The Carolina RailHawks season ended a little more than a week ago after their 3-0 quarterfinal loss on aggregate to Seattle.

By and large, it was a very good season for the USL First Division expansion franchise, which finished 8-12-8 in the league and reached the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

To put the finishing touches on the season that was, I sat down with Chris Economides, the team’s president and general manager, last Friday morning for a question-and-answer session.

We touched on a range of topics, including his impression of the first season, the U.S. Open Cup, the recent addition of the women’s team to the RailHawks organization, possible, future MLS promotion, plans for the offseason and lots more.

Below is the complete transcript (edited slightly for syntax and clarity). If you want to listen to the interview (it’s about 35 minutes long), check back Thursday. We had some minor glitches trying to get it posted online, and the man who knows how to fix such glitches won’t return to the office until Thursday.

Enjoy.

CANDON: How would you say your first season went on the field? You made the playoffs and the semifinals of the Open Cup. Could you have asked for more?

ECONOMIDES: I, personally, have always set the bar very, very high. I won’t keep using Rochester as the analogy, but if you look at what we accomplished there in a very short time frame, there’s a very high bar that’s set. Having said that, it’s a different day and age. It’s not apples to apples. To answer your question, yeah, I was very, very pleased with assembling a whole new team, a whole new roster. Each season, there are two goals. One is for the U.S. Open Cup. Then there’s, obviously, the USL championship.

I couldn’t have asked for more as the Open Cup played out. If you look at our last game, [a 2-1 overtime loss to New England] I’ve never been prouder of a team. To battle the top team, or one of the top two teams in MLS, and to be a man down and still playing as hard they did, I mean. If you look at that, it’s a tremendous accomplishment. What’s a little frustrating is people don’t really comprehend or realize what it means to reach the semifinals of a tournament that’s as prestigious as that. That was a little bit disheartening, from an overall understanding. But in time, that will come.

And the goal is always to make the [USL-1] playoffs. And we accomplished those goals. If you look at the team we lost to, we’ll see in about 48 hours and then a week, but I think they’re the best team in the league. There’s certainly no disgrace or shame losing to the Seattle Sounders.

To answer your question in a very long winded answer, yeah, I was very pleased. I was very pleased with the end results. We obviously have some work to do in the offseason. We’ve already started the process. I’m trying to fine tune. It’s not where we were a year ago with zero players and nothing to build on. I think we’ve got a great nucleus of guys and leaders to build on for next year. But we’ve got some work to do in the offseason.

CANDON: What about off the field in terms of fan support, community support, sponsorship-wise? It seems like you did a great job there.

ECONOMIDES: Yeah. We averaged over 5,000 fan a game for our league games, which is tremendous. Just as we did or do on the field, we have to tweak. We’ve done a great job to assemble some quality, key positions within the organization now. I think we did very well, considering we weren’t hitting on all cylinders from a front office perspective. Overall, I’m very, very pleased with the 5,000 fans per game, sponsorships were very good. We expect much bigger and much better things for the ’08 season. I think people actually know about the RailHawks now. It’s a process. That’s been one of the challenges down here, to get the name out there and get good media coverage. It’s coming. You point to some of the marquee franchises in the league — Montreal, Rochester — one of the key elements they both have is tremendous media coverage. But it’s sort of the chicken and the egg theory. You’ve got to prove yourself first, and then the media will soon follow. Tremendous strides, but we’ve still got a ways to go.

CANDON: Going back into the season a little bit, could you have scripted a better start than that first game? Six-thousand people in the stands. You came off a winless preseason. And Kupono Low scores perhaps the prettiest goal you scored all season eight minutes into the game.

ECONOMIDES: Yeah, and then reality set back in. That first game was a microcosm. In hindsight, if you look back at that first game, we dominated play. We had numerous chances. We’ve got teams on the ropes, we just can’t finish. Teams come down and score a goal, and we walk away with a tie. … It was a beautiful night. The weather was perfect. With the kids, the balloons, Kupono scores in the first eight minutes. Hey, we’re going to win a championship! Certain things went through my mind at that point in time. But this is a grueling, six-month season. … It was a magical start.

