Case Study: FC Dallas and Homegrown Developement

First thing's first and I think that you have to recognize that Texas, particularly North Texas, is possibly the top breeding ground for soccer talent in the country. There are already established systems of clubs for youth of all stripes, providing access to a HUGE swath of talent to be upwardly integrated through many different avenues. That puts a ridiculous amount of different talent in front of FC Dallas youth scouts. That also begs the question as to why FCD is able to commit to its youth program and why teams in LA and NY have not, because those are the other two soccer hotbeds.

The academy can then begin to teach them FCD-style soccer, which fits the soccer played in the area. It's a decidedly hybrid mix of South American and US-style soccer.

Even the players like Castillo, Barrios, and Diaz were brought in by scouts to be developed into FCD players. FCD is currently the Ajax of MLS...it's a development program that executes its vision well.

 

I have no knowledge of New York, but LA has committed to its youth program. I know there are a lot of differences with Dallas, which is much further along with integrating homegrown players into their first team, but the building blocks are there and getting stronger each year.

 

Also...Pareja is the future of US Soccer.

He should be first on the list for candidates to run the program when it becomes possible.

I'd hate to see him leave FCD (he was our player and coach), but if given the same leeway that JK received, Pareja would have this thing on a permanent trajectory.

 

FC Dallas' commitment to youth far outshines other clubs. Not only do they have the most HGPs but they are also one of the best drafters in the league (Hollingshead, Lloyd, Hedges, Zimmerman, Akindele) and have had the most success with Youth Internationals (Castillo, Diaz)

 

FCD, while Pareja was there, also drafted and developed Brek Shea, who was 17 in his first MLS game.

Another FCD product that nobody really seems to remember: Kyle Beckerman

 

But LA has, and so has NYRB. In fact, this season NYRB has (finally) begun to reap the competitive advantage of its homegrowns. LA... well, they got a bit derailed by the DP situation this season. But continue to follow this space. LA's out in front of most, though the bar has been fairly low.

That said, no one is ahead of Dallas in that regard. And look what we've got right now: two of these sides--Dallas and NYRB--are among the final four alive in the MLS Cup.

 

Thank you for the link. A very interesting article.

I don't know how any of hte other academies are actually run but I found the integration of academics into the program to be extremely significant. The other important factors were the involvement of Pareja, Clavijo and Dallas' A team.

I also found it interesting and enlightening that two "foreigners" were so bullish on american talent. It's one thing for an American who grew up in the US to say we have top youth talent. It is a completely different thing, whether you agree or not, to hear a person that grew up in a foreign country to say we have top youth talent.

 

Pareja is really good at creating a family environment too. Non-soccer related things make an impact. Those things include having family around or welcoming people from other countries who may not speak the language well or know the culture well and providing them with a warm environment.

The result is an environment where growth and development happens. It's not a cold, lifeless environment where children are drilled on skills and then sent into a cold dorm room. There is some semblance of community within the program.

 

I also think that some are more surprised than others that MLS is still mostly designed so that you cannot just cut a check and be better than everyone else, so the expectation is not the same as elsewhere. That might have been obscured by the Galaxy of late, but when you look carefully at their success it is due as much to good decisions made on middle and lower income players as it has been on their stars. They don't just single-handedly win games in the way that a Giovinco sometimes did for TFC.

Buying star DPs, even when they live up to their billing (Keane, Giovinco, Villa) doesn't get you to the top. You can probably buy your way above the middle mostly by making good DP decisions, but actually winning trophies requires having a better 6th or 8th or 10th or 12th best player than your opponents, that's the part the league won't let you buy, and that's two-thirds of the work.

 

It is worth noting this year there were two teams that came reasonably close to breaking that: Giovinco's TFC and Drogba's Montreal. Montreal, of course, beat TFC and were the much more likely to make noise late, it must be said.

That said, the final four this year are the very epitome of what you're referring to.

 

Montreal, not for nothing, was above the red line when Drogba got there, though they obviously got much better after that. They actually had, to my mind, a solid back half of the roster (especially considering that Mapp and their rookie whose name escapes me was hurt), and one difference maker in Piatti. Part of what happened is that not only was the addition a monster player, but as a #9 he fit right into the team's biggest hole.

 

If your contention is that Drogba transformed Montreal from a decent-to-fairly good team into a very good team, then I agree.

Giovinco this year managed to turn TFC into an average side, which history has thus far demonstrated is no small feat. It feels to me that what they'd accomplished this season is pretty close to the limit of what they can ever expect with that approach. If Giovinco should be sidelined for any amount of time, that side will probably be right about the level of where Philly was this season.

 

Yep, I'd say that's about right. They had some solid piano movers desperately looking for one more piano player, and Drogba played it virtuoso.

Also agreed, I think it is the most any single player has ever done for a team. They don't have the kind of piano mover players that Montreal had.

 

Very interesting. Did you also click on the link to the Landon Donovan article where he talks about getting calls and emails from "lots of billionaires" that want to invest in MLS? That's pretty interesting too.

 

I wonder what the idea is there, if there's anything that goes beyond "Hello, I'm Bob, I'm a billionaire, and I want to invest in MLS. Would you like to be on board or do you have any suggestions?"

 

Ajax has been pretty awful for a decade now when it comes to developing talent.

 

Okay.

 

This is a great article. Lots of interesting perspectives why they think it works. There has got to be more that MLS can do to encourage more teams to put the effort in (a number already do) and to incentivize them to play them. It could be either allocation money for minutes of homegrown players under 23 or more blunt like the old NASL rules.

