Discipline, communication, improvement helping Rob Valentino at Atlanta United

Rob Valentino has survived at Atlanta United through four coaching regimes, and one interim regime, not including his previous time in charge.

“Survived” may not be the right word. “Endured” isn’t correct, either. It’s more of a compliment to Valentino that Atlanta United’s front office has seen his value as a leader, communicator and tactician, even when it no longer has seen the value in his co-workers, or they have chosen to move on.

Valentino, Atlanta United’s interim manager, offers a detailed answer about why he has made it through so many bosses and again has a chance to become the club’s next manager.

It starts with him showing up to work every day with a desire for improvement.

“Sometimes it’s been hard over the years, right to stay positive, show up every day,” he said. “I do my work. I’m constantly trying to learn and get better. I work with a lot of humility. I feel like I really have the servant-leadership trait of that. I really want to watch other people get better. I want to be along the ride with them, but I want to watch other people get better, so I think maybe that’s, that’s part of it. So I think just sometimes being a good person can help, and I strive to do that every single day.”

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Valentino typically arrives at work at 4:30 a.m. to exercise in the gym. He spends 30-45 minutes watching several videos of other coaches in various sports talking about leadership. He will read a little bit. He’s read a few books about leadership this year, including Arthur Blank’s latest.

Among his favorite nuggets, and one that provides a good lens into Valentino’s approach to coaching and leadership, gleaned from his research comes from former Suns coach Monty Williams, whom Valentino followed as part of an assignment to earn his professional soccer coaching license. Valentino said he appreciated that Williams uses a servant style of leadership and focuses on accountability. Valentino frequently uses a quote that he learned from Williams: “Pressure is a privilege.”

Valentino has a few of those phrases that he will use during interviews.

Valentino’s favorite from a library that he said he has is self-admittedly dark. He first saw it on a Walter Payton poster that his dad or brother had: “Tomorrow is not promised to anyone.”

“It’s literally meaning you could be gone tomorrow, right?” he said. “But it really makes you be grateful for where you’re at and where your feet are. So that one I go back to quite often.”

Valentino has learned from experience and his research how to navigate the different personalities that he’s worked with in the locker room and the coaching room, which is another explanation as to why he has succeeded at Atlanta United.

When Gabriel Heinze was in charge, Atlanta United was about to play NYCFC. The coaching staffs will exchange lineups about 60 minutes before a match. Heinze and his staff received NYCFC’s and began to write down what they presumed would be the tactics.

Valentino listened to the discussion. From his experience in MLS, he predicted that NYCFC would use a certain player in a position that Heinze and the other assistants weren’t considering.

Heinze and his staff disagreed. They said that the player had never been used in the position that Valentino said he would be used.

Valentino knew that the player, who had a low salary but was very versatile, would be a key for NYCFC.

Valentino asked everyone to write what they thought would happen, and he would write what he thought would happen.

The match started. Valentino proved correct. He remembered the video analyst looking over at him and nodding with respect.

“They started to understand, OK, this is what the league is like,” Valentino said. “You can’t just take this one out, put the next one in, and just plug and play. So that part of it is where maybe it’s lent me to stay around as long as I have. I’m really grateful for that because, like the staff that I work with now, we’ve really grown with each other. They’ve (front-office staff) also been really patient with us. As I could say, we probably have been with them as well through some of the bad times. But that loyalty, sometimes it’s rare these days.”

Communicating, which he tried to do with Heinze and staff and which is illustrated in the previous anecdote, is another key to Valentino’s longevity.

Though he wants to be a manager, Valentino rarely speaks like a coach. Frequently new coaches try to sound like a coach. They’ll use jargon, clichés and phrases that turn three words into 15. It’s called coach-speak. Sometimes, after Valentino answers, he will ask the questioner: “Did you expect that answer?” When it’s not a question about injuries, the answer is usually no.

It’s a different style than previous managers and illustrated again why President Garth Lagerwey, when he promoted Valentino to interim in June, said that he believed that “maybe he will have a little bit different viewpoint on some things.” Lagerwey didn’t go into details about that, but obviously something needed to change in the locker room, in training and during matches. Otherwise, Valentino wouldn’t have been needed to succeed Gonzalo Pineda, who went 34-34-29, including 4-8-4 this season. Valentino has been more flexible than Pineda in changing formations. The results have been marginally better. Missing several key players, the team is 3-4-3, making Valentino 7-6-7 as an interim. It was defeated by L.A. Galaxy 2-0 on Saturday.

Should Valentino not be promoted, he said he isn’t focusing on whether he again will become an assistant coach on the next manager’s staff. He finally uses jargon.

“That’s not really my focus,” he said. “Honestly. Just focused on every game as it comes.”

Valentino, of course, would love to have the interim label removed and become the team’s fifth non-interim manager. He also recognizes that even if Atlanta United wins its remaining eight matches, rolls through the playoffs and wins its first MLS Cup since 2019, the decision to retain him as manager will not be up to him. So, he’s taking everything away from the experience that is possible.

“I think I’m the best candidate for it, and that doesn’t have to do anything with anyone else,” he said. “I think I know this place. I know what I can bring to this building, but those circumstances are on my hands, so really, I’m going to maintain the same way I have been, and that sometimes can be difficult because I’ve got a family, I’ve got things that I think about.

“People have helped me with this, my wife, the staff, other people, have helped me just really stay in the moment and be where my feet are. At the beginning of when I started, this was about enjoying every day.”

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Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule

Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0

March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1

March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0

March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0

March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0

April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1

April 14 Atlanta United 2, Philadelphia 2

April 20 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1

April 27 Atlanta United 1, Chicago 1

May 4 Minnesota 2, Atlanta United 1

May 7 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte Independence 0 in U.S. Open Cup