Review: Technical Director/Manager of Soccer Operations...How's yours?

Discussion in 'MLS: General' started by spot, Dec 12, 2012.

  1. spot

    spot Member+

    Nov 29, 1999
    Centennial
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In the growth of MLS I've watched as the league's players have grown and learned to be professionals, or at least more consistently professional. I've seen the same with coaches, though new blood is still a leap into the unknown.

    The position I can't get a grip on is technical director/director of soccer operations. So I'm asking my fellow MLS fans does your team have one, who is he, how strong of an influence is he, and how does he relate to the coaches?
     
  2. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Paul Bravo for the Rapids. He's (essentially) Pareja's boss. This is a make it or break it season for Bravo, he brought in a number of players on the MLS Cup 2010 team, but Smith's inability to work with Bravo caused Smith to leave and his idea to switch to a 4-3-3 Latin style by bringing in Pareja turned out badly last season. If he can't get Pareja the necessary players and the Rapids have another awful season I don't see how he survives.
     
  3. Allez RSL

    Allez RSL Member+

    Jun 20, 2007
    Home
    RSL doesn't have anyone with that exact title; I suppose Garth Lagerwey (General Manager and Senior VP of Soccer Operations) fulfills the same role though. RSL also has a team president, Bill Manning.

    Lagerwey works very closely with Jason Kreis. While he's technically Kreis's boss, I don't think there's a lot of direction going down the ladder. As far as I understand, Kreis has chosen a team style, maybe together with Lagerwey, and Lagerwey and the scouting staff (Andy Williams) do their best to find players that fit that style and the needs of the team.

    They seem very unified in decision making and direction. For a while on the RSL boards, some fans referred to them together as "Garson," since it seemed like they made every move together. This might be because of their early days together as a new coach and new GM, coming up through the crapfest that was RSL in 2007 together and building something worthwhile out of it.
     
  4. Inca Roads

    Inca Roads Member+

    Nov 22, 2012
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    I think Vermes is both technical director and manager at KC. Though we might have a differently-titled position that he doesn't fill.
     
  5. Kappa74

    Kappa74 Member+

    Feb 2, 2010
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Chris Henderson is Seattle's Technical Director and IMO is doing an outstanding job. Both he and GM Adrian have traveled the planet in search of reasonably priced talent. As you all likely know, Chris spent over a decade in MLS and seems to really know all of its nuances. That the Sounders transitioned so well from USL to MLS is in large measure to the work of our TD.
     
  6. El Naranja

    El Naranja Member+

    Sep 5, 2006
    Alief
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Dominic Kinnear. 'Nuff said.

    Seriously though, Dom handles any and all things soccer-related for the team. Chris Canetti is the money man. Pretty good one-two punch.

    I guess technically we don't have a "Director of Soccer Operations" or anything like that. Dom is the Head Coach and General Manager. If it relates to the players on the field, it's his little kingdom. If it involves money, tickets and advertising, Chris handles that in his fiefdom.

    I think a few other teams use a similar management style as well.
     
  7. Soccergodlss

    Soccergodlss Member+

    Jun 21, 2004
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Kaiserslautern
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't even think Kinnear would want to run a team if he didn't have full control. It definitely has to help when you have the first and last say when trying to implement a specific system.
     
  8. El Naranja

    El Naranja Member+

    Sep 5, 2006
    Alief
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Probably true. Let's hope we never find out and he retires with us. :)
     
  9. chiladd

    chiladd Member+

    Mar 21, 1999
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Chicago no longer has an official titled TD, Frank was before he became coach.I dont think it was working to well for Chicago, some have whispered Klopas sabotaged the coaches while he was TD-so he could get the coach position.I could see this, and could be a problem if you have a hungry TD who believes he can do it all.
     
  10. spot

    spot Member+

    Nov 29, 1999
    Centennial
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks for your posts so far...

    Trolling websites makes it look like each team has a very different approach to their organization.

    Chicago - Coach has control
    Chivas - Kevin Esperaza - ??? - ????
    Colorado - Paul Bravo - over coach - it's his show now
    Columbus - Brian Bliss - ???? - ???
    DC - ????
    FCD - Fernando Clavijo - ??? - ???
    Houston - Dom rules
    Galaxy - Dave Kammarman - DSO -
    Montreal - Matt Jordan/Nick Di Santis? Not sure which
    New England - ??? As GM does Mike Burns fill the role?
    NYRB - Ricardo Campos
    Philadelphia - Coach has both?
    Portland - Gavin?
    RSL - Garth - Team - Good
    SJE - John Doyle -
    Sounders - Henderson -
    SKC - ???
    TFC - deKlerk -
    Vancouver - ???

    Curious how much autonomy each coach has when there's a TD/DSO or whatever.
     
  11. Kappa74

    Kappa74 Member+

    Feb 2, 2010
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    I think in Seattle's case, its a collaborative effort between mostly Sigi, Chris, and Adrian. Chris Henderson is right now in Europe looking at players. Not every possible player of interest need come to Seattle for a trial. The team uses Scout 7 XTheatre, which allows Sigi & Co. to watch every match on planet earth that was televised. It can be edited to include just parts of a match that involves a particular player. Player packages are created and a good deal of armchair analysis can be done without ever meeting a player in person. So I would say that even though Chris does a lot of the leg work, Sigi has his hand in player acquisitions.
     
  12. fuzzx

    fuzzx Member+

    Feb 4, 2012
    Brossard
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Montreal Managment is primarily "Sporting Director" Nick De Santis. He used to play for the team and also used to be the coach, with mixed results.

    He shares much of the key responsibility with owner Joey Saputo, who regularly makes key decisions. Matt Jordan is very much an assistant, and to my knowledge deals more with small time training and scouting decisions.

    This season Santis was in the news for going down to the rooms and getting in an altercation with opposing team staff, really bush league move. I forget the game, I think it was in July.

    He can generally be thought of as a mouthpiece for Saputo, and as such its hard to say how good he is or what his decisions have truly been, but he can be counted on to be a passionate, emotional and sometimes outspoken individual, for what thats worth.
     
  13. aletheist

    aletheist Member+

    Nov 17, 2010
    Olathe, Kansas, USA
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Correct. Vermes became the technical director in late 2006, shortly after OnGoal (now Sporting Club) bought the team. He took over as manager when Curt Onalfo was fired in the middle of the 2009 season.
    I am almost positive that Vermes reports directly to Robb Heineman, the team president, but has near-total control over the soccer aspects of the operation.
    I guess you missed that post above.
     
  14. bunge

    bunge BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 24, 2000
    This would be incorrect. There's a team that's dedicated to "Soccer Operations", not just the coach.

    Javier Leon
    Guillermo Petrei
    Frank Klopas
     
  15. spot

    spot Member+

    Nov 29, 1999
    Centennial
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks for the correction, it's a thought in process...

    I guess the thing I'm trying to take from a vague idea to a real question is this, "on each team who has the control? With DSO's and TD's, I'm wondering what the break down is, and I think it probably ought to be along three choices: coach centric, collaborative, TD/DSO centric...
    From that I'm wonder what works, but it's hard to pin down the teams.

    I also wonder if this is something that ebbs and flows, SJ might be a potential example.
     
  16. bunge

    bunge BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 24, 2000
    With regards to the Fire, who is in control is largely a guarded secret. They say all decisions are a team effort but that means no one can be held responsible for a bad decision.
     

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