Speaker 1: And welcome in for the first time ever here on
Speaker 1: the Morning Show, Matt Denny Grand Exalted pooh Bah, otherwise
Speaker 1: known as General Manager for North Texas SC. Matt, Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Morning Show. Thanks for dropping by, Thank you,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. All right, So, for those that
Speaker 1: don't know your story, how did you end up there
Speaker 1: at North Texas And it's a real interesting deal where
Speaker 1: they brought you in specifically to be the GM for
Speaker 1: that club.
Speaker 2: How did all this break down for you?
Speaker 3: I mean, it really all started. I joined the organization
Speaker 3: in twenty ten and worked as a sales rep. I
Speaker 3: really stumbled into it and enjoyed it, had some success
Speaker 3: and kind of found success learning the organization, learning the
Speaker 3: ropes and working with the different departments. And when they
Speaker 3: started this team, I think I've had a lot of
Speaker 3: interactions with the departments and ownership and they said, look,
Speaker 3: we think you'd be a good fit here to get
Speaker 3: this opportune that he learned the ropes and has stead
Speaker 3: his club in in the direction it's going. And I
Speaker 3: interviewed for the job really not knowing if that's what
Speaker 3: I wanted, if that was a good move, and it
Speaker 3: was a jump because you know, at the time, we
Speaker 3: didn't know if it would be something that would have
Speaker 3: longevity or not. So I was leaving something that I've
Speaker 3: been pretty stable at to this and never look back,
Speaker 3: and just I'm a product of the club and organization
Speaker 3: giving opportunities to homegowings and some talent. And I've had
Speaker 3: so much, so much cool things that I've done during
Speaker 3: this you know. Obviously twenty nineteen we won a championship,
Speaker 3: then we moved to a new stadium in Arlington, which
Speaker 3: was away from our training site about forty five minutes away.
Speaker 3: Then had to deal with COVID so much learning there
Speaker 3: and joining an MLS nex Pro as a new league
Speaker 3: now and then we've also got some some cool announcements
Speaker 3: we'll have in the next few weeks which will really
Speaker 3: kind of intriguing.
Speaker 4: I can't say too much.
Speaker 2: But come on, come on.
Speaker 4: I'll leave you leave you guessing.
Speaker 3: But it's really exciting and really going to change the
Speaker 3: trajectory of the club in a big way.
Speaker 2: See, he's in no more than three minutes in.
Speaker 1: He gives the tease to draw folks to continue to
Speaker 1: pay attention to what's going on at North Texas over
Speaker 1: the next little bit. How much have you learned about yourself?
Speaker 1: You know, going from that first job title to where
Speaker 1: you are now, how much have you learned about yourself
Speaker 1: as as as a captain of Industry as a part
Speaker 1: of that franchise.
Speaker 4: Like, it's been immense.
Speaker 3: It's like this year when we got to a championship,
Speaker 3: I kind of reflect on and when we started in
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen and how I really didn't I kind of
Speaker 3: didn't know this was how much work went into it.
Speaker 3: It was kind of stumbled into the first championship the
Speaker 3: first year, but just seeing the amount of work that
Speaker 3: goes into it. I've been surrounded with some great people,
Speaker 3: but the work that goes into it behind the scenes
Speaker 3: is just it's just immense, and it's stuff that people
Speaker 3: don't see, you know, those our Aflect trainers turning up
Speaker 3: at six am to get players ready the late night,
Speaker 3: and and the just the.
Speaker 4: Hours that people put in.
Speaker 3: It's it's really uh, it's really amazing to see the
Speaker 3: good people and and that's I think the biggest thing
Speaker 3: is if you surround yourself with good staff, good people,
Speaker 3: there's so much opportunity and it's been it's been rewarding
Speaker 3: to see people progress, staff and players and where they've gone.
Speaker 3: It's it's just it's really a unique club and a
Speaker 3: unique position because we we really stand by that that
Speaker 3: homegrown development, but not just for players, for staff too,
Speaker 3: and you've seen it throughout throughout the years.
Speaker 2: In that twenty nineteen roster.
