When Dallas Trinity announced its entry into the USL Super League, there were plenty of reasons to take the club seriously. Just the owners of the club are enough to know that the team will have both business acumen and the wallet to fund the team. Jim Neil, founder of the Churchill Capital Company, is a big name in real estate in the Dallas Metroplex and now owns the newest professional soccer club in the city. The Neil family has long been interested in soccer, beginning with their own children’s path through the youth game. Their son, Trip Neil, serves as the director of the US Deaf Soccer Association. But the soccer connection doesn’t end there. The rest of the family and in-laws all have connections to soccer, playing at high levels across high school and soccer careers. Now they are bringing that experience to their new women’s soccer team.

In an interview with D Magazine just after the announced expansion, Jim highlighted his focus on women’s soccer and Dallas in particular. “Women’s sport is maturing rapidly, and DFW is probably the best metro area in the world to start an enterprise like this due to the tremendous economic growth and migration”

While the Neil group had originally sought to found an NWSL team in the Dallas area, the expected 50m+ expansion fee made looking elsewhere a better investment. Enter the USL Super League. And while the family has plenty of connections to soccer and understands the game, having a solid background in business means they know their own limitations when it comes to club-building. To make that happen, they brought in an experienced soccer veteran, Chris Petrucelli.

Petrucelli recently coached the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL, but has a long coaching resume in Texas colleges, including SMU and the University of Texas, and in the US National team system. He knows his way around a training ground and has been tasked with the job of building Dallas Trinity’s roster as the club’s first General Manager.

Chris Pertucelli, Trinity GM. *Image courtesy of Dallas Trinity*

“The background I have is mostly in college coaching, the last two years at the professional level. So when you're a college coach, you are doing a lot more than just coaching,” Petrucelli responded when asked about how his experience prepared him for the GM role. “You're putting together a staff, you're recruiting a team, you're running your whole business really. And I think that translates very well into being the GM…When you're a college coach, the coaching part is about 10% of what you do and then there's there's a 90% out there.”

Building a Team

The biggest part of Petrucelli’s job is Tinity’s roster and he’s well on his way to completing the opening day team. His approach has been a metroplex-area focused one, as the depth of talent in the area is off the charts. “We know that the quality of player in this area is pretty good. So the core of our roster is probably going to be players from this area.” But plenty of those players have experience playing around the world. “Many of those players have gone off to play elsewhere and things like that, but we knew that the core of the roster were going to be players from the Metroplex.”

Petrucelli’s experience in coaching women’s soccer for close to 20 years gave him a head start finding players. “I think a pretty good knowledge of the American players, over the years of coaching national teams or working in the NWSL or colleges. I think I have a pretty good handle on the pool of American players that are out there.” His signings already reflect his experience, with several former SMU Mustangs making the cut, including goalkeeper Sam Estrada.

While no head coach has been announced as of yet, the GM has a style of play in mind and has built the roster to fulfill it. “We have a vision of how we want the team to play. We want the team to be an aggressive, attacking team. We want the team to be possession-oriented. We want the team to be able to play at a high level and a high pace. So that certainly is in mind as I'm identifying players.”

On Old Friends and New Homes

Plenty of fans are curious about the relationship between the USL Super League and the NWSL and few people would be as informed as a former NWSL head coach and current GM, Chris Petrucelli. “All I can tell you is I have good relationships with the people in the league [NWSL] and they've been fantastic. I've talked to a number of different coaches and GMs and they've all been very supportive, wishing us well and that sort of thing. At the league level, I have no idea what goes on and how those things are playing out.”

In 1994, the Cotton Bowl hosted multiple World Cup matches. Image courtesy of Dallas Trinity

While the NWSL may have a leg up on the Super League with a decade in the books already, Dallas Trinity will be playing a stadium that will rival most of the home fields in either league, the Cotton Bowl. The iconic stadium was built in 1930 and has been the home to many an epic college football clash, but now it will be the home of Petrucelli’s Trinity. “We knew that we wanted to be in Dallas. We wanted to be on grass and in a professional stadium. That’s it. So it's the Cotton Bowl.” He goes on to say that there were plenty of high class facilities in the area, but they were all turf fields and the club’s approach is focused on player safety. “We thought about the players, right? And the players want to play on grass and we put the players’ needs first. The league is focused on being a player-centric league, so that was really what guided that decision, we really wanted to be on the grass. You're on grass, it's a historic stadium, it is downtown. We'll celebrate those things.”

With just two months to go before the season opener against Tampa Bay, there’s still plenty of tasks for Petrucelli and the Trinity team to complete. But given his experience and wealth of knowledge of Texas soccer, he’s well-equiped to get the job done.

- Dan Vaughn