CANDON: We’ve never actually talked about this, but I’ve heard that you love the Open Cup. Where does your passion for this tournament that is fantastic and unfortunately not a lot of people share the same passion as you. Tell me about why you care so much about the Open Cup.

ECONOMIDES: I think it’s a great tournament. It’s a great format. It gives everybody a shot at the diamond ring. … That’s the beauty of the tournament. Some of the success we had in Rochester [the Rhinos won the 1999 Open Cup and reached the final in 1996], who fully comprehended the accomplishments there, that obviously raised my own awareness for that. It literally gives you the title of the best team in America. You’re playing everybody. It’s not just MLS. The Rhinos proved in 1999 that we were the best team in America. We beat five MLS teams. You can say that some of the MLS teams don’t care about it; don’t take it seriously. But no. Anytime you’ve got a grand prize of $100,000, when you have a great man like Lamar Hunt’s name on that trophy, they’re going to play for that thing. My personal passion lies in its chance. I give a baseball analogy. It allows for the Durham Bulls to play the New York Yankees in a meaningful game. I just love that concept.

CANDON: Why isn’t it more popular? Personally, I think it’s just a matter of money. Take for example when they launched SuperLiga this summer, it had a million dollar payout. Everybody was all for it. The Open Cup is only $100,000. That’s still a lot of money. Does money play a role in the Open Cup’s popularity?

ECONOMIDES: I think money, perception of it. I think the MLS teams are honestly in a no-win situation. If they beat the USL teams, they’re supposed to. When they lose, ‘Aw well, we don’t care.’ That’s BS. Do some of the teams put as much emphasis in it as they should? No. But I think that’s the perception it’s created. It’s up to U.S. Soccer, who sort of forces MLS’ hand to play in it. Look how popular the FA Cup is in England. It’s the exact same concept. I don’t understand why it’s not on the same level. I can tell you from the lower teams’ perceptions, it is.

CANDON: Just going back into the final week of the season. It looks like you need to win all four. You get a little help from other places around the league. You have to play four games in four cities in seven days. You take a tough loss here against Portland. You go up to New England and play your hearts out and take a tough result there. You go to Minnesota and have an atrocious night all around. And then you go to California with your season on the line and you get into the playoffs. What was it like for you that week?

ECONOMIDES: It was a roller coaster. Start here with Portland. You want to win. I want to go out to California and see some family and relax. You lose to Portland. But Miami comes back the next day and beats Charleston in stoppage time. You know what? Maybe this is meant to be. All the other things that had to happen for us, happened. I mean everything. Everything was falling into place except for us taking care of our own business. So we start of with Portland. And then we got into New England. To play 120 minutes and come away with nothing, I knew it was going to be tough to rejuvenate. When you factor that in with all the travel we had to make, the quarter to three in the morning bus. And then the bus breaks down. We bus two hours to Newburgh (N.Y.) Airport. I don’t even know where the hell that is. We’ve got a 5 a.m. flight. We go from New York to Atlanta to Minneapolis. As proud as I was of the guys in New England — they gave everything. Their hearts were left on the field. They’re human. They go into Minnesota, and O.K., you’re trying to squeeze blood out of a stone. You’re playing before 10,000 fans one day against the Revolution, and then you’re playing in that stadium. Those are all excuses. The score should’ve been 10-0. Honestly. It was really the first time all year long … where the guys just didn’t have it, didn’t bring it, whatever. Then you come back to California. … The guys did things the hard way all year long. Why stop there? They sucked it up. Got a big win out there. California, even at the end, wasn’t anybody’s pushover. They beat some quality teams over the course of the year. You’ve got to give them credit. They won when they had to win. And if you saw the last game against Seattle, if we would’ve played that way here [in the first leg], it could’ve been a whole different series.

CANDON: What did it mean you were finally in the playoffs?

