Lucy Rushton reportedly named D.C. United general manager, becoming second female GM in MLS

Lucy Rushton will be D.C. United's new general manager in another significant step for women in major male professional sports.

Sportico reported Monday that Rushton and the MLS club have agreed to terms on a general manger contract. She'll be the second female general manager in MLS history after Lynne Meterparel of the San Jose Clash (now the Houston Dynamo), and the third woman in the position in major men's professional sports.

Kim Ng was the first in one of the big three North American sports when she was hired by the Miami Marlins last November. A handful of general managers in the WNBA and NWSL are women.

Rushton named GM in D.C. United shakeup

Rushton's historic hiring follows another at D.C. United and is part of a major shakeup at the club.

The club hired Danita Johnson as its president of business operations in December. Johnson is the first Black person only the third woman to hold the role.

Rushton is taking over for Dave Kasper, who joined the club in 2002 and will move into the president of soccer operations role, per Sportico. He has served as general manager since 2007 and as vice president of soccer operations since 2014.

D.C. United hired Hernán Losada as its new head coach in January, replacing their coach of the past decade in Ben Olsen. They've also parted ways with Chris Deubert, their head legal counsel since November of 2018, per The Athletic.

The club went 5-6-12 last season and finished second-to-last in the Eastern Conference. While they have won the Supporters' Shields with the best regular season record in 2006 and 2007, D.C. United has not won MLS Cup since 2004. It won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competitions in 2008 and 2013.

Who is Lucy Rushton?

Rushton is currently the head of technical recruitment and analysis at Atlanta United. She's also spent time at Reading FC and Watford in England.

As coach she helped lead Atlanta United to the 2018 MLS Cup title in its second season of existence. She has been praised as an analytics expert with critical contributions to that championship.

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