https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/how-they-rank:-the-best-mls-academies_aid41352 Just in case you weren't aware...
That ranking is about right. However, folks are celebrating that the 2017 Dynamo is being voted "Most Improved Roster" and "Miss Congeniality".
Let's face the truth and call it like it is.....James Clarkson is a nice guy but has done an absolutely terrible job in developing the academy at the Dynamo. It is amazing how you can produce absolutely nothing and hold on to your job for so long. The Dynamo have been claiming Tyler Deric as an academy product when he only played the last two years of high school eligibility there. Give credit to Texans SC for that one. Without going into great detail and divulge all my sources, but back in the days when Oliver Luck was running the ship, the quick start-up plan was go get the best guy out of STYSA and hire him to run the academy. After all he would know where the talent lies and he knows the coaches right ? WRONG !! If anything and still present today, the coaching staff of the academy is littered with the "buddy system and leftovers/cast offs from local select clubs ( SJ to name the guy most over his head in responsibility). Although Clarkson has not been fired but "re-assigned" to run the new PDL team out of College Station, his trail of tears remains in the organization. Why has FC Dallas' academy done so well ? Commitment & vision. In a personal conversation I had with Fernando Clavijo ( TD at FC Dallas), he clearly stated to me when comparing their program vs Dynamo, FC Dallas chose to spend the money & go hire the best coaches available making it very clear to them your mission is to develop the talent bedrock for the FC Dallas first team. You are not taking this job as a stepping stone towards a coaching position on the first team. Period, end of discussion Riddle me this Batman, is this what the Houston Dynamo have chosen to do or even think about doing ? If the Dynamo ship could ever be righted, it starts with Chris C doing a thorough house cleaning & rebuild of the academy directorship and coaching staff. There is so much talent available here in Houston ( just go to Bear Creek park or another inner city park) and just look at what the Dynamo are missing.
@Fly on the Wall, seems like you're coming from a fairly informed / involved place, thanks for the commentary. The are 2 things that truly disappoint me about the Dynamo organization. The first is the poor job management has done getting a true culture built (not Canetti's "Dynamo Way" bs). The second is the academy. For the organization to just now be owning up to the academy being critical tells you everything you need to know. Maybe one day they'll understand fan engagement & not the Mickey Mouse stuff they keep pumping out. This, for me, mainly speaks to the corporate / spreadsheet nature the team has been run that we've all talked about. I'm sure it's hard to put a solid NPV on spending related to player & fan development. It didn't show that it made money on a spreadsheet so they were caught flat footed when Dallas started cranking out first team players. We're now a decade behind with a continued lack of commitment to the academy.
The spreadsheet argument is myopically expense obsessed and not dynamic accounting. What about, an improved team sells more tickets per game and stays in competitions longer and qualifies for new competitions and is more attractive for friendlies? That would be added revenue. Or is the only financial line we care about expenses? Similarly, if once in a while the academy produced a starter of the quality that could be traded or sold abroad, then, voila, you have created your own asset. How much did we get for Cameron? There are teams like Ajax that have this as their business plan. Make em, compete with em, sell em, replace em with the next class. Also, if we are talking expense, how about the fact that since we produce no one right now, we have to go pay market value in purchase/ loan/ trade? Is that not added expense? We have PRed the heck out of our spending spree but the acquisition costs matter for the bottom line and the cap. It's one thing if you buy a couple people, it's another if you have to buy/ borrow/trade for half a team in one form or another. NSTAFL.