ECONOMIDES: There was a sense of pride; great accomplishment. Now it doesn’t matter whether you’re [seeded] one or eight. There’s eight teams left. Anything can happen. If you look at the first round, honestly, the four results in the first round, I had the exact opposite. I had Rochester beating Atlanta. I had Vancouver beating Portland. I had Montreal beating Puerto Rico. And obviously, I had to say we were going to beat Seattle. Anything can happen. And that’s the beauty of the playoffs. You throw out all the regular season stuff. There’s no home-field advantage with this two-game aggregate. Essentially, you play the whole six months to make the playoffs. It’s a whole new season. That’s how the guys saw it. Ultimately, I think the better team won. Hats off to Seattle. They’d been there all year long. They’re a quality side. There’s very little, if any, weaknesses there. They have depth. They’ve got a great coach in Brian Schmetzer. What should’ve happened, happened. The better team won.

CANDON: Do you realize how fortunate you’ve been with some of the guys that you were able to bring in? Kupono Low, who ends being your team MVP, he’s only available when Virginia Beach collapses at the beginning of the season. Chris McClellan came through two tryouts, signed initially to be the backup. He winds up not only becoming your No. 1 keeper, but one of the best keepers in the league. Matt Maher was drafted by Miami. He decides he wants to finish up school, which makes him a free agent. You guys bring him in, and he plays well. Stuart Brightwell, he scores the goal that essentially puts you into the playoffs. A year ago, he’s playing pub league in England. He’s only in America because a buddy of his who happens to live in the Triangle says, ‘Why don’t you come over and give it a try.’ I know you did your research on these guys, so that’s why I don’t want to call it luck, but did you ever look down your roster and say, ‘My god, how did all these guys come together?’

ECONOMIDES: Some of the guys you mentioned, hats off to the coaching staff. They uncovered these guys. It’s hard work. That’s a microcosm of what we try to teach here. Myself and [coach] Scotty [Schweitzer]. One more Rochester analogy. We won a championship on Saturday night. Partied all day Saturday-Sunday. Get up Monday morning, it’s next year. I was working on my roster. Same thing started here now. We went through some wish lists, pieces of the puzzle we need for next year. To answer your question, you can call it luck, but it’s also hard work. We had the combines. You see a glimmer of talent in somebody, and then it takes hard work. Chris McClellan, his combine was OK. But he worked his butt off. Same thing with [Brightwell]. He was a little, short, pudgy, out-of-shape guy. But he worked his butt off. … But for every four or five guys on that list, we had — I’m not going to say on the record — but we had four or five guys that didn’t. Guys we counted on heavily that didn’t produce, that didn’t live up to their past expectations. That happens in the course of a season.

CANDON: What’s the No. 1 thing you hope to do going into the offseason?

ECONOMIDES: It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out we had problems scoring goals. That’s not just the forwards’ fault. You need the proper build-up. We’re looking for three or four pieces of the puzzle. That’s not to say there aren’t current forwards we’re going to keep. But on our wish list is maybe one more defender, maybe a creative midfielder, maybe a forward or two that can help us score some goals. There may be guys here now that weren’t playing in their proper positions. By us, for instance let’s say we pick up a left back, that’ll free up somebody to go play center of the park and can be that creative midfielder. That may free up someone to go play up top. As you gain one piece, it may clarify another piece of the puzzle.

CANDON: Does the fact you made the playoffs give you a little more cache when you’re pitching to free agents?

ECONOMIDES: Absolutely. I think when you factor everything in, it’s not just how you finish. Factor in this facility [SAS Soccer Park]. I can tell you how many visiting teams came in and were just awed by the surface, by the overall facility. When you factor in who the coach is. Factor in my past. Factor in the quality of the organization. All those things. Players aren’t stupid. And now we’ve got other players that can be our biggest selling point. Call up so and so tell them this is a great place to play. Of they call you, now players can point and say the organization did things properly here. We handled ourselves in a very professional, first-class manner. We travel right. Everybody got paid on time. It was a good, positive experience. When you factor the weather in, with the area. I see nothing but more more positive things in the future because of the way everything has transpired.

CANDON: How easy or difficult is it to address that goal-scoring deficiency?

