Wednesday of last week, USL announced its new USL Forward program, a “multi-dimensional, leaguewide initiative” that “prioritizes professional development for technical staff, league and club executives, and local communities with the intention of increasing racial and gender diversity in leadership roles throughout the USL ecosystem.” The league announcement touted the program as a response to “the lack of diversity among technical staff and executive positions.”

While the program is expansive (and will continue to expand in the future) and touches all leagues within the USL umbrella, the first phase of the program focused on identifying highly qualified candidates and placing them within a Pro Preseason Residency Program (PPR). The program will partner those candidates with professional clubs within the USL league structure and place them within executive and coaching staffs to aid in their development. The candidates selected for the initial launch were Julie Carlson, Lekeisha Gumbs, Lauryn Hutchinson, Troy McKerrell, and Joseph Nane.

Joseph Nane is a player-to-coach resident with the Oakland Roots. *Image courtesy of Oakland Roots*

These candidates are all women or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). In Phase One of the program, the candidates will be placed with professional clubs for “experiential professional environment immersion.” In Phrase Two, the candidates will regularly meet with mentors throughout the year to continue their development. Phase Three will focus on refining the program through feedback and this year’s group preparing to mentor the next class of resident coaches. Dr. Chis Busey, VP of DEI and Community Impact, highlighted the quality of the candidates: “If you look at the five coaches who will be participating in this pilot year, there’s no dispute regarding their qualifications. These are coaches who have all taken the necessary steps of getting their coaching licensure. These are coaches who have experience on the playing side…This is a group of qualified coaches. These are coaches who are knocking it out of the park in the preprofessional system. They’re doing what it takes to really be students and stewards of the game.”

Paired with the PPR Program was an announced expansion of coaching education scholarships. Since 2022, the USL has worked with US Soccer and KwikGoal to provide assistance for select candidates to achieve their coaching licenses. Additionally, each year, one scholarship is awarded to a current USL player, to set them up for success in their post-playing career. Liam O’Connell, the USL Technical Director, spoke about the new program in the press release. “We’re confident this broader strategic plan will help more coaches of all backgrounds develop their craft, continue their education, and build upon their network, all while gaining further access into USL’s growing coaching pathways from the youth to professional ranks.”

DEI Work in USL HQ

Dr. Chris Busey, who was influential in the creation and development of USL Forward, spoke extensively with Protagonist Soccer regarding his work in the USL and the broader work of DEI in the country. “There is a lot of misinformation regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion work. The way I try to simplify it, we are into leveling the playing field. We want to open doors and build tables…EDI is really about looking for where those gaps exist in our ecosystem.” Dr. Busey went on to point out the benefits businesses have repeatedly reaped thanks to a more inclusive and diverse approach to hiring and management.”

Dr. Busey has overseen the development of DEI work in USL.

When the USL Forward announcement was made, the majority of the response was positive, particularly from established USL fangroups. There was however, some backlash from the more conservative, faceless avatar types. Dr. Busey sees that pushback against DEI work as a combination of misinformation and racism. “The two go hand in hand, they’re congruent. If you go back into the history of this country, a lot of the racialization practices and discourses surrounding racist ideas have been grounded in misinformation.” For the USL VP, trying to win over the hearts and minds of those fighting against the work towards equity is the biggest step. “When you look at this issue we’re currently facing around EDI, a lot of it is building that knowledge base necessary to cultivate understanding and a shared buy-in.”

If hearts and minds are unchanged, forcing equality into the workplace is a complicated matter. Dr. Busey was quick to point out that mandating equality is a hard ask. Would the league consider something similar to the NFL’s Rooney Rule (which requires candidates of color to be interviewed for hiring vacancies)? “If the goal is to produce more interview opportunities for women and BIPOC coaches, then maybe something like the Rooney Rule would work, IF the goal is to produce interviews. If the goal is to produce opportunities we’re going to have to innovate a little bit. If the goal is to level the playing field we’re REALLY going to have to take those necessary steps to innovate. There’s not going to be a single policy to solve the issue.”

The State of Play

For Dr. Busey, the goal of working toward equality is “systemic change.” That systemic change is certainly needed if the goal is a more diverse group of executives and coaches in soccer in general and USL specifically. When asked about the number of BIPOC coaches in the USL league system, Dr. Busey was honest about the numbers. “If you look at the pro side last year, we had zero black coaches. This year, we’re going into the season with two black head coaches…On our prepro side, those numbers are very low as well.”

There’s a clear need for more diversity within the leadership of the league, especially considering the number of BIPOC players currently filling club rosters. Diversity on the league’s roster sheets should extend to the hands filling them out. And while the implementation of USL Forward is a great first step to begin addressing that lack of diversity within the coaching ranks of the USL, there is so much more work to be done throughout the sport, much of which will be against the stiff winds of current political opposition. Doing right may not be easy, but being on the right side of history isn’t an option.

If you’d like to listen to the full conversation with Dr. Busey, here’s the podcast link.

- Dan Vaughn