Racing Louisville FC has hired Ryan Dell as its new general manager, the club announced Wednesday. Dell most recently occupied the role of team manager for the U.S. women’s national team, though he’s been with U.S. Soccer since 2013 — exclusively on the women’s side of the game.
Dell will report directly to Racing’s ownership group. Louisville coach Kim Björkegren, along with the rest of the club’s technical and support staff, will now report to Dell. While he has one last stint with the national team next month, he’s already started working with Racing after completing his NWSL background check.
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Dell’s hiring completes the promise the club made last October in the wake of the independent investigation led by Sally Q. Yates to address concerns about its environment for players. In a letter sent to season ticket holders, Racing Louisville stated they were hiring a Racing-specific general manager “to oversee day-to-day team operations with a goal toward improving on and off the field. Duties include oversight of performance, player recruitment and compliance while providing support and insight for players and staff.”
The need for a women’s-specific role within the organization was only heightened following the release of the NWSL and NWSL Player Association’s joint investigation in December. In the league’s action items following the report, a key was “revising league and club minimum standards and staffing/reporting requirements with an emphasis on having clubs dedicate full-time employees to the Human Resources and General Manager positions.”
While the introduction of Dell is not the only answer to Louisville’s long-term plans to ensure a safer environment, shifting the structure away from reporting to USL Championship-affiliate Louisville City president James O’Connor does provide further separation and direct support for the NWSL team. O’Connor has come under extensive scrutiny for his role in handling the termination of former head coach Christy Holly following reports of misconduct.
Players were involved in the hiring and interview process for the new general manager position.
𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫.
Introducing #RacingLou’s first general manager, Ryan Dell! pic.twitter.com/FVKDQIrjFW
— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) March 29, 2023
“Hiring Ryan is such a huge step for our club,” Racing captain and USWNT midfielder Jaelin Howell said in the press release. “No doubt he is going to help us grow into the successful organization we want to be. Anyone who has worked with Ryan not only knows how incredibly good he is at his job, but also how great of a person he is, too.”
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There’s a lot of work ahead for Dell, not just in regard to the team — he told The Athletic he has a running list of “100 things” he wants to address — but to help rebuild trust in the Racing Louisville front office. But there are also some other more fun benefits: Dell’s a scotch and bourbon guy, and he had already done the Kentucky Bourbon trail, but there’s now even more time to explore.
Dell discussed the career move, how he views the role of a general manager, and his view of Louisville and the NWSL as a whole ahead of Wednesday’s official announcement.
Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
You know how this happened better than anyone, what’s the story on your move to Louisville?
It was a little surprising, I think, to some of the people at U.S. Soccer when we were able to tell them. I think this league is booming. I think this organization is set up to do the same. I do think there was a void here in the GM space, and I’m learning that being on the ground. Now I know how we can help, and that’s so exciting.
This club has probably the best facilities in the league. That’s my opinion having seen the majority of them. It has incredible support; It’s the only top-tier professional team within two hours. There’s an incredible opportunity here to do some amazing things for amazing athletes in this league.
When this opportunity arose, and we had started communicating, right around the first of the year, I did my first three interviews while we (the USWNT) were in New Zealand. I think we were doing them around three and four in the morning. The interviews were just talking to Kim (Björkegren), talking to ownership, and talking to the players. It has this incredible foundation, and we can do so much with it and continue to grow this team in this league. I just think it’s an opportunity that cannot be undersold.
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Every team approaches the general manager role a little differently. What’s your philosophy about what this role should be?
There’s certainly no specific job description (across the league), it’s kind of what each team needs. I’ve talked to GMs in this league, and I’ve talked to some team presidents and things through my old role with the WNT. I think for now, it’s learning what’s happening in this environment, and how we can support resources and experience. We have a lot of experience (with the WNT) creating high-profile and elite-level training environments, and how do we take that and then transition it to what we’re doing here in Louisville? That’s the most important thing. For me, I think it’s operational, overseeing this entire organization of Racing Louisville from the technical to the operational and the support pieces.
This is a change for Louisville, having a GM solely responsible for Racing. What are you already thinking about in the short term and the long term?
I’ve got a list of about 100 things, and as I went to training today, it just grew. I had lunch with Kim, I met him after training for an hour just trying to get to know each other. Every time, you just think of something else. I’ve got it on a Google Sheet now so I can get it on any device.
I think it’s about unlocking this potential. I talked about the void (of the team not having a GM), but the communication to the players, to the league, to the stakeholders, to supporters, to sponsors, are all things that we can start to do. Communication in my old role, the last campaign, we had 39 staff, 23 players, and then U.S. Soccer and the venues. So essentially my job I described as a funnel. You get all this information, and I got to disseminate out what’s important. The filter.
I think it’s very similar here. You have stakeholders, and supporters. I can’t wait to meet the supporters, and it’s gonna be great. I know there are some apprehensions here and I hope we can quell those. I met with the players, and they have talked about how they feel safe, they’ve transitioned and they’re moving forward into 2023. I do think it’s kind of funneling those things in and then out to the league, to your partners, in essentially just being that catalyst to conversations that never had been had before.
You’re not the first person to make this career move from USWNT team manager to NWSL general manager. Have you discussed this with San Diego Wave FC’s GM Molly Downtain at all?
What she and Jill (Ellis) have done out there, I mean, 30,000 fans in San Diego (for opening weekend)? Incredible. I’ve talked to her, I’ve talked to Jill, and I’ve talked to a lot of people throughout this process. It was a very interesting process, if I’m being honest because you feel like you’re qualified, but you don’t know.
So I did talk to Molly. We’ve stayed close. Molly was like a sister to me when we were at the national team level. We worked hand-in-hand, and I was fortunate enough to take over for her when she left the federation. Now being here in the league, it’s exciting to see what they’re doing in San Diego.
How will you bring your perspective from the national team to NWSL?
I think that our position in the league, from a front office perspective, we can grow now. I’m so excited, I’ve already talked to John Neace (the club’s chairman and CEO) about how we want to be in the room when decisions are made, how we want to be on these committees that are deciding things because the league is growing. We have a new media rights deal coming, players are coming. With the World Cup, you expect a World Cup boom.
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I think that from my view with the national team, creating those environments, being with those people — it’s weird in that (USWNT) role, you’re meeting ambassadors and senators, all these things you never thought you would do. I’m just a kid from St. Louis, from a blue-collar family. These are things I never expected, but taking that and transitioning here, I think we can do some really, really good things in the league.
How are you at watching games? Are you a person who can handle the emotions of a game day, will it change for you in a new role?
I don’t know in this role! But on a good day for me at the national team level, it’s been very calm. I firmly believe that how your leader reacts to something is how people behind you will react. (USWNT general manager) Kate Markgraf said to me one day at SheBelieves, ‘Wow, you were grumpy on game day.’ But I don’t think I was being grumpy, just very direct, right? Just focused, you’re dialed in. And I think that’s how it will be, but it’s just different now. I won’t be in the locker room and those processes, so I will miss that.
But I think I’ll probably stand. I’m a big soccer/football fan. I cannot sit. I have to stand. My wife gets annoyed, but I think I’m gonna have to stand the whole time because I don’t think I’m going to be able to relax.
(Photo: Racing Louisville FC)
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