FRISCO, Texas — The offseason changes keep coming from FC Dallas. This time, they started at the top.
FCD confirmed on Friday that Barry Gorman (above, left) has been relieved of his duties as technical director and will no longer work with the club. Gorman became the first technical director in franchise history when hired by the team in April of 2010.
“Barry Gorman is a great person and did some solid work for FC Dallas while he was here,” club president and CEO Doug Quinn told MLSsoccer.com on Friday. “However, when it came time to look at where we wanted to take this position, we all decided that we could become stronger in some specific areas and needed to look at a number of candidates with different skills.”
After a successful run to the MLS Cup final in 2010, a number of player acquisitions have failed to pan out over the past year. Jeremy Hall and Maicon Santos were both acquired midseason to bolster the roster but have already been sent packing this offseason. Many were also critical of the FCD front office after midfielder Dax McCarty was left exposed and selected in the 2010 Expansion Draft.
But some positive moves were made during the last year of Gorman’s tenure as well. Andrew Jacobson, who recently signed an extension with the club, led the team with five assists after being acquired for a second round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft. Fabián Castillo and Ricardo Villar were also brought in on Gorman’s watch, and both were solid contributors during the 2011 season.
Nonetheless, Dallas’ inability to add depth – especially up top – ultimately proved to be their undoing during a packed 2011 schedule.
Now the club heads into a busy offseason without a technical director, though according to Quinn, they have no intention of eliminating the position altogether.
“We are actively pursuing a technical director,” he said.
In the interim, all personnel decisions will be made by manager Schellas Hyndman and Quinn, as well as Clark and Dan Hunt, the chairman and vice president of Hunt Sports Group, respectively.