Speaker 1: Uh, there are a couple of names that folks immediately
Speaker 1: gravitate toward. One obviously, Ricardo Peppy. Ronaldo Damis is another
Speaker 1: one who's done really well and in other levels, and
Speaker 1: Brandon Servenia, I know, is a part of that one.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 1: There's also a guy that shares a name with me,
Speaker 1: but his has an age where mine does not, and
Speaker 1: he got his first goal in Major League Soccer and
Speaker 1: my social media lit up. There's like, oh, you just
Speaker 1: got No, it wasn't me. What's it like for for
Speaker 1: you and for the organization, both North Texas and NFC
Speaker 1: Dallas to see the investments that you make in those
Speaker 1: young academy players and be able to invest in them
Speaker 1: and then you get to have them spread their wings
Speaker 1: and go into other places. What's it like to see
Speaker 1: that growth and get to see them either move up
Speaker 1: or move up and move on.
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think you know that's that's how bread and butter.
Speaker 3: That's what only shitts. That's what organizations really the foundation
Speaker 3: and to see them. Obviously you've got the big names,
Speaker 3: right Peppy. People still stop me and say, I was
Speaker 3: at that first game in twenty nineteen when he scored
Speaker 3: a hat trick and people didn't know and didn't know
Speaker 3: what his trajectory would be. But even the names you mentioned,
Speaker 3: there's Tan of Testament, Brian Reynolds, you know, there's so many,
Speaker 3: But take those those huge names out of there. What's
Speaker 3: really cool as well is there's players that have careers now.
Speaker 3: You know, there's players that you see and I'm watching
Speaker 3: the playoffs now of you know, every league that's playing
Speaker 3: in the United States, and you see names in almost
Speaker 3: every team, and it's really just to see that if
Speaker 3: you had a heat map of where players are now,
Speaker 3: it's just the opportunity with the lower leagues, it's really
Speaker 3: it's created the opportunity not just for the higher names,
Speaker 3: but for other people to have a career in soccer
Speaker 3: that they wouldn't have had years ago.
Speaker 1: And I think that gets lost on folks a lot
Speaker 1: of the time, where even if you aren't moved on
Speaker 1: on the eight figure transfer or what have you, and
Speaker 1: you get to move on to Europe, you still have
Speaker 1: the opportunity to do really well and make a career
Speaker 1: for yourself on a bunch of different levels and a
Speaker 1: bunch of different leagues, really in around the plane. And
Speaker 1: I think that gets lost on folks. Development means capital
Speaker 1: D development, not just moving folks on for that big payday.
Speaker 3: No, that's exactly right, and you'll see it with Steph,
Speaker 3: and I think you'll see it. You know, in ten
Speaker 3: twenty years, you'll see these former players be coaches and
Speaker 3: again they wouldn't have had that opportunity.
Speaker 4: But the cool thing is is we're.
Speaker 3: Known for our academy and bringing those homegoing players through
Speaker 3: and this club really is about bridging that gap. And
Speaker 3: it's a cliche, I know a lot of club's used,
Speaker 3: but we're not just doing that. We're doing you know,
Speaker 3: we signed international players, we signed international players on loan.
Speaker 3: We've had college players, We've had players leave college and
Speaker 3: have success. And you know, we've had open tryouts and
Speaker 3: we have Banal Comungo's obviously our great story, but Thomas
Speaker 3: Pondecca came from open tryouts, and you know, we're having
Speaker 3: that access to the community and the hopeful plays. It's,
Speaker 3: you know, this opportunity out which is really cool as well.
Speaker 1: I would I would recommend that folks read up on
Speaker 1: Bernard's story. It is fantastic and how he has been
Speaker 1: able to become a part of the fabric there in
Speaker 1: the under the FC Dallas umbrella. Expectations I know are
Speaker 1: always high for North Texas there in whatever league they're in,
Speaker 1: and now that we're talking about MLS next Pro. When
Speaker 1: you came into this season, expectations were there, but as
Speaker 1: the season evolved, everyone was gunning for you in.
Speaker 2: The Western Conference.
