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Fifteen games into their existence, the Utah Royals are already changing course. Even one of the club’s best performances of the season on Saturday, a scoreless draw in which the Royals outshot, out-chanced, and out-Xgd (by more than double) the Thorns, was not enough to save the regime. On Sunday the Royals ushered out their 1.0 era when they fired head coach Amy Rodriguez and announced that president Michelle Hyncik was leaving to pursue new opportunities.
Rodriguez and Hyncik were high school teammates in California who reunited to help get the new iteration of the Royals off the ground. It made for good copy, and attached Rodriguez’s name to the franchise, but those alone do not put a winning side on the pitch. Even Rodriguez, who was on a coaching path, admitted she was surprised when Hyncik reached out to reconnect, saying she didn’t think she was the type to be a candidate for such a job.
In comments published last year in the Salt Lake Tribute, Hycnik was…