Far as the facts as opposed to the money is concerned, the situation relative to Texans SC is not new. The failure to produce first team players is not new and getting worse. I blame Clarkson for not doing his job, but not unlike the rest, I blame the FO for letting it go on this way, as well. All due respect to resources arguments, but at a basic level with players in hand, it's a coach, a whistle, and a bag of balls. He's handed dozens of players. They get to go to places like Dallas Cup that not everyone gets. They get to play in the developmental league that traditional clubs have to earn. If he can't make much out of people he's handed for years, it's his problem. Like I said the other day, Texans SC finishes above us in U18 league. That makes clear there is more competitive talent out there we are not getting and/or that we can't make good enough players to compete. I do wonder if (a) the coaches are picked well, (b) the coaches are paid enough, or (c) what else is going on. If Texans SC remains better that suggests the high quality local player still sees the better path going through club and college. That may reflect our lack of first team use of HGP. That may reflect our general lack of success. That may reflect people feeling like the coaches don't help them improve. That may reflect a lack of college connections and help. This part I don't know the answers to, but for some reason people see Texans SC as offering either better coaching or better college/pro chances. You'd really have to ask kids in the age group and their parents to understand. Also, at least one thing to ponder at the first team and academy level is the notion that success breed success. In club and college my experience is people gravitate to historical winners. You break that up and become your own magnet by winning. I played for a no-name club team that competed for state every year. We were a one-off but were as attractive as the Texans because we played hard, were well coached, and succeeded. That created its own momentum where we could bolster every offseason with new players. Talk is cheap. People want to see HGP playing for the first team, people getting signed every year, people getting in strong colleges, the academy teams doing well in leagues and tournaments. As with the first team, you can't mission statement your way into attractiveness.
Last thought, one reason this organization bothers me is we seem very good at going through the motions and xeroxing other teams' practices but poor at results and seem confused that merely xeroxing practices does not translate. Said it about 20x but what needs to happen is a focus not just mirroring what other teams have but excelling in some phases of the process. Drafting well. Developing HGP well. Succeeding with RGV. Scouting abroad. Trading within MLS. Getting the right allocation players. Handling cap well. Anyone can open an academy and yack about it. Try doing it well. Doing one or more of these well may involve spending somewhat more money. But if you win you should make it back and then some. My concern is I see little concerted effort to change our effectiveness in any phase. But the idea we can just go through the organizational motions and not spend money and try to win through pluck ought to be about 3 years' disproven by now. Time to try some other approaches. If they care. Otherwise just clock in clock out and do the same thing everyone else does with less effectiveness and we'll see if a darned thing changes.
Interesting that FCD academy coach was not to be a stepping-stone to coaching the first team but that is exactly what happened in Frisco. And Clarkson was never considered for first team coaching with the Dynamo. FCD academy is clearly performing much better than Dynamo academy. But it can't actually be for the reason above that was given. The comment about lack of financial commitment to make the academy a short-term cost with whatever money is necessary to secure best coaches -- accepting a long-term ROI -- now that seems like our Dynamo.
Although I have been fortunate to have be engaged in local youth soccer for many years ( went through the whole academy BS as a parent and club officer, college recruiting of my son, etc), I have some close friends who have worked for the Dynamo so I have been privileged to meet some decision makers over the years and ask some questions the normal guy on the street may not get an opportunity to do. Let me say this and let's be clear. The Dynamo FO has a mandate and yearly financial target to pay down debt on the stadium at an accelerated rate. Do not expect the flood gates of funds to open up and turn the academy program around by hiring " the best trainers available". Majority of the staff will be part timers so actually they are no better than the local select clubs ( Texans, Rush, Albion). We are only dreaming if we think short term Dynamo will go the route of Vancouver FC and build an actual facility to house and educate players like in Europe. Got to cut the whole MLS some slack as they are playing catch up to academy programs abroad but many MLS teams are not waiting around to start the process. FC Dallas has figured out a way to make huge in-roads into the deep talent pool in the MetroPlex. Meanwhile in Houston, we ask kids to drive 1-1.5 hours across town 3-4 nights a week to HASP for free training ( that is if the parents or player even has transportation). Yeah... you get some free Dynamo gear but the training is marginal and yes, the Dynamo academy lose on a repeated basis to the "pay to play" clubs. The select clubs always have the line. Don't worry Mr and Mrs Doe, little Johnny is a stud and he will not play. As for the Dynamo, don't think all the travel for the Dynamo is free. Players have skin in the game financially but elsewhere other MLS clubs foot the bill for the academy. Meanwhile back home the local select clubs in the academy program feast on the poor game performance and "re-cycled" trainers working for the Dynamo. And on and on it goes.
Nice post, except that house cleaning should be done at a higher level. It should start with the owners doing a thorough house cleaning.
