Austin FC sporting director Sean Rubio out to shed his interim status
- Sean Rubio is only 34 years old, but he’s already risen from a former video analyst in San Jose to interim athletic director at Austin FC.
- Rubio was named to fill in the footsteps of the highly respected Claudio Reyna, who along with his wife became embroiled in a chaotic saga involving US men’s national team soccer coach Gregg Berhalter.
- The young redhead enjoys board games and is a huge college and major league baseball fan, but understands the expectations and trials that come with his job.
Sean Rubio has hit the ground running.
But that’s cool for him because Austin FC’s interim athletic director already knew that walk.
The prospective 35-year-old manager didn’t come off the street to help manage the roster and salary cap of what is arguably one of Major League Soccer’s most thriving franchises, which just barely reached the Western Conference Finals last year in its sophomore year .
He has already paid some fees and some more and is not wasting any time.
You should know that Rubio saw the very first MLS game ever played in person when he was an impressive 8-year-old California boy among the 31,683 at Spartan Stadium on April 6, 1996. He still remembers Hall of Famer Eric Wynalda’s only goal in the 87th minute in the San Jose Clash’s 1-0 win over DC United.
Since then he’s been quite addicted.
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And did Rubio play football?
“Yes, but not very well,” he said. “Mainly school and club football. My college, Portland State, didn’t even have a men’s soccer team. I was a central defender. I like to see everything in front of me. Kind of a strategic role. Like the ones I have now I suppose.”
Rubio likes the view. And he started at the bottom and worked his way up.
Rubio: ready for the season, the job and the challenge
Once a communications major with a minor in film, he put those skills to good use and got his start in the San Jose team’s video department. From his time as a video analyst with the Earthquakes to the four years he served as director of player personnel on the Austin FC team, Rubio has learned his trade and been an integral part of a leadership group that oversaw talent acquisition and salary negotiations to to lead the Verde and Black to last year’s Final Four.
Now comes the next step. Austin FC will look to repeat and build on last year’s success as they open the 2023 season against expansion team St. Louis City SC on Saturday night at Q2 Stadium.
Rubio is ready.
When he’s not playing board games, cheering on San Francisco as a hardcore Giants fan, or attending Longhorns baseball games, he’s hard at work in his new role as athletic director.
“It’s something I feel like I’m ready for and couldn’t be happier,” Rubio said. “I’ve been in this league for a long time. So I’m definitely confident in my abilities.”
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The son of two computer programmers also speaks some Spanish, which can’t hurt in this business as Philadelphia’s Ernst Tanner – last year’s MLS Sporting Director of the Year – jokes he was able to negotiate a deal with a European club because he can swear in German during the negotiations. Whatever works.
Rubio, a redhead with a neatly trimmed beard, has shown he is capable of more important tasks, which explains why owner Anthony Precourt and club leadership felt confident enough to support him in the chaotic aftermath of predecessor Claudio Reyna’s decision to step down and to fill a position to promote function of technical adviser.
Rubio follows in the great footsteps of Claudio Reyna
Rubio takes over amid this upheaval in the front office after Reyna and his wife were ugly involved in making serious allegations against US men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter over a decades-old, minor domestic violence incident involving his girlfriend.
Berhalter, who may have risen again as a coach, admitted to kicking her once more than 30 years ago, but she became and remains his wife. The Reynas were apparently upset with Berhalter’s treatment of their son Gio and his limited role on the World Cup team.
“At the end of the day, it’s a personal decision (by Reyna) that we unilaterally support,” Rubio told me this week. “It’s unfortunate in some circumstances, but at the same time we fully support him and are delighted he still plays a role at the club.”
Albeit a very minor role.
But that opened the way for a prime opportunity for Rubio as one of the youngest athletic directors among MLS’s 29 teams, as well as third-year head coach Josh Wolff, whose plate was also just filling up a bit.
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Perhaps to relieve the young Rubio somewhat, but also to capitalize on Wolff’s experience, the club added the title of Chief Soccer Officer to Wolff’s duties, ultimately giving him the final say in important decisions. However, Rubio is not unprepared for the job as he worked directly under Reyna and before that as Senior Manager Scouting and Budget at Toronto FC from 2016-2020 when the club reached three MLS Cup finals and won three trophies including one MLS -Cup.
“With Claudio taking a step back, I think there’s more of these (personnel) talks with Sean Rubio and certainly Anthony about the players here and the players we might want to sign,” Wolff said. “It’s a very fluid space. You always have an overview of who you are and what your needs are, not just now, but in six months, 12 months.”
Rubio and Wolff are both taking on additional responsibilities this season
Given that Wolff once played as a forward on the US national team at two World Cups, trained under the hugely successful Berhalter, and was one of the first Austin FC signings that Reyna hired, it was only natural that Ownership would be a tag team von founded Art to run the club and maybe give Rubio a bit of a safety net.
Only four other current MLS head coaches also juggle chief soccer officer duties, so Wolff, 45, understands the pressures and time constraints that other big-name footballers like Bob Bradley, Bruce Arena, Peter Vermes and Greg Vanney face every day bring .
“It’s a difficult task to coach a team and prepare them every week,” said Wolff. “I think that’s my priority. Sean has a great understanding of our roster situation, certainly our plan and model, so I’m making a little more use of my time with him.”
Of those MLS peers of Wolff’s, Arena (250 MLS wins), Bradley (191) and Vermes (182) are three of the four most successful coaches in league history and are all 56 years old or much older. Arena actually coached in that original MLS game that Rubio attended as an 8-year-old.
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Into this new arena comes Rubio, who has never played in the league but spent six years at Toronto FC and understands the seriousness of the position.
“This is a new challenge for us with the weight of expectations,” said Rubio. “This is a new experience for this group. It could be a feel good story or something a little bit different but we’re all really looking forward to it because we want to continue that level of success and lift a trophy.”
And judging by the looks of the nine newcomers – including veteran strikers Gyasi Zardes and Will Bruin helping to bolster the offensive firepower and Finland centre-back Leo Väisänen looking to replace the invaluable Ruben Gabrielsen – the chemistry will be and the relationship between Wolff and Rubio is clearly solid and growing.
Ultimately, that could mean Rubio could have a head start when it comes to proving himself enough to remove the provisional tag from his title in October, when Austin FC is expected to take on last year’s two finalists, champions LAFC and Philadelphia, as well as will challenge up and coming clubs like Cincinnati, Orlando, Toronto and the New York Red Bulls for the trophy.
So Rubio wants the gig, right?
“For good or bad, it’s not up to me,” he said. “But of course I’m looking forward to the opportunity. I am so grateful and grateful to Anthony Precourt and the ownership group for entrusting this to me, even on an interim basis. I think the early stages were really positive.”
Rubio said he and Precourt have had many in-depth discussions and open dialogue about “the short, medium and long term.” That pretty much covers the waterfront.
It might be difficult to accurately assess the magnitude of Rubio’s contributions in building this team from expansion to expected MLS Cup contender in two short years. But he deserves a lot of credit for working with Reyna and Wolff to create a squad from scratch and turn it into a serious threat to win the final trophy, if not from day one then at least in the second year.
And that makes its future promising.
“Hopefully,” said Rubio, “we’ll come out and win some games and then we’re going to have an even better season. I think it’s in our DNA.”
Opening on Saturday
St. Louis City SC v Austin FC, 7:30 p.m., Q2 Stadium, Apple TV / 97.5