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Photo Credit: Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC.
Windsor, CO – On September 15, 2025, Éamon Zayed left Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC. He had been their only Head Coach (and later Sporting Director) to date in their three seasons in USL League One. Zayed has since taken the Head Coach and Sporting Director role at USL1 expansion side Corpus Christi FC.
Zayed was successful in his time at NoCo. They narrowly missed out on the playoffs in their first season despite the adversity of playing in three different home stadiums and the training ground being under construction. Year two, they finish three points off the top of the table and make the semifinal. The following year, they won the Jägermeister Cup.
Éamon deserves his flowers:
They did that while developing players for bigger and better things. Trevor Amann, Bruno Rendon, and Ethan Hoard all did well. Zayed was good at finding talent and great at developing it. He had creative ideas tactically for the level of play. He was professional and a fantastic figurehead. He was gracious and thoughtful in his interactions with media.
He had some real zingers too. I’ll never forget that time he said they lost to Union Omaha because “they run their balls off,” and then he told me I had to use that quote in my recap.
I’m surprised Zayed didn’t get a job in the USL Championship. Another expansion USL1 team is still a good fit for him and he’ll do well there. His signature Irish sweaters might have to be away attire only given the Texas heat. He’ll do well. He will be missed in Colorado.
They achieved all this despite the noise of Future Legends’ financial and legal trouble. The USL terminated the club’s franchise agreement. There was a report that the league had been paying the players because the club wasn’t. There was a bankruptcy. Denver based insolvency advisory firm Cordes & Company were named as the receiver. A year later, we still don’t know what will happen. Maintenance and operations have waned.
What’s next for Northern Colorado: More Uncertainty
For the summer of 2025, Hailstorm competed in the League For Clubs (TLfC). It was basically a speed run summer league for high school graduates and college underclassmen at lower levels of college soccer. It was better than folding. Zayed stuck around for that but then resigned (perhaps mutually parted ways) in September. His assistant Colin Falvey was promoted.
Hailstorm then fittingly joined NISA, the National Independent Soccer Association. NISA’s been known as the other independent soccer league always a year away from launching and being amazing. I remember Jeff Reuter once joking it was more of a lifestyle brand than a league that actually plays games.
NoCo played in the fall NISA Pro Cup. Made the semifinals and lost to the eventual champion. Most of their roster was kids from smaller college programs or off the beaten path in Europe. Their NISA and TLfC rosters would not compete with their USL1 squads.
NISA has stated they intend to play a full schedule in 2026 after using 2025 to reset the league and its member clubs. That said, it’s now mid-January. Their most recent Twitter post is from September. Their only website post since the fall tournament final is a Happy New Year graphic. If they’re going to be more than a semi-pro league for offseason college players, there needs to be news soon.
If that’s all Hailstorm become, it’s better than folding. Assuming the Future Legends Complex doesn’t get re-poed and condemned. There’s a wold in which there’s no soccer club or baseball team operating out of there and it’s just a community asset. I would consider that a win for Windsor at this point.
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