Louisville City just announced that it had signed a multi-year contract with assistant coach Danny Cruz making him Technical Director at the club. John Hackworth, who is both manager and Sporting Director at LouCity, said of Cruz:

 “He is one of the brightest young coaches and leaders in our sport. He deserves the faith that (LouCity President) Brad (Estes) and our ownership group has shown in him. We are fortunate that he and his family have chosen to extend their time here in Louisville.”

Louisville City Jan. 20, 2020 press release

I’ll be honest and say that I had always thought that Sporting Director and Technical Director meant the same thing, but they do not. The ever-reliable question-and-answer website Quora says this on the subject:

A [sporting director] acts as an intermediary between the manager and the board and may relieve pressure on a manager by handling aspects away from day-to-day coaching, allowing a manager to focus on on-pitch performance. The director may also help to stabilise the club – many examples exist of director stepping in as a caretaker manager on the departure of the manager. The director – often an experienced football figure – may also positively advise a less experienced manager or the board of a less well developed club.

The technical director looks after a whole host of things that offer an element of continuity above and beyond the to-ing and fro-ing of individual managers. The role tends to include, and this is by no means a comprehensive list: responsibility for and the overseeing of the academy, the training ground, the infrastructure, medical, physiotherapy, conditioning, fitness, nutrition, hydration, rest, well being, and culture and behavioural standards within the club.

Hackworth is already the manager at LouCity, so his role as both sporting director and manager doesn’t really provide him with the cover the above explanation provides. In truth, we don’t really know exactly what his Sporting Director job description entails, though we can assume it includes direction over coaching and player-personnel decisions with the senior team. Cruz’s role as technical director gives him charge of “player development of the senior team as well as work with the club’s new League 2 and Academy teams,” per the press release. What “work with the League 2 and Academy teams” means, I’m not sure, but this is a new thing for this club and so I’m guessing it’s a constantly developing process.

Cruz’s promotion, combined with James O’Connor’s new role, makes me want to draw up an operations organizational chart just so I can visualize who’s doing what on the soccer side of LouCity and Soccer Holdings. The club website’s “Front Office” link is broken, so I’ll see if I can manage this on my own using that most famous of computer-based visual software, MS Paint:

I have no idea if this is right at all. I don’t know if Mario works for James or vice versa, what the difference between job descriptions for Hackworth and Cruz are, whether Danny also works for O’Connor and Sanchez now or vice versa, or what. As long as they know, I guess, that’s good. But I am confused!

I’m also happy for Cruz. He’s only a couple years removed from his playing career but he must have really wowed the front office decision makers to pick up this new hat. It seems like a really big job, but Cruz has a reputation in the club for being a very hard worker and very detail oriented. He’ll also have the benefit of some very qualified people to help him out in this new role. It does make me wonder if this means that Hackworth will be adding another assistant coach to his match day squad, or if Cruz will continue in that role, also. We’ll see!

In any event, congratulations to Danny Cruz for the promotion, and cheers to his future as technical director!