Speaker 1: What was it like to see the guys and the
Speaker 1: staff respond in that way to sit there, It's like,
Speaker 1: all right, fine, you guys want to come at us.
Speaker 1: You you kind of sit there and it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: bring up, We're still going to be at the top
Speaker 1: of the table in the West by the time we're done.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think it's something it's something we embraced and I
Speaker 3: got to be honest with you. Every year when we
Speaker 3: build a roster, we're like, this is a good roster,
Speaker 3: and it's like, you know, you always think this is it,
Speaker 3: this is our year.
Speaker 4: And our successful you know, group of players.
Speaker 3: That we've got, and we went into this season kind
Speaker 3: of just just flying.
Speaker 4: We had a coaching change in the middle of the season.
Speaker 3: But one thing we've done all season, regardless of what
Speaker 3: else has gone on behind the scenes, is we've really
Speaker 3: stayed humble to that and we've taken it one game
Speaker 3: at a time, and it's to the point where we're
Speaker 3: in the championship now and it's like, you look back
Speaker 3: and it just went so quick. But we were literally,
Speaker 3: let's go one game at a time and it's just
Speaker 3: take care of business step by step, and we've really
Speaker 3: kind of embraced that fort a year.
Speaker 1: How difficult is it for young men or young front
Speaker 1: office personnel to sit there and navigate a coaching change
Speaker 1: in the middle of a season where you have an expectation,
Speaker 1: you want to be more successful, you want to continue
Speaker 1: to be successful. How difficult is it for those young
Speaker 1: men to navigate it? And what was it like for
Speaker 1: you as the general manager to see everyone navigate it
Speaker 1: as well as they have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it really comes down to just a
Speaker 3: whole mentality, and we've got that next man up or
Speaker 3: next person up mentality here that if something comes up.
Speaker 4: We deal with it.
Speaker 3: And if it's hey, we're not getting first team players
Speaker 3: this week, or you know, there's a big MLS tournament
Speaker 3: for MS next and we don't have access to as
Speaker 3: many places, we just deal with it. And really it's
Speaker 3: one of those things that it's a machine we've built,
Speaker 3: so we're not surprised when it happens. Right when we
Speaker 3: lose players to the first team and they go up, Yeah,
Speaker 3: we would like to have them still at North Texas,
Speaker 3: but that's the machine we're building and we're not surprised
Speaker 3: when that happens. And just like the coaching change, you know,
Speaker 3: John moved to the first team, it was great and
Speaker 3: Michelle Garbini, he's someone that's been here since we started,
Speaker 3: one of the original staff, and he's grown, He's taken
Speaker 3: his license and he's on his his B license, he's
Speaker 3: doing his A now, completing it. And I'm really happy
Speaker 3: for him because he's he's learned a lot and grown
Speaker 3: so much. And when he stepped in as the head
Speaker 3: coach from the middle of the season to now, the
Speaker 3: amount of growth he's seen as well has been remarkable.
Speaker 4: So I'm really happy for him.
Speaker 3: And he's he's someone that's put in so much work
Speaker 3: and passion towards the club.
Speaker 4: It's it's just really great to see.
Speaker 3: But again, we're just when something happens, we know that's
Speaker 3: that's the reality of this club.
Speaker 1: Halftime with Matt Danny here GM at North Texas s
Speaker 1: C as they get ready for the MLS Next Pro
Speaker 1: title game this weekend up against the Philadelphia Union Too.
Speaker 1: Time to brag on your players a little bit for
Speaker 1: those that haven't seen you this year. If you and
Speaker 1: I were sitting in a TV booth and we were
Speaker 1: getting ready to call a match, you know it's North
Speaker 1: Texas s C against you know, sdh's B team or whatever.
Speaker 1: You and I are in the booth, I turn to you.
