Toronto FC president Bill Manning, and coach Greg Vanney, right, introduce Curtis at a press conference in Toronto on Jan. 3, 2019.Curtis, the former sporting director at the New York Red Bulls, found himself inheriting a team in turmoil with stars Sebastian Giovinco and Victor Vazquez soon departing for greener pastures after the team’s disappointing 2018 season.
Within a week, he found himself with a new club – Vardar – some 30 to 40 minutes away. “And that’s kind of where things became more accelerated. Better team, better club, more competitive. And things kind of took off.”“And so in a moment where you feel down and things like that, it was a moment where things turned for the better. You take those types of little life experiences and hold strong in difficult moments because you never know what’s around the corner.
“Those are things that you have to deal with – the highs and lows,” said Curtis, who recalls the excruciating knee pain. Tampa Bay was a league-worst 4-21-2 in 2001. D.C. United was in the league cellar in 2002 at 9-14-5. He finished the 2003 season with Dallas, which ended up a league-worst 6-19-5.He had told himself he would play for four of five years, longer if he could crack the national team. If not, he would change careers.
While he enjoyed the challenge, he learned how difficult the transition from pro sports to the corporate office was. The real world is different from school and internships.It’s a life lesson that has stayed with him. Living in New Jersey, he had a 35-45 minute train ride to work. He would spend the commute reading the league’s collective bargaining agreement and competition guidelines cover to cover.
Curtis was responsible for all soccer activities at the Red Bulls from player acquisition and youth development to overseeing the salary cap and data analytics/performance analysis.Head coach Mike Petke was replaced by Jesse Marsch. The Red Bulls won the 2015 Supporters’ Shield, eventually losing to Columbus in the Eastern Conference final. New York topped the conference standings again in 2016 but was beaten by Montreal in the conference semi-final.
“I don’t know the best way to articulate how I left Red Bull because I don’t think that would honour that club, the experience that I had, the people that I met. And until I’m comfortable with that, I kind of let it be,” he said.
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Source: CBC - 🏆 32. / 63 Read more »