Been saying this for years as well. Spot on. Yup! I agree. Again, spot on. From that Top Drawer article: On Vancouver mindset: Visit just about any European academy, and host families near the stadium for the most highly regarded prospects are a constant. That allows top tier players the ability to sink into the academy without prohibitively long commutes (one European academy head once told me it becomes negative value when the time in the car is longer than time on the field). Vancouver was a trailblazer in this regard in MLS, and it remains the best and most effective host family system in MLS. On TFC: One might expect Toronto FC GM Tim Bezbatchenko to spend much of his time touting the senior team signings the club made to reverse history and push TFC to the brink of the 2016 MLS Cup title. But in a chat with me last year, he spent more time lavishing the academy structure. The club’s academy players train in the same palatial facilities as the first team, and its youth coaching staff is perhaps the most underrated group in the league. On Utah and specifically spending the investment coin on youth development: As good as that system was, its progress always felt capped operating so far from club HQ in Utah, and that’s soon to change with $50 million training complex just miles from Rio Tinto Stadium. RSL’s current academy structure is already hard to touch (watch an RSL academy team play and you’ll know joy). It might just be about to jump into a new stratosphere. On LAG and what AEG has done in their market: and they were the first to integrate a high school program into the academy structure to streamline scheduling. But there’s an argument that FCD stole some of the Galaxy’s thunder the last few years, and they’re no longer the lead dog in terms of top-to-bottom academy talent. That said, the Galaxy’s coaching staff is second to none, the teams generally engender a fluid pass-and-move style and it continues to move Homegrowns through a USL pipeline that just produced its new senior team head coach. In many ways, this is the model. On new kids in MLS Atlanta: folding the Georgia United academy into its ranks was the biggest coup in DA history, and their in-progress training center will dwarf anything their competitors can currently muster. The true value, though, was keeping GU coach Tony Annan and moving their U16 and U18 teams over as seamlessly as possible. Now, Atlanta United is atop its division at both age groups and has one of the most promising pipelines to the first team already. This offseason, Atlanta United GM Carlos Bocanegra noted a handful of academy players will train with the first team this preseason. As a note, in six months Atlanta United’s already signed as many Homegrowns as San Jose has in a decade (and both are USYNT mainstays). Finally, on FC Southern Oklahoma and their plan: FCD went into academy overdrive this offseason, reeling in an unprecedented 18th Homegrown signing. Not all panned out (the nature of the beast), but arguably nobody on the continent has a more holistic approach to its own development pipeline. FCD doesn’t just pay lip service to their talent pool. They play them early, often and at every level. The question isn’t so much whether anyone is currently challenging FCD. In truth the club is in a class of its own at the moment, even though it could desperately use a USL team to house all these Homegrowns in the interim. The broader question is who can match the pace. Because right now FCD is setting it.
This has been speculated before but never confirmed. Whenever they do that Forbes team value study the Dynamo rank very high but they don't include the stadium debt or annual debt service in that calculation. It does generally jive with the cheap signs we see from this club.
Let's just say this ......over the coarse of having a beer with some of the Dynamo FO staff, the discussion of revenue and debt service was discussed with me These discussions came with decision makers not minions out of the marketing staff. Guess my role in local Houston youth soccer has opened some doors and led to some very insightful discussions. At the end of the day, the Dynamo are slave to two masters - ownership and the paying customer. The owner wants return an accelerated return on his money ( attack the debt service, multiple back to back events that damage the field turf, constant revolving line-up of sponsors ) and the fans want a winner . A solid and long term commitment to the academy program will satisfy both. It will not only help capture more homegrown , cheaper talent but will provide a foundation for winning and connection to the local HOUSTON market. The Dynamo have make a decision on the academy program quickly as the train is leaving the station and we will be left way, way behind.
Again, thanks for posting and sharing your views. I still don't think it's all about money, it's also about COMPETENCE. We may have limited funds, but if all we are concentrating is on paying down debt, then we end up with stupid "star wars nights" and "bring your iguana to the game" events. We need competent people in charge, smart people with strategic vision, and I don't think we have that.
