FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls put together the best regular seasons in MLS this year, and while they fell one stage short of playing for MLS Cup, their accomplishments are noteworthy for their cultural significance.
The New York Red Bulls overcame offseason drama to win the Supporters' Shield under the guidance of sporting director Ali Curtis.
FC Dallas, meanwhile, found great success under the guidance coach Oscar Pareja and technical director Fernando Clavijo.
In a league of 20 teams, just three head coaches and four general managers/technical directors are people of color. Three of those seven people led two of the best teams in the league in 2015.
The lack of diversity in its most important soccer positions earned MLS poor marks from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at UCF, and some of the worst across professional sports in the U.S.
It is an issue that has plagued the league for several years. Just once since 1999 has MLS had more than three people of color in head coaching positions, according to the institute's data. The numbers run in contrast to the cultural and ethnic range that soccer, including MLS, embraces and celebrates.
"I think it's unfortunate, it's disappointing, it doesn't represent the diversity within the sport," said Curtis, one of two black men along with NYCFC coach Patrick Vieira to hold a top soccer operations position in MLS. "But I do believe that it's progressively changing and it's going to take a little time. ... First and foremost, executive leadership -- from the ownership perspective as well as the (front office) level -- needs to acknowledge that diversity does not exist in those areas and that's a problem. Once you acknowledge that, I think you can start to find solutions in terms of how to address it."
Limited opportunities
Much was made about Curtis' 300-page plan when he took over the Red Bulls, but the origins of the blueprint stems from something he learned at a young age.
"I was always taught that you have to be twice as good because we didn't have a whole lot of money and because I was a minority," Curtis said. "You have to be twice as good and you'll get your opportunity. That's kind of the genesis of the engine I have and trying to succeed and trying to out-work them and out-smart them and out-strategize just so you can get that one opportunity."
For Curtis, the opportunity first came in the form of a job offer to work in the league office. The Duke graduate was working at JP Morgan and began corresponding via email with MLS commissioner Don Garber, who eventually offered him a role with MLS.
Garber's willingness to "take a chance" on Curtis showed what can happen when executives in power reach outside of their comfort zone, Curtis said.
Soccer in the United States has been a historically suburban, white, middle-class sport, a fact attributed to pay-for-play travel teams that largely dominated the upper levels of youth competition. That base is now changing, in part because of the U.S. Soccer academy system, but Curtis acknowledged that those roots have had an influence on the circles from which coaches and general managers are hired in MLS today.
It's a trend also seen with the younger coaches who are being hired directly after their playing days end, including former New York City FC coach Jason Kreis, D.C. United's Ben Olsen, New York Red Bulls' Jesse Marsch, New England's Jay Heaps and Columbus' Gregg Berhalter. Only one minority coach has come in that wave: Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni, who was born in Argentina and moved to the U.S. at a young age, eventually playing for the U.S. national team.
"Not just in sports, but in a lot of areas you tend to hire someone especially at the executive level that first and foremost is qualified, and then also a lot of times hiring is based on referral or how well you know the person," Curtis said. "Unfortunately that translates into cronyism or nepotism or a good ol' boy club. I think in order to really have positive change in this area and to continue or to start to have a diverse pool of individuals at the executive level, you first have to acknowledge you believe having a diverse organization or club is going to help the organization and be a positive, and then people at the executive level, they've got to take a chance."
FC Dallas is one of just two franchises with minorities in place in both top soccer operations positions, Pareja as head coach and Fernando Clavijo as technical director. NYCFC is the other with Vieira and sporting director Claudio Reyna.
Dallas president Dan Hunt said the club simply tried to find the best candidates to fit their club, both in experience, background and culture.
"I look for us to be a beacon as the (Hunt-family owned) Dallas Texans and Kansas City Chiefs were a beacon in the '60s and "70s in regards to minority players," Hunt said. "I look for FC Dallas to be a beacon in MLS. I want to be a leader, not a follower, a leader in all our initiatives across the board, and I think we're doing a good job."
