Meet the New Boss (Not the Same as the Old Boss)

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC
Interim Head Coach Mark McKeever (center)
celebrates following a goal in Westchester.

At some point we have to get back to talking about the games on the field. That's what we're all fans of and that excitement is what draws us in and causes us to be fans in the first place. Seeing incredible athletic feats on the field is why we show up to games.

But today is not that day. Soon, I promise, but today we're talking about Tormenta's interim manager Mark McKeever.

I think it was a surprise to everyone when former manager Ian Cameron (yep, still weird writing that), stepped down and in the same announcement we all found out  Mark McKeever would take over the helm at Tormenta.

I think I audibly said "What?!?" in my office when I got to that point of the release.

Mark McKeever? The One Knox guy? Wasn't there something that went on with him in Knoxville? 

Oh? Ohhhh. Right, that. There were allegations of physical and verbal abuse during his time at Knoxville. 

That's the guy tasked with taking over Tormenta for the home stretch of the season? 

I'll admit, I was skeptical. And how did this get done so quickly. I mean, I figured Cameron let ownership and staff know before it was announced to the public, but how did they have an interim in place so quickly? And why did they have to announce this at this point when my day job is actually really busy and I don't have a lot of extra time right now? (Ok, that last one may just be specific to me.)

I ended up being able to meet with Tormenta co-owner and President Darin Van Tassell last Friday after the announcement and again on Wednesday to discuss Cameron's departure, McKeever's hiring and what the process looks like going forward in the search for a permanent head coach.

Let's deal with the allegations first. According to WBIR in Knoxville, the claims of physical and verbal abuse were substantiated by the USL and McKeever was ordered to undergo sensitivity training and both the USL and One Knoxville said the organization had gone through the right steps to remedy the situation.

Van Tassell was obviously aware of the allegations against McKeever and asked him about them when he interviewed McKeever about potentially joining Tormetna's coaching staff.

"Mark told me he learned a lot from One Knox," Van Tassell said. "One can keep growing. He said 'I have to grow.' He said there were some things there that he wished he had done a bit differently." 

Earlier in my discussion with Van Tassell, he told me he was very comfortable with McKeever's integrity.

"Jordan Bell, our assistant coach here, of course, has coached with Mark in several different locations. So I've known Mark for a long time and I get to work with him now. Mark is in a setting I know he'll be able to thrive in," Van Tassell told me.

Now if I'm being honest with you, my first reaction to the McKeever hiring was one of concern. All I really knew of McKeever was that there were allegations of misconduct and that he'd left Knoxville in 2024 in August when the two mutually agreed to part ways*. This was the guy tasked with taking Tormenta from the Ian Cameron era into the next chapter of the club's history?

But as I talked with different people, all of whom seemed as surprised as I was at the announcement, one person mentioned the need for second chances. We all deserve a chance to show that we've grown and changed and learned from our past mistakes provided we show we've put in the work to change. None of us should be judged on our worst moments and we all need the opportunity to learn from our past selves to become better people. 

Tormenta appears to be McKeever's second chance as he's been out of coaching for the past year. I can't sit here today and tell you how it's going to go for the rest of the season. But I know that McKeever's success over the next 11 games will be Tormenta's success and at this point, Tormenta is only four points outside of a playoff spot. 

Presumably McKeever wants to continue coaching, whether it's through earning the permanent head coaching job with Tormenta after the season, remaining on as an assistant, or landing elsewhere as a head coach or an assistant. To do that, I'm sure he knows he's being watched and he needs to both be successful and not have any black marks on his record at Tormenta.

But how did McKeever wind up in Statesboro in the first place? 

As I mentioned above, Van Tassell had interviewed McKeever about joining the Tormenta staff even before Cameron's resignation. In fact, McKeever was on the sidelines at Tormenta's last home game against Greenville. 

Van Tassell said neither he nor McKeever had any indication Cameron would be stepping down and that McKeever was not brought in with the expectation that he would be the interim head coach. 

Unfortunately for our purposes, I wasn't at the Greenville game and when I met with Van Tassell on Wednesday morning, McKeever and the team were finishing up film study before training so I haven't been able to speak to McKeever yet. However, Van Tassell said McKeever has been working to get to know all the players and early indications are that the players are buying in to what McKeever has to say.

If you've read my posts for any time at all, you know I'm not a tactician. That's not a skill I currently possess. But I will ask questions of people who know more than me, which is what I did when I asked John Morrissey of The USL Show, Backheeled and other outlets about what kind of fit he sees with McKeever and a roster put together to play how Ian Cameron saw the game.

"I actually think it's going to be a rather smooth transition," Morrissey told me over Bluesky. "McKeever is more willing to change shapes and use a back three, but he was mostly a 4-2-3-1 guy in 2023. His teams tend to keep a majority of possession, they aren't pressureful, and they're patient - Knoxville scored one fast break goal during his entire time as their coach.

"Based on that, I think the roster fit is strong," Morrissey said.

Van Tassell said McKeever is the interim coach and while that gives him time to possibly earn the permanent head coach title, Tormenta will still conduct a proper search for Tormenta's next head coach.

"We want someone who's got leadership qualities that people gravitate towards. There got to be a little bit of charisma to pull that off," Van Tassell said. "I'm a fan of teachers. I'm a fan of people who help build culture. If you're going to coach Tormenta, then there better be a blue collar kind of mentality. 

"And I think it has to be someone that gets the 'it' part now. The larger question is, what's the 'it'? Because it's such a public position, we have to have the entire organization gravitate toward that position. So it's not just the ownership group. It's how do we at the front office feel about it? How are we at sales and ticketing connected do that? What do our players thing about it. What do our former players think about it? How are fans going to feel a connection."

Van Tassell said it was important that the next coach understand the American soccer landscape and while it's not a dealbreaker, he said having a coach familiar with USL League One is something he feels is important. 

There's no time frame, Van Tassell said, for when he hopes the next coach is in place.

"All clubs want some stability at some point. We want some decisions about how we're going to move and where we're going to go. That process could be a couple weeks. It could be a couple months. Neither one of them scare me," he said. 

Tormenta returns to action on Saturday with a road contest against Richmond with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Assuming all goes well, we'll have a guest post tomorrow or Saturday about that match. 

*I also knew he was eighth in the inaugural League One Most Handsome Manager Rankings, but that doesn't count if I wrote it, right?