Written By Jon Johnson
It didn’t take long for new Dothan United head coach Ricky Davey to witness firsthand the community backing for its United Soccer League Two franchise.
At one point during his introductory press conference inside the team’s locker room at Rip Hewes Stadium on Wednesday, the Circle City Inferno – the club’s official support group – began a familiar game-day chant of “Vamos DHN,” prompting those gathered to clap and cheer along with them.
“Amazing … I’m so excited,” Davey said. “I think it’s a really unique situation here with the community and the support.
“Super excited to be here and I think there’s a good thing going. I think we can continue to build and move forward with it.
“From my conversations with the ownership here and the previous coaching staff, it’s real. Like, I don’t see this dropping off anytime soon.”
Davey takes over the role vacated by Carl Reynolds, who resigned earlier this month after being hired as the associate head men’s soccer coach at Liberty (Va.) University.
Reynolds led the Dragons during their first two years of a franchise in the USL2, which included the team reaching the national semifinals a year ago after winning the Southern Conference title.
The Dragons fell to Vermont Green FC in a PK shootout in the semis in Burlington, VT., after the teams went scoreless in regulation and overtime. Dothan finished with a 16-3 record last season and went 4-4-4 during the initial year.
Juggling two jobs
Like Reynolds did while he was with the Dragons, Davey will also continue to coach on the college level at Mercer University, where he is in his second year as associate head coach at the school located in Macon, Ga.
With the main college season taking place in the fall and the USL2 season beginning in May, Davey doesn’t believe it will be too difficult to balance the two jobs.
“The nice thing about college soccer is the spring time is fairly quiet,” Davey said before the press conference. “The fall is our (college) championship season and it’s go, go, go. You get some time to breathe in December.
“The spring in college is more developmental … one game a week and you only have five dates to play. A little less crammed, so there’s time you can commit to this (Dothan United) with the recruiting side of things and building those relationships in the community and getting ready for April-May time when it comes around.”
Making the hire
It didn’t take long for Dothan United president Steve Donner to know Davey was the man for the job.
“When Carl got the opportunity to go to Liberty, we asked him could you please put together a short list of coaches that are sort of in your image and have the competitive drive that you do, and he gave us his list,” Donner said. “His brother, Danny, who did a lot of recruiting for us, we asked, ‘Hey Danny, could you put together a short list of coaches that you would recommend us to interview?’ Ricky’s name was at the top of both lists independently.
“Right from the get-go from talking to Ricky, his competitive drive is very similar to Carl’s. He’ll have his own style in how he handles the players on and off the field, but it starts with competitiveness and character. He’s a man of great character … a family man. It was quite clear we had our man.”
Building roster and staff
Davey is already busy talking to players and assembling a roster.
“With the success of the team last year, it would be silly of me to blow it all up and start from scratch,” Davey said. “Those conversations are happening with guys who were around it last year.
“There are certain guys that have signed professional deals and are trying to sign professional deals. It’s navigating that and also reaching out to guys to see if they want to come back.
“Through different jobs, you build contacts, whether it be in the U.S. or overseas … it’s pretty similar to the collegiate system. You’re just recruiting for a different organization.”
Davey says some players from last year’s roster will be returning.
“We’re up to four right now that I think will be coming back,” Davey said. “Those conversations are ongoing. I have a good grasp of last year’s group and it will just be a matter of who’s doing what and who wants to be back and who we want to be a part of it again.”
Davey is currently putting together his coaching staff for the Dragons.
“Guys I’ve either worked with before or have really good relationships with,” Davey said of who he’ll bring in. “I think it’s important to have people I trust around me; people I know do good work. That’s getting close to being done, too, so I’m excited about that myself.”
Coaching style
The coach says gameplans will often be dictated by who the team is playing.
“Different opposition leads to different kinds of styles,” Davey said. “I think your approach to the next game is always based on the opposition.
“I think generally we will be possession-based. Like, we will try to play forward quickly, but we do want to build from the goal kicks … we want to play through. I think you’ll see different things in different phases of the field as well. You’ll see different positions as we get higher up the field and closer to the goal.
“Long story short, it will be possession-based, but we’ll look to go forward pretty quickly and try to entertain you guys the best we can.
“As a coach myself, very demanding on the field. I’m probably a different person off the field than I am on it. I can separate the two quite easily. Overall, I want the guys to buy into what we have going on here and give this place a team they can be proud of.”
Why Dothan
One of the reasons Davey took the Dothan job was because of the positive things Reynolds told him about his time in the Circle City.
“I think the biggest thing that Carl said was just the community feel to everything,” Davey said. “I think that’s really important to any organization. It’s different (here) than anything honestly I’ve experienced before.”
Davey has gotten nothing but positive vibes from his tour around town the last couple of days.
“Meeting so many people that care about it (Dothan United) a ton,” Davey said. “Sometimes you hear things but you don’t believe them, but everything has been true. It really feels like it’s a well-supported club.”
The surroundings
Davey is impressed with the facilities of the Dragons, from the locker room to the playing field and the overall stadium.
“Unbelievable; super nice,” Davey said. “I think it’s unique again in the sense that you come to USL2 level and see something like this. I’ve told many people I’m super excited to see what an actual game day looks like, because you see on Instagram, you see on social media, and it looks incredible … the support. I think the infrastructure of the club and where it’s going is amazing.”
Other coaching roles
Davey was elevated to associate head coach last March at Mercer and also serves as recruiting coordinator.
Before coming to Mercer, Davey was with the Atlanta United Academy program for four years, first coaching the Atlanta United MLS Next Under-14 team and then taking over as the program’s U19 head coach and College Showcase coordinator. While leading the U-19 team, he also was an assistant coach for the Atlanta United 2 Team, focusing on opposition analysis and defense. He also served as the Pro Prospect IDP coach.
Before joining the Atlanta United in 2021, Davey was an assistant coach and director of international recruiting with Georgia State University (2018-2021). While at Georgia State, Davey was also the head coach of the Georgia Revolution of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) during the 2021 season.
Other college coaching stints included Davey as an assistant coach at Francis Marion (2017), Le Moyne (2015-2016) and Alabama-Huntsville (2014).
Davey also spent one season as head varsity boys soccer coach at Grissom High School in Huntsville.
Playing days
Davey, a native of England, played his first season on the college level at Appalachian State before transferring to the University of Montevallo, where he played two seasons. With the Falcons, he compiled 16 goals and 20 assists and helped the team to two Peach Belt Conference conference titles and two NCAA tournament appearances.
He graduated from Montevallo in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in human nutrition and earned a master’s degree in education from Le Moyne in 2017.
After his college career, Davey played several years in the NPSL with the Rocket City United of Huntsville, Birmingham (Ala.) Hammers and the Rochester (N.Y.) RiverDogz.