The dictates of ownership are fair enough but that doesn't excuse poor performance. Their competition is club soccer. They are getting enough money to compete with club teams in competitions around the country and the world. Dallas Cup. Youth development league. etc. They may not have the money we'd like to see but all that traveling they must have some, and probably equivalent at least to a decent club team. So spare me. Does Texans SC have a residence? Really. It's a roll out the ball and yell at them coaching sport. Quit acting like someone paid poorly can't coach. My dad had multiple varsity high school players off my sister's rec team. My friend and I coached the kids in our specialties and he motivated. He was not being paid. Being paid well has only so much to do with training up good soccer players. It might make it hard to get the best talent but Dallas hires HS coaches and club coaches, it couldn't be that expensive. This is like arguing you can't have cheap players who play well (yes, Soto and Miranda were cheap....so was Cameron). The chances go up with a budget, but having a money crunch doesn't excuse leaving Clarkson in his spot sucking for years. You can try other coaches on a budget. It's one thing to argue we are fighting uphill. Another to refuse to acknowledge we seem to have quit fighting much, period. You can fire a coach who is not paid much for failure to perform, hire another one, see if he's any better. I mean, best I can tell, there are literally no HGP this season, how is this working in even a competent fashion. Also, while in my ideal world we have a residential school to do justice to the players and not make them drive all over town every day, it's not a basic required condition. The comparison again would be not to the rich clubs but people like Dallas probably also doing this on a shoe string. So anecdotes about how we can't afford to be Vancouver don't explain why we aren't even good within the budget set. Last, if the goal is paying off stadium debt and/or buyin debt I want promises ownership is not going to sell us right back away and re-start that whole process with a new owner who wants his LBO paid off.
One of the main issues with American soccer is that the youth coaches are not up to the task. There are some great coaches out there that can train on par with their counterparts around the globe, but there are far too many soccer coaches that do not understand the game. Too many coaches, even at the elite level put winning games for parents above fundamental development. They also put size, and athleticism above touch and vision. Youth coaches are vital, but too often overlooked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fan-owned_sports_teams http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesp...leases-2016-mls-team-valuations/#4c1ef545ad17 $215 Mill * 51% / $100 = ~1.1 Million Shares Problem solved. Let's find a few hundred thousand fans.
I actually for a couple years paid the 10-15 quid to be a Swansea supporters' club member because I decided I wanted to support fan-owned soccer. They own (owned???) 20% of Swansea. But they have abandoned the slick style, taken on American owners, and I felt like the USA got treated horribly when they had the ownership change and management change. I didn't re-up for this season because I felt like they treated Americans like garbage. In some specific senses, neither here nor there, but I liked the general idea of "owning" it. And that's a cheaper version than many of the other fan-owned teams that cost $100s a year. What you don't escape is player acquisition costs and how this is not necessarily made to be a constantly self-sufficient business. You end up either having to have significant membership fees per year, or to have capital calls which no one wants to see, or go broke like Ebbsfleet, which I considered buying into when they did that stunt. I would be interested but the reality of pure crowdfunding seems harsh, it would need to be more of a Swansea model, people with actual money own a lot and can pay bigger chunks towards finance needs, we pitch in annually. Fans are not going to want to pay $500-1000 a year before tickets to fund acquisitions together. You look at the ones that failed, people thought they would pay their entry fee and be done, but not enough will buy to create big enough a pool, and then you want to buy Player X, and he costs a half million in salary and another half million in transfer fee. That's a million to crowdfund without even talking about other operating costs. This is not to say I am happy sitting here on my hands watching our ownership half a$$ this. But you're still talking serious money to change that structure.
FC Dallas Youth program fact sheet: 10,000 players have attended camps since 2006 2,603 current FC Dallas players in affilliate programs El Paso TRI West Texas Emerald Coast Texoma RGV Laredo Alamo Monterrey Costa Rica 225 players in FC Dallas yourh college prep program from 2015 and 206 classes who went to college (for soccer presumably) 17 Academy players who have signed MLS contracts since 2009 5 homegrown FCD players on the field at the same time in an MLS game 2015 2016 national championships U16 and U18 USSDA, two other national championships since 2012 how does this compare to the Dynamo academy?
Think somebody could present or shove these FC Dallas figures across the desk to Canetti or Brenner ? Either they are ignorant to these numbers and listen to Clarkson's rhetoric or are they in denial altogether and can't figure out how to make a change ? If Tyler Deric is all we have to show for 10 years of academy development then it all has been one bad joke.
It's finally gotten to the point where the academies are affecting 1st team MLS roster decisions on a major level - look at LA trading guys and RBNY trading Dax, both teams have HGPs that they feel can step up and allowed them to make those deals. Dynamo has NONE of those assets in their system to backfill the roster.