Mike Bianchi: Culture shift drives Pride's quest into '72 Dolphins territory

The players of the Orlando Pride can be forgiven for not knowing the history and heritage of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

After all, they were born decades after Don Shula’s Dolphins completed their 17-0 season to become the first and only NFL team to go through the season unbeaten.

“The only NFL team ever to go undefeated?” Pride midfielder Haley McCutcheon asked me incredulously earlier this week. “Oh my gosh! We would love to finish undefeated, too. It’s something that’s never been done in our sport. We’ve broken all these records and this has been a special season, but we’re still not satisfied.”

It’s only appropriate that this team is called the Pride because, without question, they are an organization — a group of players, coaches and staff — that Orlando should take pride in. They play hard, they play tough, they do not back down. Their defense, led by goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse, has accounted for 12 shutouts this season — the most in league history. To continue the comparison to great NFL teams, their defense is the ’85 Bears of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Amazingly, this franchise that had been a massive disappointment since its inception has risen from the ashes of a league-wide player abuse scandal two years ago to become what has a chance to be the most dominant team in NWSL history.

If ever there was time to jump on the bandwagon and join the Pride parade, this is it. The team is 16-0-6 with a chance to become the first NWSL team and first elite-level women’s professional team in American soccer history to go through a season unbeaten. The Pride drew a record-breaking Inter&Co Stadium crowd of 17,087 for their previous home match and hope to have another large crowd Sunday for the biggest home match of the season against the league’s second-winningest team, the Washington Spirit. A win would secure the NWSL Shield that goes to the team with the best regular season record.

Asked if it’s a goal for his team to finish undefeated, Pride coach Seb Hines just smiled and said, “Of course it is. We don’t like to lose.”

The beginning of the Pride’s resurrection from being the league’s perennial punchline starts with Hines, who took over amid the abuse scandal. That’s when first-year coach Amanda Cromwell was suspended and eventually fired for conduct that the league said promoted “fear” and “retaliation” against certain Pride players.

But even before Cromwell’s arrival, the Pride had a reputation around the league for being a revolving-door franchise that had plenty of marquee players, such as Alex Morgan and Marta, but never had any direction or stability.

“The Pride were always a team that had a lot of really good players who couldn’t figure it out on the field.” says midfielder Morgan Gautrat, an NWSL veteran and a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team who joined the Pride this season. “Players were always constantly coming and then leaving. From the outside looking in, this wasn’t a place you wanted to be.”

That started to change when Hines became the coach. After Cromwell’s firing, Hines, a former Orlando City player who started as a volunteer coach for the Pride and eventually became a paid assistant, was installed as the interim coach. The team almost immediately went on a seven-game winning streak and it became clear to the new ownership group, the Wilf family, that Hines was more than just a substitute teacher. Not only did the players like him, they respected him and played hard for him.

“There’s no secret recipe,” Hines says. “We just wanted to create a culture where the players wanted to come to training, work hard and have smiles on their faces.”

The hiring of General Manager Haley Carter, a former NWSL player and once an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, further solidified the team’s culture shift. Carter has spent much of her adult life fighting the good fight for the rights of women’s athletes across the globe. She is a former assistant coach for Afghanistan’s women’s national team and helped FIFA’s investigation into allegations that Keramuddin Keram — the president of the Afghanistan Football Federation — and his henchmen were sexually assaulting players. FIFA ended up banning Keram for life.

She was also instrumental in helping 75 Afghan women’s soccer players, officials and relatives make a harrowing emergency escape when the Taliban seized control of the country in 2021 after the United States pulled out.

“We’re paid to win and create a high-performance environment, but not at the risk of sacrificing enjoyment,” Carter says. “This is a game. It’s entertainment and it’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be fun for the fans and for the players. We have tried to create an atmosphere where everybody enjoys coming to work, feels valued, feels as if they play a role in the team’s success.”

And they do it by focusing on even the smallest of details, such as referring to the team’s bench players as “game changers” instead of “substitutes.” Like treating even the last player on the bench the same way they treat Marta, the ageless Brazilian legend who is arguably the greatest player of all-time.

Of course, great teams also require great players, and great players require big salaries. And, so, the ownership change that happened three years ago has certainly contributed to the club’s success. The Wilf family, who also owns the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, has been more than willing to invest in the roster.

When Carter began working through the complicated process to acquire Zambia’s Barbra Banda, one of the most prolific strikers in the world, the Wilfs gladly opened their checkbook. The Pride paid a $740,000 transfer fee — the second-highest fee ever for a women’s player — to get Banda from the Chinese club Shanghai Shengli. Banda’s contract with Orlando is valued at $2.1 million over four years, including bonuses.

Carter recalls a conversation she had with team chairman Mark Wilf during the long, arduous negotiating process to bring Banda to Orlando.

The conversation went like this:

Wilf: “Do you really think she’s worth it?”

Carter: “I know she is.”

Banda has the second-most goals in the league (13) — despite missing the first four games while awaiting her visa — and has tied the NWSL single-season records for braces (4) and game-winning goals (6).

Translation: Damn right, she’s worth it.

Let’s be honest, shall we? This investment would not have happened five years ago. The Pride’s pursuit of an undefeated season is a testament to the growth of women’s sports in America and a reflection of the strides made toward gender equality in athletics.

As the final whistle approaches on what could be a perfect season, your Orlando Pride remains focused on the task at hand.

These remarkable, resilient young athletes may not be old enough to remember the Miami Dolphins’ undefeated season, but they’re doing their level best to ensure that their own legacy will be remembered for generations to come.

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