In a league in which 20.9 percent of players are Latino, Pareja is one of just two Latino head coaches. Latinos account for 9.4 percent of assistant coaches. African-Americans made up 12.5 percent of the player pool in 2015.
"I always feel that we represent, somehow, our families and then our country and our culture and our community and the cities that we work for and the club and that created some pride," Pareja said. "I am very proud to represent the Latin community and in a job that is highlighted in a professional club."
Garber said the league has a Rooney Rule in place to ensure minorities are being interviewed and considered for top-level positions across the league and in the league office. The league office also has set a positive standard -- nearly 40 percent of league office employees are people of color, though only 4.1 percent are African-American, while 37 percent are women.
"Every competitive administrative hire must go through a process of interviewing minority candidates and that process is vetted by the league, so there's no way around it," Garber said. "On the competition side it's a very formal process. As it relates to league staff and individual team staff, they are owned by individual investors and each of them I can tell you are committed to diversity.
"We are a league for new America and embrace that positioning, but all we can do is ensure that we have the best possible candidates and provide minority candidates with the opportunity to work in our league and at our clubs."
But the Rooney Rule is not enough to evoke change in MLS on its own, Curtis said. There must be a shift in mentality at the very top of MLS franchises.
Extra pressure
In soccer, the way the ball bounces can change a season. For Denis Hamlett, it may have changed a career.
In two seasons as head coach of the Chicago Fire in 2008-09, Hamlett led his team to the Eastern Conference finals twice. Both times, Chicago lost to the eventual MLS Cup winner. In 2009, the Fire fell to Real Salt Lake in a penalty kick shootout.
The winning coach? Kreis, who would go on to win the first of two MLS Cups as head coach. Kreis is considered one of the top American coaches in the game, though he was recently fired by New York City FC and is currently without a job.
Hamlett was fired after that season, and he has not yet been given another opportunity as head coach. The Fire have gone to the playoffs just once since that 2009 season.
Hamlett said he wonders about what may have happened if his team had won that penalty kick shootout in 2009, but he is not sure his race has prevented him from getting another job as a head coach in MLS. Hamlett has interviewed for other head coaching positions, he said.
"For me, it's not worth wasting my time on that," said Hamlett, a black man who was born in Costa Rica. "It's doing the things I can to prepare myself, especially here in New York with Ali and (head coach) Jesse (Marsch). It's been a good environment, and if we continue to do things right here in New York, people will pay attention to what's going on and what we're able to establish and people will take notice."
Hamlett pointed to the growing number of minority assistant coaches in MLS -- there were seven African-American assistants in 2015, up from just one in 2013, according to UCF institute data -- as a sign that more opportunities are coming for minority coaches in the league.
The hope, Hamlett said, is the league policy will help push that trend forward and up to the head coaching and general manager ranks, something that has yet to happen in league history.
Curtis said he is always aware of the lack of diversity in general managers' and coaches' meetings and at the executive level in the league office. He also feels a responsibility to blaze a path for other minorities who may hope to follow in his footsteps.
One of those is former Orlando City midfielder Amobi Okugo, who said Curtis' success with the Red Bulls has inspired him to potentially look into an internship with the league office as he considers what his post-soccer career will look like.
"It's something that's on my shoulders and I thought about it in January when we were going through difficult times and I think about it today," Curtis said. "I hope that I'm able to succeed and do well because I want people to look at minorities and I want them to give them a shot."
As the league's identity continues to evolve, the success of Curtis, Pareja and other minorities in top MLS roles might be the momentum needed to shift the make-up of the league's top positions.
It will take deliberate effort, but the benefits could be important for the continued growth of the league.
"You don't want a diverse organization for the sake of diversity, but I truly believe that having a diverse club at the executive level is good for our business and ultimately it'll translate into greater revenues, and a more sophisticated club," Curtis said. "There is tangible value in having a diverse organization."
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