USL Announces Executive Changes ( a ) Surprised it took him so long ( b ) Any reasons would be speculative ( c ) New guy has been in the organization since June 2013 and Exec. VP since last year. ( d ) CEO hired his son. ( e ) USL is definitely going to be different going forward.
Honestly, I find this disconcerting. I was really pleased with the direction the USL was heading, and I credited Holt with much of that (rightly or wrongly). And now they're hiring buddies and family members. That just doesn't bode well. But it'd be just like the USL of old to fcuk up a good thing. I'll be really pissed if that league returns to its old, stupid ways.
Those who have been closer to it than most know that he deserves much credit for what has gone down over the last 16 years. Not everything worked and he has become shorthand in places for USL's problems, but that's not completely fair, either.
I definitely separate the pre-2010 USL from the post-2010 USL. Roughly, anyway - there was a transition year or two in there. While I know about his reputation pre-2010 (and I know it wasn't always the best), I've also seen what's been happening under his leadership since then, and that, to me, looks great. So, yeah, it's hard to know what this really signifies or entails. But I'm always defending the USL against charges of instability. That was the old USL. Things are different now. Then Tim Holt suddenly resigns ... and ... well ... you wonder.
I know nothing about the guy who is replacing him. Perhaps he's good. I have no idea. But 16 years is a long time to spend in one place in this country. And a lot of things have changed since 1999. They're certainly more stable and have certainly done most (not all) things better than in the Marcos Era. (The landscape has changed around them as well.) We'll see, I guess.
Jake Edwards is a former Charleston Battery player. He is a good guy and I got to know him while he was here in Charleston. I spoke to him up in Philly this year at the NSCAA convention. We had a good laugh about our lack of hair compared to what we used to have. He and Holt seem to have the same vision and philosophy about where the USL is headed and its path.
Why do you say that? Think he was just done. Accomplished what he wanted and all that or just tired out?
It would not surprise me in the least that he just reached the end, like you say. Anyone who tries to paint it as anything other than just the natural cycle of life and work would be, I think, reading stuff into it that isn't there. 16 years is a long time to work anywhere. And a LOT has happened in those 16 years. Anyone who does anything for that long would be well within norms to think about what's next. That's all I meant. Someone said "It was his idea to leave." To which I said, "Which would not surprise me in the least."
Fair enough. I mean that was what I read into it when he left, that it was just time. I'd have tired of my job almost a decade earlier if I were him. And at this point he's leaving USL in a fairly stable and successful place after the turbulence of the last decade. It seems a natural jumping off point if you're in his shoes.
Well, it sure wasn't boring at several points along the way. The years 1999-2005 were pretty turbulent, and then in 2009 the shit hit the fan. But having seen the dynamic there, I'd have been gone a long time ago. That's just me. That's why I originally said I was surprised it took so long.
Well, we just found out where he went. Orlando City just hired Holt to their front office. He's going to be VP of Development.
Commissioner to VP of Development for a single team... Not seeing how that makes sense but if he's happy, more power to him.
( a ) He wasn't Commissioner, because that title didn't exist. (And in any case, he didn't really act as a "commissioner" as we normally think of the Rozelle/Selig/Goodell type commissioner.) and ( b ) Of course you don't see how it makes sense. Because you don't know the dynamic.