Columbus Crew make refreshing move in hiring Wilfried Nancy | Michael Arace
Jack Todd is the dean of Canadian sports columnists. Although he is in his mid-70s, he still hasn’t lost his slap shot, and his semi-regular musings in the Montreal Gazette remain must-read material.
Last month, Todd wrote this:
“Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis has done great things in this town – but he will have to go some to match Wilfried Nancy, who took CF Montreal from nowhere to the third-best record in MLS.
"There are persistent rumors that a Joey Saputo tantrum after a loss to Kansas City last summer has left bad feelings on both sides, and that Saputo intended to fire Nancy even if the club won the MLS Cup.
“That would be catastrophic, but it would also be in character for an owner who operates a revolving door for coaches. …
“Nancy is both a class act and an outstanding coach. The club needs to offer him three more years and a substantial increase on his $180,000 a year salary – that or face the wrath of some justifiably angry fans. Nancy has shown that not only can he develop young players (a necessity in Montreal) but that he can win by developing them. You don’t let a guy like that get away.”
Saputo, the owner of CF Montreal, let that guy get away. Tim Bezbatchenko, the president/general manager of the Crew, reeled that guy in. Nancy is the eighth coach (not counting interims) in the history of the MLS’s first chartered team, which dates to 1996.
He is a new face for Columbus.
Among the Crew, the Blue Jackets and Ohio State’s major-college sports teams (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball), there has been just one Black coach – Randy Ayers, who led the OSU men’s basketball program from 1989 to 1997.
Nancy is the first of this century. It's about time.
After Caleb Porter was fired Oct. 10, Bezbatchenko mapped a weeks-long process for his coaching search. Bezbatchenko had to be patient with Nancy, who had a year left on his Montreal contract. Permission was required to interview him. Compensation was required to hire him. Bezbatchenko did not reveal what the Crew gave up to get him, but it was beyond mere Garber Bucks.
“The last time I hired a coach (Greg Vanney in Toronto in 2014), we promoted from within,” Bezbatchenko said. “With this opportunity, I wanted to explore the domestic system in particular. We found a number of capable future head coaches, in my opinion. If (Nancy) could get out of the situation in Montreal, he was going to be one of our targets.”
At the top of Bezbatchenko’s list of priorities was “ambitious academy integration directed toward a pyramid of organizational success and trophies, trophies, trophies” − those aren’t his words, but can't you hear it?
Put more simply, it’s smart business for MLS clubs and beneficial to American soccer to invest and develop young talent; and Bezbatchenko wanted a senior team coach who would be involved in the entire process, from the lower level of the academy on up through Crew 2 to the big club.
Nancy, 45, is that guy. He has been everywhere, man.
Nancy was born in France. He is the son of a Guadeloupian father and a Senegalese-Cape Verdean mother. He was a French navy brat and grew up on islands in the Caribbean, in the Northeast African city of Djibouti and on a dot of land off the coast of Madagascar. He played professionally and semi-professionally all over France. He moved to Quebec in 2005 and played for the University of Quebec-Montreal.
From 2011-2015, he coached CF Montreal (then known as the Impact) teams at the U16, U18 and U21 levels. He was a senior team assistant for six years. In February 2001, when Thierry Henry departed suddenly, citing family reasons, Nancy took over.
Relevant numbers: Montreal spent a couple of million in MLS Monopoly money to acquire Djordje Mihalovic from Chicago and Alistair Johnston from Nashville, and to sign Ismael Kone to a contract after a tryout. The three lads played a year under Nancy and raised their games as Montreal became one of the best teams in the league. Sufficiently polished, they earned contracts with European clubs, and CF Montreal cashed in on transfer fees to a tune of about $20 million.
Jack Todd: Nancy develops young players and wins while they develop.
Tim Bezbatchenko: “He’s picking the place. He walked into our stadium and just got the goosebumps. He said, ‘How can you not want to play really entertaining soccer in this building?' Aesthetics matter to him. He’s a truly interesting guy. It’s all about one-on-one relationships with the players, and how to get the most out of them, and how it all fits in a team concept. It’s about mutual respect.”
In one sense, this is a safe hire. The Crew are getting a coach who knows the league, which can be important in MLS. Nancy will fit in nicely at the top of the ambitious academy-integrated organizational ambition system, which is the key to modern life.
In another sense, this hire can be called "refreshing." Nancy is worldly, he knows what he’s about − and one gets the sense that he knows it’s not about him. This is a new face for the Crew, and for the city. Maybe the stoppage goals will stop now.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew make refreshing move in hiring Wilfried Nancy
