Already this offseason, the USL Championship and League One’s 43 teams have combined to sign more than 330 players. Each and every one of them was subject to a scouting process by their new club.
From the outside looking in, scouting is invisible. Performance and tactics are obvious on the pitch, but how players are initially identified isn’t so clear. In conversation with Backheeled, Fort Wayne FC sporting director Oliver Gage and Richmond Kickers manager and chief soccer officer Darren Sawatzky pulled back the curtain on scouting in the USL.
Sawatzky is entering his seventh season at the Richmond helm, and he’s a self-described “one-stop shop” when it comes to player identification. The Kickers are run on a tight budget, even compared to their peers in League One. Thus, their manager wears multiple hats.
“I was at a combine two weeks ago with the people from Spokane and Boise, and they literally had five different people doing what I do all the time,” Sawatzky said. “I have a COO here who will sometimes look over contracts with me just to make sure that I didn't miss something – it's always good to have a couple of set eyeballs. But for the most part, the lion's share of that stuff lands in my lap. We don't have the resources for a scouting department.”
