The Houston Dash have made a major change to their coaching staff with head coach Fabrice Gautrat and technical director Twila Kilgore leaving the club as the team enters the final stretch of the National Women’s Soccer League season.
The Houston club announced the changes Sunday, saying both Gautrat and Kilgore would transition away from their current positions. Their departures are effective immediately.
Jaime Frias, who joined the Dash as an assistant coach last year, will take over as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2026 season. Club leadership is expected to begin searching for a permanent replacement as the organization evaluates its direction.
Houston Dash Looking for a Late Season Turnaround
The coaching changes come with the Dash sitting outside the NWSL playoff positions. Houston currently ranks 12th in the 16-team league with a 7 win, 12 loss and 5 draw record.
The team has six regular season matches remaining and faces a significant challenge to close the gap on the teams competing for postseason places.
Houston’s most recent match ended in a 1 0 home loss to the Utah Royals on Saturday. The Dash’s last victory came on Aug. 19, when they recorded a 5 0 win against the Chicago Stars.
Gautrat became Houston’s head coach ahead of the 2025 season. He was the sixth head coach in the club’s history and finished his first season with an 8 12 6 record. Houston ended that campaign six points outside the postseason.
The Dash entered this season with one of the younger rosters in the NWSL. The team has also seen promising performances from young players, including attacking midfielder Kat Rader, who has scored nine goals this season.
Twila Kilgore Leaves After U.S. National Team Role
Kilgore’s departure is also notable because of her previous work with the U.S. women’s national team.
She initially joined the Houston Dash as an assistant coach in 2019 and later moved into the national team coaching system. In 2023, Kilgore became interim head coach of the U.S. women’s national team following the Women’s World Cup while U.S. Soccer waited for Emma Hayes to take over.
Kilgore continued in the interim position into 2024 before Hayes officially assumed the role. Under Hayes, the U.S. women’s team went on to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kilgore returned to the Dash earlier this year in the role of technical director, but her time in that position has now come to an end.
Houston Dash president of women’s soccer Angela Hucles Mangano said the club continues to believe in its players and their potential while acknowledging the need to assess the team’s progress.
The coaching changes arrive during a period of movement across the NWSL, with several clubs also making adjustments to their coaching structures.
For the Dash, Frias now takes charge with six games remaining and the team needing a strong finish to keep its postseason hopes alive.
