsen will be challenged. He’ll be challenged to find a roster of players that fits his style. He’ll be challenged to win early, and often.
“Very, very exciting times,” he said.