As ambitious as Rhode Island FC’s hopes were for its inaugural season in the USL Championship, Head Coach Khano Smith never could have imagined the campaign would end in the Championship Final.

“We always wanted to be in this place,” Smith told USLChampionship.com this week. “You know, we never really talk about winning trophies, again, it’s sort of just everybody has those goals, and I think just doing the little things every day led us to this point. I don't really like to talk about outcomes and expectations, but yeah, probably in our wildest dreams, did we think we would be here? Probably no.”

RIFC is the first expansion team to reach a Championship Final in eight years since a Swope Park Rangers team led by Head Coach Marc Dos Santos and featuring players such as Dane Kelly, Tyler Pasher and Christian Duke earned a place in the final.

This year, though, Smith and his head coaching counterpart at fellow first-time finalist Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, James Chambers, are making their own history.

For the first time in a Championship Final, the clubs will be led by a pair of first-time, first-year Head Coaches.

As Chambers is quick to point out, he and Smith stepped into very different situations at the start of the season. The 37-year-old Dublin, Ireland native had previously been an assistant coach for the Switchbacks for three seasons, accompanying former Head Coach Brendan Burke and current Sporting Director Stephen Hogan when they headed to Colorado Springs from the Philadelphia Union late in 2020. Chambers believes his work has been a continuation of that process, which has seen the side reach four consecutive postseasons.

By contrast, for Chambers, what Smith has been able to accomplish with a squad built from scratch is a remarkable feat.

“With Khano, the work that’s been done there has been phenomenal for a first-year head coach, especially in an inaugural season for the club,” said Chambers. “It’s remarkable and it’s a huge achievement for himself and the players and everyone in the background to get to the final.”

“It felt like a loss,” said Smith. “So, we just got together as a team afterwards. I don’t speak much after matches. I pick my moments when I do. But I spoke to the group, and I said, ‘look, this obviously sucks, and it sucks for all of us, but you know, what’s meant to be will be, and what's meant to be for us is for us.’ We can use this as an excuse. Did it happen to us or happen for us? So, we used it as an example. What type of team do we want to be? Do we want to be a team that takes the challenges head on, or do we want to be scared and going away to the best team in the league who’s killing everybody right now.

“I think something happened in that locker room that day in Memphis, and giving people [three days off], I felt it was the right thing to do. In a situation like that, you could just come back and say, you know, we’re practicing two days a week the next week or no days off. But we decided to go the other way. They’re human beings, and they needed their space, and they came back and responded in the right way.”

For Chambers and the Switchbacks, it was the 1-1 draw the side earned against Indy Eleven to earn their first point of the season. Reduced to 10 players with more than half-an-hour to play, Colorado Springs withstood the pressure the Boys in Blue applied to come away with a result, reinforcing a belief within the group that Chambers felt at that point was in danger of slipping away.

“Ultimately, if we don’t get a result in the Indy game with the effort and the application that the players put in, I do feel like it would have been difficult for them to come back again the following week, go to Oakland and be able to repeat that,” said Chambers. “It’s hard work, and it seems very simple, but when you put so much into something and get nothing back for a period of time, that’s difficult to continue to do. But when you get a small taste and a small moment of, I wouldn't call one draw success, but you get something back, it gives you something tangible to hold onto and push for it again.”

The Switchbacks took victory the following week against Oakland Roots, a result that launched a five-game winning streak in league play that quickly saw the side rise in the Western Conference. Rhode Island’s victory against LouCity, meanwhile, began a run of five wins in six games that moved the side into playoff contention by the start of August.

Now, both teams are in a rhythm that has been hard for opponents to handle this postseason. Rhode Island is on a nine-game undefeated streak that now stretches two months that has included three consecutive victories on the road. It’s a testament to the lessons each has learned in their first season calling the shots after their time as assistant coaches where finding the right balance between enthusiasm and diligence in doing the work that will make the side successful long-term.

“We’re privileged to be in the position that we’re in, coaches, players, staff, everybody,” said Chambers. “It has to be enjoyable. You want to bounce into work, and that’s difficult to do when you're losing, but you’ve got to find a way to try and make it as fun as possible, even when results aren't going your way. That being said, when results are going your way, you’ve got to enjoy it too, but not to the point where you're on such a high that you forget about doing the work. So, it’s always finding the balance.”

“It doesn’t give us the divine right that we just show up and we play at home, and more often than not, we may win,” said Chambers. “I think it's a case of when the game is at home, there’s responsibility from both sides – and I include the fans in this, and I include the players and the staff and the club – where we’re both connected, both intertwined, and we’re both full of energy for each other. That makes this place difficult, and that’s ultimately where I feel like we’ve been really good to get our lift in the fans. That’s what’s helped us and pushed us.”

For Rhode Island, there’s the prospect of equaling two pieces of league history, becoming both the second expansion team to win the Championship Final after Sacramento Republic FC, and the second to win four consecutive road games to win the title after Phoenix Rising FC a season ago.

As each side takes aim at winning its first league title, their coaches are taking it all in stride.

“I think when you get to this part of the season, ultimately things have to go your way too,” said Smith. “There were times in the year where things weren’t going our way. So, ultimately, we just try to control what we can control, and that’s showing up, and that’s being good teammates and being good people and showing up and working hard every single day.”