It鈥檚 rare for Minnesota United CEO Shari Ballard to be spotted watching a full, first-team training session.
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It鈥檚 more routine for Ballard to travel from the club鈥檚 headquarters in Golden Valley to work with the club鈥檚 sporting side inside its training facility in Blaine. But her more visible presence out on the practice field Wednesday reflected the unprecedented times.
It was commonplace for technical director Mark Watson to regularly watch MNUFC鈥檚 first-team practice in Blaine, but Ballard fired Watson and manager Adrian Heath last week in a front-office shakeup unseen in the club鈥檚 post-2017 MLS era.
Ballard and Chief Soccer Officer Manny Lagos together watched as the Loons 鈥� under the guidance of interim head coach Sean McAuley 鈥� prepared for the regular-season finale against Sporting Kansas City on Oct. 21. Ballard and Lagos were soon joined just outside the office by Amos Magee, the club鈥檚 vice president of youth development.
Oh, to be a fly buzzing around and hearing details of that conversation on a bright and balmy fall morning.
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When Ballard spoke to reporters last week about letting Heath and Watson go, she wasn鈥檛 willing to share many details on the search or its criteria; she said that was out of respect for the players and staff trying to make one of the final berths in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
But there remain a lot of unanswered questions about what direction the Loons are going to head in.
First off, Ballard is responsible for the critical hires, but whom is she relying on the necessary soccer acumen? Do Ballard, Lagos and Magee form a triumvirate?
鈥淚t is more my job to make sure we鈥檝e got a good search process and that we鈥檝e got the right inputs into that,鈥� Ballard said last Friday. 鈥淎nd that ultimately we鈥檝e got the right candidates here and the right people that we need to help us move forward.鈥�
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Heath was the fourth-longest-tenured coach in MLS 鈥� two matches shy of seven full seasons since 2017 鈥� and he accrued more leadership in front-office decisions during a reorganization into 2019, with Watson reporting to Heath.
Ballard didn鈥檛 say last week if she wanted separate roles for a general manager and a head coach. It鈥檚 uncommon in MLS for those roles to be centralized (Sporting KC鈥檚 Peter Vermes is a rare example), so it appears more likely United will fill two leadership roles to report up to Ballard.
鈥淚鈥檝e certainly given thought to it,鈥� Ballard said in regards to how she wants the organizational chart to look in 2024.
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Ballard also didn鈥檛 want to get into what profile she seeks in the next coach, but a focus on youth development is believed to be a key component, the Pioneer Press understands.
The Loons have restarted their academy after the pandemic and the club鈥檚 second team, MNUFC2, just finished its second season. But the amount of players coming up from the youth ranks has often been rarely seen blips on the first-team radar. To compete with deeper-pocketed clubs, the Loons need to hit on more young players. Devin Padelford has played some for MNUFC, while Darius Randall and Kage Romanshyn are two of the most promising academy prospects.
鈥�(It) will continue to be both for us,鈥� Ballard said. 鈥淚t鈥檒l be an internal focus on developing players. And then when we do go out and bring people in (via transfer market) making sure that we鈥檝e got the right ones for the way we鈥檙e trying to play. And that we鈥檙e spending our money wisely.鈥�
On a nearly annual basis, Heath had the Loons finish higher in the MLS standings than the club鈥檚 rank in salary spending. It was an example of how Heath got more from less in one big-picture data point during his tenure with the Loons.
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Ballard was asked if the club needs to spend more on its roster to be on better footing for the next coach to be more successful than Heath.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 start there, so I鈥檒l be direct about that,鈥� Ballard said. 鈥淚 mean, I think for broadly speaking, of course, the player salaries are going up in the league. That is true. And we鈥檝e spent more each year, too, so that鈥檚 also true. But I don鈥檛 start with singularly it being about money. 鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 more about getting the right combination of guys on the team and making sure that we鈥檙e collectively, cohesively playing as a team. And we鈥檙e getting the most out of everybody we have.鈥�
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Just this year, the club has built out more of its sporting staff, with Hank Stebbins coming in as assistant technical director, Andrew Gregor serving as scouting director and Luis Fernando Espejo as scouting and data analytics coordinator. They have been retained through the front-office changes.
Ballard said there is 鈥渘o question鈥� analytics will be a part of the club鈥檚 calculus on player evaluations going forward.
鈥淭here鈥檚 more trying to bring a balance between what we might call the eye test, somebody who has seen a lot of people play and can sort of intuitively do that well, which I think will stay important,鈥� Ballard said. 鈥淏ut also with data and analytics that help us bring subjective and objective into some kind of unison. In terms of what it ultimately looks like for our club, we will lay that out as we go. 鈥� I don鈥檛 see our club being Moneyball-like in analytics.鈥�
MLS announced Tuesday that clubs have until Dec. 1 to submit decisions on which players will have contract options exercised or not. The deadline used to be within days of when a team was eliminated from the playoffs, so this shift gives United some more time to make decisions on next year鈥檚 roster.
Under previous management, the club was planning to exercise center back Michael Boxall鈥檚 option for 2024, while defensive midfielder Wil Trapp, who is out of contract at season鈥檚 end, was not expected to return, especially not at a figure near the guaranteed compensation of $850,000 he received in 2023, according to MLSPA.
Ballard said major roster decisions will continue to be made in an internal group setting, which she said was also the process under Heath and Watson. Maybe the Loons will have new leadership before that deadline passes.
鈥淓very single person at the club, we are accountable for getting better, and we have to get better,鈥� Ballard said. 鈥淎nd we will start working on it.鈥�
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