Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Grassie appreciates 'genius' of Ted Lasso
7/22/2021 12:20:00 PM | Men's Soccer, Big Green Scholarship Foundation, Word on the Herd
Season 2 of popular streaming show debuts this Friday
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Chris Grassie and Ted Lasso have more in common than a national championship.
Grassie is the reigning two-time Conference USA Coach of the Year who has led the Marshall University men's soccer team to unprecedented heights, including the Division I national championship two months ago. Lasso is a fictional character on the streaming television series "Ted Lasso," which captivated audiences last summer during the coronavirus pandemic. Grassie was among those who tuned in to Apple TV+ to watch, and the native of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, found more to love about the show than the setting of his homeland and the sport to which he has dedicated his life.
Grassie saw "genius coaching" in Ted Lasso.
"I got every single thing he was trying to do," Grassie said of Lasso, a character played by Jason Sudeikis. "I thought it was brilliant. It was absolutely fantastic."
The first episode of Season 2 of "Ted Lasso" debuts this Friday.
Grassie talked about the show prior to the start of 2020 season, which was played this spring after being postponed from the fall. While Grassie typically spends a great deal of his offseason re-watching matches, listening to audio books and studying cultural dynamics of other teams, he said the pandemic allowed him to cram three or four years of learning into one offseason. In between, he made room for Ted Lasso, a fictional character who led the Wichita State Shockers to the Division II college football national championship before being hired by Richmond FC of the Premier League. The 10-episode first season focuses on Lasso's transition to soccer, a sport in which he does not have experience coaching.
"He was such a warm, lovely character," Grassie said. "The cultural things he was talking about – the principles he was espousing to the group – that was money; that was magic. That's exactly right."
One the pillars to Lasso's coaching philosophy is belief. He keeps a crooked sign above the door of the head coach's office – and another on his bathroom mirror as a daily reminder – with seven letters: BELIEVE. Two years ago, prior to the 2019 season, the Marshall men's soccer team received one first place vote in the Conference USA preseason poll. Grassie had voted for his own team, although the team had never won a C-USA title. "If I don't believe in us, who will?" Grassie once said. The Thundering Herd won both the league's regular season and postseason titles, advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history and finished the season ranked No. 11.
The MU men's soccer program's encore, following a 2020 calendar year without a match, was this spring's national championship run. Marshall spent the entire season in the Top 25 and repeated as the C-USA regular season champion (the conference tournament was canceled). Then, the Herd defeated unbeaten Fordham, top overall seed Clemson, defending national champion Georgetown, host North Carolina and college soccer behemoth Indiana in the NCAA tournament to win the national title.
Grassie, his incredible support staff and a talented roster of players deserve all of the credit. But, Marshall has also won every national championship since "Ted Lasso" aired and won the heart of Grassie.
"Ted Lasso talked Wooden's triangle and people first and he's leading up," Grassie said in an interview before the national championship season. "All of the different terminology within all of the books you read. He's inclusive, which I think is so important. He gets the kit man and he becomes the coach. He's open to new ideas. He cares about the individual players. It's all genius coaching.
"It takes a lifetime to learn those skills and it's all there in Ted Lasso. It was about a team and the culture and, obviously, it was funny. I love it. I can't wait for next season."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a nine-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).