Speaker 1: You know they run the title card up. It's in
Speaker 1: North Texases. He's playing so and so, and the Voice
Speaker 1: of God does the voiceover you and I are sitting
Speaker 1: there doing the stuff in the booth. If I was
Speaker 1: to sit there and say, Okay, who are some of
Speaker 1: those folks that folks need to pay attention to when
Speaker 1: they drift in and watch this championship game for the
Speaker 1: first time, if they haven't seen them LS Next Pro,
Speaker 1: who would be some of those instant faces that folks
Speaker 1: would recognize and gravitate toward. From your perspective, Okay, I
Speaker 1: need to keep an eye on this person. I need
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on this person for North Texas
Speaker 1: to be successful and to get them to this point.
Speaker 2: Who am I gravitating toward here?
Speaker 3: Yes, a tough one because it really is the depth
Speaker 3: we've got. I could name everyone right, it's a great team.
Speaker 2: We got time. We got time. Man, it's good.
Speaker 3: So what I'm going to tell you is like from
Speaker 3: from goalkeeper to the bench, even our bench when we
Speaker 3: bring them in, we're not we're not dropping a level.
Speaker 3: We're adding and we're creating some diversity in the way
Speaker 3: we play.
Speaker 4: But our goalkeeper, my co.
Speaker 3: Colode, is having a phenomenal year one that we you know,
Speaker 3: we know he's capable of, we didn't expect. You know,
Speaker 3: he competed in Goalie Wars this year Goalkeeper of the Year.
Speaker 3: So it's not many times where you can say, watch
Speaker 3: that goalkeeper. He's phenomenal. And we've got that the.
Speaker 4: Top to bottom.
Speaker 3: I think you know, one exciting player that you see
Speaker 3: is just some some magical stuff. Is Petrinio just just
Speaker 3: phenomenal player and he does some some stuff on the field,
Speaker 3: but in practice, if you watch him, it's it's mind blowing.
Speaker 3: And then one of our really really exciting young talents
Speaker 3: is Diego Garcia and and he's had a phenomenal year.
Speaker 4: You know, we bought him in.
Speaker 3: Last season and he's he's played a lot of minutes
Speaker 3: and and he's only just turned eighteen, but he's come
Speaker 3: to North Texas and within a short amount of time,
Speaker 3: in less than two years, he got a call up
Speaker 3: to the US national team, went to Brazil and played
Speaker 3: some games. He got to do preseason with the first team.
Speaker 3: We played Miami at the Cotton Bowl and he got
Speaker 3: to play against Messi and it was you know, just
Speaker 3: it happens so quick, and those things are great stories too.
Speaker 3: But he's one to watch. And you know, i'd say
Speaker 3: right now, just on form is Anthony Ramirez. You know,
Speaker 3: he comes in from games and he's changing games. So again,
Speaker 3: I could list a ton of players, and I feel
Speaker 3: bad not mentioned everybody.
Speaker 1: Well that's why you go to FC Dallas dot com
Speaker 1: and follow North Texas sc on all their social media
Speaker 1: so you can keep an eye on what's going on.
Speaker 1: But this adds to the dynamic that we're talking about
Speaker 1: where Ramirez is an academy product, Colode comes to you
Speaker 1: from Columbia University, and how does Padrino come to you
Speaker 1: from Flamingo? How does something like that happen?
Speaker 3: You know, this is one where we've got obviously great
Speaker 3: connections through Andres and NATA and scouting staff. So our
Speaker 3: scouting staff is scouting forsty Dallas, but we're also scouting
Speaker 3: for Texas. We're trying to find young talent and he's
Speaker 3: one that was breaking into first seament Flamingo and you know,
Speaker 3: just I think he didn't see the opportunity and whether
Speaker 3: that's players ahead of him, staff or whatever, but he
Speaker 3: wanted to change his scenery. And people see this as
Speaker 3: a real opportunity, which it is, to get in front
Speaker 3: of the MLS organization, be involved here and have that shot.
Speaker 3: And we've seen it with Padrino, We've seen it with
Speaker 3: Nico Gordon, who you know, he's a guy that's played
Speaker 3: I forgot how many games with twelve eighteen games for
Speaker 3: Birmingham City in a championship, you know, and you know,
Speaker 3: we're seeing this and people are seeing it as an opportunity,
Speaker 3: which it really is. And we've again, you go back
Speaker 3: four or five years, we didn't have examples to show them.
Speaker 4: But now when we're going and we're.
