San Diego FC has said from the beginning it won’t be just another cookie-cutter franchise in Major League Soccer, that it will be different, that it will approach the puzzle of roster development from a unique perspective.
Here’s how unique: What other club, three days after he’s formally introduced, would put its new coach in a plane to Ghana, followed by a trip to Egypt, followed by a trip to Denmark?
It helps explain why SDFC entrusted its inaugural season and beyond to Mikey Varas, a 41-year-old who didn’t play at a high level, never has been a professional head coach and spent the majority of his career patrolling the sidelines of youth games populated by parents in lawn chairs.
The operative word, and concept, at Tuesday’s news conference at Snapdragon Stadium was alignment.
CEO Tom Penn: “Mikey really aligns with Right to Dream, really aligns with SDFC from a value standpoint.”
Sporting director Tyler Heaps: “It’s huge, finding somebody who is so aligned.”
Varas: “From an alignment standpoint, there are zero questions. That’s what made this such a dream project for me.”
What separates San Diego FC from its 29 MLS brethren is Right to Dream, a residential youth academy that began in Ghana and has expanded to Egypt, Denmark and now a $150 million campus on Sycuan land in eastern San Diego. The idea is to develop players from age 12 to 17, where they reach a fork in their careers that either puts them on a path to pro or college soccer.
Right to Dream took the next step when it purchased FC Nordsjaelland, a club in Denmark’s first division, that provides a natural landing spot for the top academy graduates. SDFC, in five or so years, hopes to fulfill a similar role.
Right to Dream also has an unorthodox, highly regulated style of play across all teams, youth or pro, that is geared toward avoiding individual aerial battles with its less physically mature players. At most clubs, the style of play – and, consequently, the roster makeup – changes at the whim of a new head coach. At Right to Dream, coaches may change but the style never does.
Right to Dream, then, needs the right coach. And it’s why his first order of duty is to visit the other academies to better understand its ethos.
Varas’ job will be implementing more than inventing, a role he embraces from being under-20 U.S. national coach and an assistant on Gregg Berhalter’s staff with the senior team.
“I have unique ideas,” Varas said, “but I also have a desire to be part of something bigger than my unique ideas. That attracted me to the (U.S.) federation. I believe in the power of collaboration. First and foremost, the alignment is there with Right to Dream. There is nothing that is even gray in terms of alignment.
“Then when we get into the details. It’s sitting down and looking at what our roster looks like, what the league looks like, what San Diego looks like. Now it’s an integration process between my unique ideas and Right to Dream’s very specific ideas. … We’ll be Right to Dream, but we’ll be uniquely San Diego as well.”
Another RTD non-negotiable: the willingness to play rookies. FC Nordsjaelland regularly fields one of youngest rosters in Europe.
Varas is all in. He spent several years at MLS club FC Dallas, first in its youth academy, then as an assistant on Luchi Gonzalez’s staff that was known for relying on academy products like forward Ricardo Pepi instead of stocking the roster with aging veterans.
“Youth will always pleasantly surprise you,” Varas said. “Young players don’t have the experience, yes, but that also means they don’t have the hesitancy of limiting the possibilities. In life in general, you have to maximize the power of the youthful mind and the youthful spirit because they’re so brave, you know? Ultimately, no one will be handed or given anything. Playing time will always be earned. But if you’re good enough, you should get the opportunity.”
Varas checked another box for a club that is a short drive from the Mexican border. He is fluent in English and Spanish, the son of a bilingual household with an American mother and Chilean father. He deftly fielded questions in both languages Tuesday.
He knows San Diego well, too. He met his wife here and has several friends here whom he visits regularly.
“This place,” Varas said, “draws a certain type of energy and a certain type of humanity to it.”
Heaps, named sporting director a month ago, quickly had a stack of résumés on his desk from coaching candidates. He sought out Varas after consulting sources at U.S. Soccer, where they both worked (but not together).
“I think no matter what decision we made, there would have been risk,” Heaps said. “We could have hired the most successful manager in the world, and there would have been risk involved. There were many different ways we could have taken this hire, and we had people among the finalists who were different than Mikey.
“We had people who’ve had success at the highest levels. We had people who’ve had success in Europe. We had people who have more MLS experience. But at the end of the day, we had to find someone we truly believed in and who truly believes in this project.”
Varas was rumored to be that person for the past month, but the announcement was delayed when he was named interim coach of the U.S. national team while negotiations with Argentina’s Mauricio Pochettino were finalized. That put Varas in charge of two September friendlies.
Interim coaches are typically anonymous figures, but Varas instantly was thrust into the spotlight for his postgame comments following a 2-1 loss against Canada, the first on U.S. soil since 1957. Several former national teamers roundly criticized Varas for what they perceived as throwing the players under the bus.
“Mikey and I talked in depth before and after that,” Heaps said. “I think Mikey for sure will look back at that as a learning moment while also understanding what he was after and how the media can take things like that.”
Added Varas: “I’m a very passionate person and a very competitive person. I’m a very direct and transparent person. It’s also a learning lesson for me, and that’s totally fine. My future actions are going to be what show best from my learning lessons of my past. Everything in life is a learning lesson.”
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