 

Here's what Walker Zimmerman has to say about Oscar Pareja:

 

Without question. When I have time tonight to give a more thoughtful answer, I'll do it. I'd say Dallas-Fort Worth is the 2nd best youth soccer market behind Southern California. [NY/NJ has a little argument, but that's about it.]

First things first. What's undoubtedly true is that the ownership, front office, and coaching staff are all ON BOARD with youth development being a primary means of player acquisition. They all have different reasons for doing it, but they're all on board. It doesn't matter if the coaching staff wants to do it, if the ownership isn't willing to invest. And it doesn't matter how much the ownership/front office invests if the coaching staff doesn't want to use the players.

You see and hear it from the Hunts, Fernando Clavijo, and Oscar Pareja. The quotes from these guys in the article demonstrate that.

Second, I think most clubs in MLS think of their academies and first teams as separate entities. When you follow FCD really closely one of the first things you realize is there's absolutely no wall (physically or figuratively) between the academy teams and the first team. Its all one team. The notion that Oscar Pareja works with the academy clubs so closely that he tries to know the names of all 120 academy players.................says a lot. [It should be noted that those are just the DA teams. FCD has a huge number of kids playing on their non-DA teams.] So when FCD starts 5 homegrown players, the pundits will say "look at all of those academy kids out there"..............however that's not really how FCD thinks of it. There's just one FCD. The academy players train every day with the first team.

One of the lasting images I've had of FCD has been little pre-teen Emerson Hyndman running around first team training with FC Dallas. There's this picture from one of those training sessions of Emo working against a hulking first team player. Bobby Warshaw I think it was. It sort of says it all. I don't think some of the senior players from that era "bought into" it. They do now. They have to buy into it, or they won't be there for very long. Look also at all of the kids in the background of this picture. That's the norm.



I could go on and on about what makes FCD's academy great, but the article does a better job than me. In one two words the answer is.....................Oscar Pareja.

This quote:

“Americans need to believe in Americans,” Dallas coach Oscar Pareja says as he stands in a hallway outside the team’s locker room one day this week. “And it has to be real. We have talent here, we have players who can do it and there are many on the staff who say we are better than many other countries. Is it the future? For sure, but we have to believe that.”

 

Another interesting note about the way that Dallas handles player development...they make sure that the roster is full of players who are good guys.

Blas Perez, Lloyd, Hollingshead, Zimmerman, Michel, Castillo, Barrios...the team is full of guys who are just plain good dudes. They are all competitive, but you can tell that they are together and are good guys. That is the environment that is created at FCD. That's Pareja's creation as well. I'm sure that's there as a development aspect as well.

Pareja is an accessible and humble coach. I, like many FCD game attendees, used to see him at the gates on game day. You'd turn and notice that you are standing next to Oscar.

 

I think the "good dudes" aspect began under Hyndman. He had little tolerance for players who weren't "emotionally mature." Players like Brek Shea and Jackson were constantly in his doghouse. Jackson lied to him about something stupid. I think he went to the dentist and didn't tell the team. Something ridiculous. He was gone shortly thereafter.

Its worth noting that the youth initiative has been more than Pareja. Hyndman also bought in. He just didn't provide as many opportunities with the first team as Pareja has.

I'd also add that what doesn't get talked about as much as player development with FC Dallas is youth coaching development. This is really where the US soccer infrastructure is lagging. FCD's invested a lot in this area compared to other teams. A succession of youth coaches has been advancing there. The most recent has been Luchi Gonzalez. His results with the U15 and U16 teams has been remarkable. They won national championships at both levels last season. I suspect that like Pareja he's going to move up the ladder to a first team MLS job shortly.

The number of youth coaches currently in DFW is thru the absolute roof. Its absolutely shocking. Here's the most recent list:

http://www.fcdallas.com/youth/coach/directory

Another aspect of the FCD academy that's working so well is their expansion to affiliate programs. They don't just have affiliates in West Texas, East Texas, El Paso, Laredo, San Antonio, etc. etc. They bring the best players from these affiliates into the academy structure, and they can advance rapidly. Alejandro Zendejas came from the El Paso affiliate, Coy Craft came from the FCD Tri affiliate in Tennessee. And the coaches at these youth affiliates are also being trained in the "FCD Way" all the time.

A lot of teams have started their affiliate programs up as well. What Kansas City is doing in this area is remarkable. I think the difference for FCD is simply the scouting, talent identification, and then possibilities for advancement.

Of course, the fact that FCD seems reluctant to start a USLPRO team has been much debated. The Hunt's response to questions about this has been confusing to say the least. They seem to be VERY worried about the poaching of academy players by Mexican clubs, which has been a big issue for them. Mexican club and national team scouts hover around Dallas like vultures. [And why wouldn't they?]

 

Excellent read, and very thoughtful discussion.

Here's what I don't get: why aren't more MLS teams trusting in youth to the same extent?

From a results standpoint, the league provides a forgiving 12 out of 20 teams a playoff spot. More so than other leagues, MLS offers the margin of error to develop younger players.

From a budget standpoint, a team can sign unlimited home grown players, two of whom are exempt from the salary cap. This seems like a strong incentive to provide depth across the roster.

If the debate is between a young player and, say, an active CONCACAF-level international, I get it - results do matter. However, if it's between a young player and a journeyman on his fifth team, I'd like to see teams be bolder.

 

I am completely with you, but just to provide some possible theories as to why not all MLS teams go this way:

1) As mentioned before, the DFW area has a lot of talent compared to an area like Colorado.

2) Teams may prefer to get big stars to get the normal sports fan in the seats rather than BS fans like us who see the greatness of homegrown built teams.

3) It would take changing their system from top to bottom and that could take some time and resources.

All in all, I agree with you that all MLS teams SHOULD use this as a gold standard to go after. However, I can see why teams are reluctant.