Speaker 3: We're talking with agents and we're talking with the families,
Speaker 3: and we're saying, look, we've got this player, this player,
Speaker 3: this player, this is their stories. You know, is it
Speaker 3: is it an opportunity to come here or play fourth
Speaker 3: division in England or well, you know, get loaned out
Speaker 3: to a third division team in Brazil. There's definitely an
Speaker 3: opportunity here. And I think that USA is just the
Speaker 3: reputations growing for the sport and people want to get involved.
Speaker 1: When it comes to these kinds of conversations, I mean,
Speaker 1: I assume that you have international minutes on your phone.
Speaker 1: I imagine that you probably have WhatsApp or something like that.
Speaker 1: When it comes to having being a place that grants
Speaker 1: an opportunity, we phrase.
Speaker 2: It like that.
Speaker 1: What are conversations like? I mean literally, you look at
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm looking at just the transfer list
Speaker 1: from October, so basically the last thirteen months of transfers.
Speaker 1: It is Botafogo, it's the barsa residency here in the
Speaker 1: United States.
Speaker 2: Flamingo.
Speaker 1: We talked about colleges Birmingham city you mentioned with Nico Gordon,
Speaker 1: you have some other collegiate impacts as well, and then
Speaker 1: the academy. I mean, what is it like fielding phone
Speaker 1: calls from Europe about being interest to be a part
Speaker 1: of North Texas SC What is that like for you?
Speaker 3: No, it's it's something really, It's just a really unique
Speaker 3: position to be in. And every day when I kind
Speaker 3: of look back, I'm like, wow, that's it's such a
Speaker 3: cool opportunity.
Speaker 4: But the more and more I see it, and.
Speaker 3: The more and more I'm involved with it, you realize
Speaker 3: that the gap and the difference between the infrastructure in
Speaker 3: Europe and infrastructure in USA, it's really getting close. And
Speaker 3: you know, people come here and Nico is a great
Speaker 3: example and he just said, Matt, these facilities you have
Speaker 3: are ridiculous. You know, as I what do you think
Speaker 3: about the level? And he's like, there is some amazing
Speaker 3: talented players here and he's like, you could put these
Speaker 3: guys up against any Premier League U twenty three team,
Speaker 3: you know, and it's sincere.
Speaker 4: You know, he tell me if it's not.
Speaker 3: But just it's really refreshing to see and obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: Europe's a dream for everybody but I think that the
Speaker 3: gap is getting, you know, so much closer.
Speaker 1: When it comes to MLS Next Pro and level of
Speaker 1: competition across the board. I know, looking into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: a lot of folks were sitting there and thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: it might be kind of chalkish on the eastern side
Speaker 1: and then chaos on the western side, But it ended
Speaker 1: up flipping when you look at the playoffs and the
Speaker 1: postseason and the level of competition in MLS Next Pro.
Speaker 1: Has there been one thing that has stood out to
Speaker 1: you about the level of play over time that that
Speaker 1: has stood out as a part of your as a
Speaker 1: part of your perch there at North Texas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's it's just a again it's a cliche,
Speaker 3: but there's no easy games.
Speaker 4: There's no game we've walked out of there.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, for the most part, there's no easy games,
Speaker 3: and when it comes to playoffs, it's really any team
Speaker 3: can win.
Speaker 4: Home Field advantage has been so huge for us this.
Speaker 3: Year playing out of Choctaw and and we've created an
Speaker 3: environment that's that's really favoring us at home. But I
Speaker 3: think the thing that stands out is, you know, teams
Speaker 3: are trying to play and you know, we've played other
Speaker 3: over the years of the games, and when you get
Speaker 3: to this level, both teams are trying to play the
Speaker 3: right way and it translates. So when people are stepping
Speaker 3: now onto the MLS field, it translates. You know, they're
Speaker 3: trying to play the same style of soccer the same way.
