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The Mane Land PawedCastAuthor: Michael Citro
The official home for audio programming from The Mane Land, a community for fans of Orlando City SC, the Orlando Pride, Orlando City B, and all things soccer related in the City Beautiful. Language: en-us Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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PawedCast Episode 521: Kay Rawlins Retiring, Oscar Pareja Out, and More
Episode 521
Thursday, 12 March, 2026
The hits just keep on coming early in this 2026 MLS season as Orlando City has parted ways with the club's winningest coach and one of the league's best managers over the years. Oscar Pareja's time in charge of the Lions lasted six years and just three games into a seventh. But his departure isn't the only critical one this week for the club. We open the show with a brief discussion of club founder Kay Rawlins, who begins her retirement today after helping establish Orlando City SC from the remnants of the old USL Austin Aztex. She also helped Phil Rawlins build a soccer culture in Orlando, culminating in the club being awarded an MLS franchise. The team put tens of thousands in the old Citrus Bowl/Camping World Stadium in 2015 and 2016 and then introduced a beautiful, brand-new soccer-specific stadium to Orlando's skyline in 2017. It's fair to say Kay Rawlins was also the heart of the organization, as few people have done more for the club's integration into the community, and she was absolutely instrumental in bringing an NWSL side to the City Beautiful. Kay will be missed in the front office, but she's earned her retirement, and you can look for her in the stands. Our mailbagbox wanted to know about coaching options, and we tabled our answer until the second part of the show, but we did eventually get there. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag. We had a spirited discussion of Pareja's time in Orlando, the manner in which he leaves his position, and whether anyone could have won with the cards he'd been dealt in the first few matches of this season or even some of what he had to put up with in 2025. We also talked about Ricardo Moreira placing his own rear end on the hot seat now that there isn't a coaching scapegoat still hanging around, and we discussed what Moreira said about the next coaching hire and the style of play of the team. Oh, and we throw out a few names to answer that mailbagbox question. Finally, we adjusted our score predictions for Saturday's match against CF Montreal. While Dave only changed his score, I changed my result and I predict a couple more goals to be scored. Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we'll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show. If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site. Here’s how No. 521 went down: 0:15 – The heart of Orlando City is leaving as Kay Rawlins bids goodbye to the club she helped build. 4:32 – Oscar's exit from as many angles as we had time to cover and our mailbagbox question asked about potential replacements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