ECONOMIDES: Let’s be honest, goal scorers don’t grow on trees. You have to be creative, uncover some diamonds in the rough. If there are certain, proven commodities in this league, you always have MLS trying to pick those guys off. ... It’s not going to be an easy process. Again, goal scorers are not a dime a dozen. But, that’s where the hard work, the persistence. We’ll do some more combines this year, and we’ll try to uncover some diamonds in the rough and pursue some proven commodities within the league that are going to be free agents. That’s the beauty of what I just mentioned before comes in to play. Come here, the weather, the organization, the team, the stadium, all those things.

CANDON: If there was any other problem on the field, it was consistency. You could be great one night. For example, the night you played Chicago in the Open Cup. And you could be not so great for the next couple nights, like the rest of July when you were as bad as you could’ve been. How do you hope to address consistency.

ECONOMIDES: From one aspect, it’s the scheduling. If you look at the month of July, we played 11 games in 24, 25 days. But unfortunately, when you throw in the Open Cup and some of the exhibitions … unfortunately at this level, you have to make hay when you can. One way is scheduling. I think we’re going to try and get a little bit of an earlier start next year. We saw our crowds in April were good. So we might do a week earlier and spread the games out more. And one way to better combat [inconsistency] is to have better depth. That means signing better players so Scotty’s got more of a selection. Maybe we weren’t as deep as some of the other teams. Look at Montreal. Montreal could probably field an A, B and a C team. Rochester’s got tremendous depth. Seattle’s got tremendous depth. All those factors can play in to have a more consistent feel throughout the year.

CANDON: Two days ago, you announced the formation of the RailHawks Women. What impact do you expect that to have franchise-wide?

ECONOMIDES: I’m thrilled about the women’s team. My main prerequisite when I went to my partners and the entire organization, if we do this, the ladies can’t be treated as the red-headed stepchild. They’re going to be on the same par as the men’s team [and] treated the same way [and] perceived that way. Especially in this market. If you look at the history of this market, it’s a tremendous women’s market. The Courage did phenomenally well. The Raleigh Wings before them did very, very well. I think it’ll be a huge asset to the organization. It’ll help tremendously with our notoriety; getting the word out there. It’s going to open up a whole new facet of bringing women to our games. I see the women’s team as an extremely positive thing. What our goal was here, long-term, is to bring soccer to the Triangle region. We did it with the men. They’re off to a good start. And now the bar’s going to be set very, very high.

From an on-the-field standpoint, we’re going to be tremendous. Jay Howell [the women's team's coach] brings a wealth of many years of knowledge to the area. Great coaching resume. He’s got some tremendous coaching contacts. I see that as being a tremendous help in all aspects of the organization.

CANDON: Do you hope to promote more the PDL team?

ECONOMIDES: Yes. Hindsight being 20/20, maybe we bit off a little more than we could chew last year. All those three things that are within our scope now, I want to have the proper focus. The PDL team can be a tremendous feeder system. Part of the entire, internal RailHawks pyramid. We, as an organization, have to pay much more attention to detail with the PDL team and bring them up to the level that deserves also. We didn’t do a good job at all last year. But it was sort of a last minute thing. It wasn’t properly thought out. Now we’ve got a year under our belts. We’ve had some success with the men’s team. It takes time.

CANDON: The way you guys marketed to Latinos. Obviously, the Chivas match and the Cruz Azul match were predominately Hispanic crowds. Do you hope to try and get more Latinos to come out for the league games?