Speaker 3: You know, obviously there's difference with speed to play in physicality,
Speaker 3: but it translates to MLS. And when our players are
Speaker 3: stepping onto the training field with the first team, they're
Speaker 3: really not skipping a beat. You know, it's it's preparing
Speaker 3: them for MLS in a really good way. And I
Speaker 3: think that they're playing against teams that are trying to
Speaker 3: play the right way and that the same way is
Speaker 3: really beneficial.
Speaker 2: You've got a game coming up.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know this, but you're playing in a championship game coming
Speaker 1: up this weekend against Philadelphia Union two. They've got some
Speaker 1: massive talent coming out of the Eastern Conference eight thirty
Speaker 1: Eastern time at Toyota. So if anybody's going to Choctaw,
Speaker 1: I imagine there's a sign ups like don't go here,
Speaker 1: go to Toyota on Saturday. What are you looking forward
Speaker 1: to the most about this match, and it can be
Speaker 1: on the field or off, and then what work still
Speaker 1: needs to be done on the field or off? Do
Speaker 1: you think to make sure that this goes off without
Speaker 1: a hitch and you guys come across as the great
Speaker 1: hosts that you always are in situations like this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the thing I'm most excited for is
Speaker 3: just it being here. It's at this point, it's a
Speaker 3: celebration and I think you'll see that every team that
Speaker 3: was looking to host over the last few weeks has
Speaker 3: been planning for a Cup in the opportunity that happens.
Speaker 3: In the last few games, it's been like, man, this
Speaker 3: would really hurt if we didn't make the championship and host,
Speaker 3: because you've been doing all this planning right, And at
Speaker 3: this point it's just executing obviously working with a league
Speaker 3: and making sure the presentation is good. But the team's
Speaker 3: in such a good moment and they're playing well, they're
Speaker 3: enjoying it, and I feel like this is just the
Speaker 3: reward for the season. It's not there's so much the
Speaker 3: pressure is going to happen, but the guys as have
Speaker 3: got here, they deserve it, and it's about showcasing what
Speaker 3: we can do as an organization and what the team
Speaker 3: can do on the field. So it's more of a
Speaker 3: like the precures turned into excitement, you know, and it's
Speaker 3: it's making sure things are going well. The only thing
Speaker 3: can't controls however, So it's looking good right now.
Speaker 1: So you mean you haven't put the the inflatable dome
Speaker 1: over the top of Toyota to make sure that it's
Speaker 1: a hermetically sealed environment and everything.
Speaker 2: Is gonna be.
Speaker 4: Yeah, not yet.
Speaker 2: We gotta work.
Speaker 1: So is that part of the surprise that you're gonna
Speaker 1: have in a couple of weeks, You're gonna mention that
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a hermetically sealed environment going forward now
Speaker 1: for North Texas?
Speaker 4: Is that it? No, No, that's not the case.
Speaker 3: There's definitely some some renovations going on here at toilet
Speaker 3: So it's exciting times for the organization.
Speaker 2: So are you sure you don't want to break any
Speaker 2: news this morning?
Speaker 4: No, I'm good. I'm good. We got some some things
Speaker 4: to do before then.
Speaker 1: So okay, all right, so your your seat at the
Speaker 1: table is reserved for when all that stuff turns into
Speaker 1: a fish announcing announcements and everything, so you can always
Speaker 1: come back and visit any time and let us know
Speaker 1: what's going on. MLS next Pro Final Championship game eight
Speaker 1: thirty Eastern time coming up this weekend. The top seed
Speaker 1: out of the West, North Texas scgm at Denny dropping by, Matt.
Speaker 1: It was great to see it. Thanks for dropping by
Speaker 1: the morning show. Good luck with all the planning, and
Speaker 1: may the championship go off without a hitch. And I
Speaker 1: know that you guys top seed in the West, are
Speaker 1: looking forward to being good hosts in every sense of
Speaker 1: the word. Thanks again for dropping by the morning show.
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with you.
Speaker 2: Soon, my friend.
Speaker 4: I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: That's Matt Denny. He's the Grand Exalted Poopa. He's the
Speaker 1: GM at North Texas. And thanks to our buddy Edwin Pintorn,
Speaker 1: Roll Hernandez out there at FC Dallas for making that happen.
Speaker 2: That's very, very cool.