I know it has been a hot minute or three since our last subscriber Q&A. Typically, these are meant to be for the paid subscribers only but since it had been a minute, I did open this one up to every subscriber.

We had plenty of good questions, so let’s dive right in.

I had a feeling we’d get a lot on Peter Luccin and his status as interim manager. So we’ll start here with Andrew’s question about minimum requirements for him to land the full time job.

I think when he was hired it was fairly clear for Dan Hunt and Andre Zanotta:

  1. Advance deep into the US Open Cup
  2. Perform well enough in the Leagues Cup
  3. Reach the playoffs

In general, I don’t believe the early Leagues Cup exit will have a significant impact on Luccin as much as the exit in the US Open Cup. I genuinely believed that he needed to advance past Sporting KC and reach at least the semifinal round. At the time, we were unaware that the semifinal round would be against another USL Championship team since Atlanta United’s upset loss to Indy Eleven. Dallas would have hosted that game, providing an opportunity to reach the finals.

The one major thing that helps Luccin is that he is guy that the Hunts know very well. He’s been with the organization for a decade now and as we all know, that goes a long way with them.

As we move forward, I do think the losses in both tournaments won’t be weighed as heavily as reaching the MLS Cup Playoffs. If he continues to get this group to play at the level that we all expected them to, without any more significant injuries, they should be a playoff team.

But, should FC Dallas not reach the playoffs. I don’t think Luccin will get a full time offer from the Hunts. And in a way, he shouldn’t get one if they can’t reach the playoffs.

As for who the Hunts are targeting right now, I will be the first to admit that they’ve been very quiet on any candidates since moving to Luccin. Personally, I think that is a wise thing, considering you don’t want to rock the boat too much with a team and a staff that has performed better since Luccin took over.

If we say Luccin doesn’t get the job at the end of the year, here are my top candidates that I would expect them to look at or go after:

  1. Eric Quill - He was the first head coach at North Texas SC and had a ton of history in helping develop some key transfers for the club (Ricardo Pepi, Chris Richards and Tanner Tessman). He has done well this year with USL Championship side New Mexico United, too.
  2. Jason Kreis - While his last couple of head coaching gigs didn’t pan out, I have often wondered if a return to Dallas would be what could spark a reboot to his coaching career. I can think of a ton of storylines with this kind of hire.
  3. Greg Berhalter - I know this one will be very polarizing for fans given his national team history. And I know he’s going to be very expensive. But the guy knows MLS very well and has a relationship with the Hunts and Zanotta. I can see a scenario where FCD falls flat in the final nine games and the Hunts feel like they need to take a big chance with a coaching hire for a change.

Boy, Noah coming in hot with the questions.

  1. Out of those three mentioned, Paes is really the only one I would be worried/concerned about losing this winter. If he is getting good interest from Europe now, that will only continue to get louder in the winter.
  2. I kind of touched on it above but if he gets into the playoffs, yes.
  3. Ha, I just had a post where I put him on the list of players I wouldn’t expect back in 2025.
  4. Maurer should be moving into the front office after this season. Gonzalez could come back in 2025, he’s on a cheap deal so I could see that happen. Illarramendi is the big question mark, given his age and injury history. If he could stay healthy for 28-30 games a season, I would bring him back in a heart beat. I just don’t think he has that ability any more.
  5. I do, but only if they figure out a way to win at least ONE freakin’ game away from home.
  6. Million dollar question. I have loads of theories. Some range from just being unfortunate injuries (see Velasco and Geo Jesus), to players being too stubborn to not get injuries cleaned up in the offseason (see Ferreira), to the team not managing some injuries well enough (though, I do think they’ve gotten better in recent months there).

Gotta love a follow up or an additional question like this on Q&As. Thanks, Miles!

I’ll respond like this with these three and basically rank who I think could go first:

  1. Paes: The interest in Italy was just the start, I fully expect more to come this winter for him from clubs overseas. I’d still put his chances of leaving higher than the other two on the list.

  2. Velasco: I know the Boca rumors are still swirling around him but I don’t see him leaving Frisco until at least next summer. FC Dallas really hopes to sale him to a European club down the road and they need him back and healthy before they can do that.

  3. Ferreira: This is a weird one for me. Before this season, he would have been the top of this list. Now, I’m not entirely sure when he’ll leave FC Dallas anytime soon. The non-sale to Russia in the offseason could be part of that thinking but I get the sense that he could end up being traded within MLS before long instead of transferred out of the league (ie: like Kellyn Acosta a few years ago).


Thanks again for everyone who submitted questions! I promise to get better about doing these more frequently in the coming months.