When Michael Hitchcock was not retained as FC Dallas president and general manager just after the end of the 2009 regular season, the move signaled a change in club management as it became known that head coach Schellas Hyndman and team officials would begin searching for someone to fill a new role of technical director.
Hyndman has just returned from a scouting trip to Ghana, signaling that the process to fill the position is ready to begin once again.
"We've kind of sat on that because of my trip to Ghana," the FCD coach said. "Now that I'm back, we continue to review candidates and hopefully in the near future, will be able to bring candidates in."
Hyndman went on to add that the position has generated considerable interest but he'd like to see some more candidates emerge before proceeding further.
"I think everything has an up and down. The positive side of course is we'd like to get it done where we have a good, full pool of candidates, be able to interview them and make the right selection," he said. "The other side of it is one of the things I think we do fairly well here is identification of college players. We've worked all year on this one-step process for us."
However, as is the case with any personnel move this time of year, the Christmas holidays can often be a stumbling block.
"If we get somebody in here (before the end of the year), the other side of it is the holidays. You've got the Christmas holidays and all the events that are going on and you can imagine how busy ownership and (FCD president) John Wagner are," Hyndman said. "It's a process where it's ownership, John Wagner and myself interviewing people, getting us all on the same page to interview candidates. So, let's see if we can get it done by January 1. There's not a lot to be done between now and then. A lot of the work that's being done already is being done."
Hyndman's target date is just one week from the 2010 adidas MLS Player Combine in Fort Lauderdale.
"The combine starts January 8. Does that person need to be with us January 8 because that person isn't going to be picking the players for us?," he said. "For January 8, do you really need that person there? Now we go to the draft, does he really need to be there on January 14 for the draft?
"We know what we're doing. It's probably the most beneficial situation by bringing a person on sooner than later. Is that person is educated on how we do things as far as player identification, what we look for in the combine, how the draft works and all those types of things. The other positive thing of bringing that person on is that person gets on the same wavelength as the coaching process -- how we do things and the sooner, the better. I don't know much that person is going to help us at the combine or in the draft, so I'm not trying to rush this except it's better sooner than later."
FCD's draft preparation does have a bit of a different feel than it did one year ago.
"I thought last year we put a lot of time into it because we knew we were a team that needed a lot of help. When we went to the combine, everything we saw we expected to see," Hyndman said. "This year, we are at least at the same level that we were last year. I think we're in a pretty good position this year with a first-round pick of five and six. I think the draft is going to be strong and at five and six, there is going to be a value."
Once FCD was officially eliminated from the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs in the final weekend of the regular season, Hyndman also iterated that he'd also like to hire a full-time strength and conditioning coach in the offseason.
"We've had some candidates come in on that and we of course are looking at some opportunities with Michael Johnson Center. We have a relationship with them, so there could be some contractor work there or we could hire one of their people," the FCD coach said. "Then we also have Athlete Performance, which has just put a facility in at the field house across the street. So they'll have avenues. They have supplied strength and conditioning coaches for MLS teams like Columbus, Chivas (USA) and the LA Galaxy. They've also done some international things. I think where we're at is still going through that whole process as well."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