ECONOMIDES: Absolutely. I think we made tremendous strides in our first year. Brian Wellman [Carolina’s assistant general manager] did a great job with the Cruz Azul game. That’s a huge demographic that we need to encompass here, that we need to gain the respect. It brings a smile to my face from both those matches. From the Hispanic crowd that was here, at the very least, we gained the respect. We’re not some Sunday morning, gringo, beer league. It’s quality soccer. We beat Chivas. And anybody that’s got any salt of soccer in them knows that we should’ve beat Cruz Azul. We were definitely the better team. Barring some horrendous officials’ calls, we should’ve won that game. As the fans left that night, I got a great story from the guys who sell merchandise. After the night we beat Chivas, these guys, a group of Hispanic fans, came in wearing Chivas jerseys. After the game, they bought all the merchandise he had left and were cheering for the RailHawks. That’s the sort of thing that puts a smile to my face. We have to embrace the Hispanic market here. All we ask for is a chance. We want to get some more Hispanic players on our roster next year. That’s one of my goals during the offseason, to bring in a marquee name from Honduras or Mexico, or whatever. Not somebody that’s just going to be a figure piece, but they can help on the field also. That’s definitely a demographic we’ve made strides on, but we have to embrace more.

CANDON: One of the few complaints I heard was the in-game atmosphere. I wrote about it. And I made the point I’m not a businessman. You are. You know what you’re doing. Tell me about game production and why there is things, for example, lots of in-game promotions, music at times, a PA announcer telling us there’s throw-ins, corner kicks, whatever. There’s obviously a reason for it, and you guys know what you’re doing, but for those of us who don’t get it …

ECONOMIDES: If I had 7,000 purists coming to my games, you wouldn’t see any of those. Unfortunately, in this country and in this market, we’re not at the point where we’ve got 7,000 purists coming to our games all the time. So you have to try and make it more of an event, that it is just a game itself. Having said that, we tried to tweak some of our in-game promotions, a little less music, a little less of the PAs. But then it comes back to dollars and cents. You have certain sponsors, and that’s part of their thing. And they pay the bills. We do have some limitations in our abilities. There’s no video scoreboard. PAs will always be there. But when you look at some of the in-games, some of the fun stuff, there’s a line there. The best way I can answer it is we have to make it an event. Unfortunately, the sport is not at the level in this country where just the sport is going to sell itself. We had some success in other markets doing that. I don’t think it was that much of a circus atmosphere. We tried bands earlier on. We had fireworks. Some of the T-shirt tosses. It’s done at a lot of levels in sports. I don’t think soccer should be excluded from that.

CANDON: Several years ago, Rochester was rumored to be a target for Major League Soccer. It didn’t happen for whatever reasons. Is that something that, if things continue to progress well, and support here is for it, say five, 10 years down the road, is that something you guys have given a thought to?

ECONOMIDES: Absolutely. If we try and grow the USL First Division to a rival league or be it through MLS. If we continue to do the good things down here, consistently pack the stadium and build as an organization, you always want to strive to be at the highest possible level. We make no bones about it. We’ve spoken about it. We haven’t made any formal contacts, but we’re a second-year franchise now. If good things continue to happen … There’s no better market, from my perspective, in the country. I think this market is proven from a collegiate standpoint, from the [NHL’s Carolina] Hurricanes’ standpoint, that this is a major league market. There’s no reason why if things continue on a very positive track, and if we keep doing the right things … there’s no reason why we can’t explore any or all of those options.

CANDON: What are some of the other plans for the offseason? Any plans for tryouts, combines, things like that?

ECONOMIDES: Scotty and myself and Brian are going to sit down. We did a combine, or tryouts, sometime in December. We’ll probably do something similar again. We did the invitee combine prior to training camp this past year. We’ll probably do the same thing again. We found two, three players out of those combines. We’re probably looking at opening camp the first part of March next year. We’re looking do maybe some offseason exhibitions.Those are some of the things we’re looking at.

CANDON: Going into the [2008] season, do you feel you need to get results and be strong early. There was a lot of newness this season. A lot of folks were coming out just to see what was going on. Now the newness going into year two might have worn off. In order for people to keep coming, they’re going to want to see better results.

ECONOMIDES: It’s a long season. I think it’s imperative we get off to a quick start next year. We’ve got to play a more entertaining style of soccer. Let’s be honest, people want scoring. If we had 7,000 purists that saw the beauty of a 0-0 tie, that’s great. That makes my job easy. But I think we’re going to have set the bar even higher for our second year. Entertaining soccer, a bit more scoring, maybe winning some more games at home. You’re absolutely right.