{"id":6874,"date":"2011-11-06T08:09:32","date_gmt":"2011-11-06T13:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=6874"},"modified":"2011-11-06T08:09:32","modified_gmt":"2011-11-06T13:09:32","slug":"conversation-michael-burns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=6874","title":{"rendered":"Conversation: Michael Burns"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 It would be a skyscraper-sized understatement to say that the Revolution fell short of expectations in 2011.<\/p>\n

Between the five wins (franchise low), the 58 goals allowed (second worst in MLS), the negative-20 goal differential (the second worst in MLS), a nine-game winless streak (tied a franchise high), and\u2026well, you get the idea.<\/p>\n

It was a season that obviously didn\u2019t play out the way many expected, especially Revolution Vice President of Player Personnel Michael Burns.<\/p>\n

New England Soccer Today\u2019s<\/em> Brian O\u2019Connell caught up with Burns this week to talk about the youth academy, the 2011 season, and the all-important managerial search.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mike Burns, currently the Revs Vice President of Player Personnel, joined the front office as Director of Soccer in April of 2005.(Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

New England Soccer Today: Your title is Vice President of Player Personnel, but there seems to be some confusion about what exactly your responsibilities are. Could you explain what exactly your role entails?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Burns: <\/strong>What I do is that I work with the technical staff on anything to do with the team, from the first team to the reserve team to overseeing our youth development \u2013 our Under-16s and Under-18s. And like I said, my job and my involvement with the organization is clearly on the team side. I\u2019m not involved in the marketing, sponsorship, and ticketing side. And that\u2019s what it entails.<\/p>\n

Could you talk about some of the misconceptions about what you do, because there seems to be some ambiguity \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>What are the misconceptions? Because I don\u2019t know what they are\u2026<\/p>\n

Well, one is that you scout the players for the team. That you essentially select the players.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>Well, what I\u2019ll say to that is that I work with the coaching staff, but we\u2019ve never made a player personnel decision without any coach involvement. And when I say \u201ccoach,\u201d something that involves the head coach, sometimes that involves the entire coaching staff so\u2026 if that is a misconception, I\u2019d say, do I work with the coaching staff on those decisions? Then I\u2019d say absolutely yes. Do I exclusively make all of those decisions single-handedly? The answer is no.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been here in your role as VP of Player Personnel for the past\u00a06-7 years. How much has the league changed from your perspective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns:<\/strong> Well, to state the obvious, you have a lot more teams so you have more expansion, you\u2019ve got more soccer specific stadiums, you\u2019ve had a number of designated players have increased. So, there\u2019s been a fair amount of change, you have the relaunch of the reserve league, when I first started we didn\u2019t have academy teams, now we have 16s and 18s, so in a relatively short period of time since I started working with the Revs, a lot has changed.<\/p>\n

And among those changes, which has been the most challenging?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>I wouldn\u2019t look at like that. I wouldn\u2019t say there\u2019s one area that sticks out like it\u2019s been most difficult or most challenging. I think it\u2019s like anything – you have to change a little bit as things change within the league. You have to be able to adjust and adapt. So I don\u2019t look at it as there\u2019s one thing that\u2019s \u201cWow, that\u2019s really a burden for us\u201d or really a challenge. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s\u2026I don\u2019t look at it like that.<\/p>\n

As a former professional player yourself, how much of a benefit is an Academy, especially to a team like the Revolution?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>Listen, I\u2019ve said this before publicly, I mean I\u2019ve grown up in the area, I\u2019m from the area and obviously. If I was a 14, 15, of 16 year old growing up which I was\u2026The opportunity that our kids have now, right? And I\u2019m not just talking about just a Diego (Fagundez) who went from our youth academy to our first team, but that\u2019s what we\u2019re striving for. We want and hope that there\u2019ll be more kids coming through the program that will be first team players. But having said that, the harsh reality is that\u2019s not going to be the case for most players. But, for our kids to have an opportunity to play for 16s and 18s, to have most of your training sessions either in the fieldhouse or in the stadium , and to have most of your games at Gillette Stadium and it\u2019s a fully-funded program? You can\u2019t beat it. It\u2019s a phenomenal program and we\u2019ve made no secret about it. We\u2019re trying to attract the best and the most talented kids in the area. This program\u2019s not for everyone. But that is\u2026I didn\u2019t have that opportunity. And I wish I had, but the kids today have it.<\/p>\n

Speaking of opportunities, Diego is one of the guys that has obviously gotten the greatest opportunity since the Academy was launched. Is there an\u00a0expectation that more kids like him are going to be able to come through and do the same?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns:<\/strong> Our expectation is that we\u2019re going to have more kids come through. I can\u2019t tell you that it\u2019s going to be one kid every year, or two kids every year, or two kids every five years. We don\u2019t know that yet. We\u2019re only a three year old program. But what I can tell you is that league-wide, from when the academy was started to now, MLS and teams have signed, I think between 40-50 players, which is a pretty significant number if you look at the entire league. So, it\u2019s certainly trending in that direction in terms of more players ARE coming through the ranks and signing professional contracts and for MLS, that\u2019s obviously a big benefit for the teams.<\/p>\n

Going back to Diego, how did you first find out about him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>Well, we first found about him through our Academy and obviously he played for us and listen, we\u2019re in a unique situation unlike any other non-MLS academies to where we can invite Diego in to not only play in a reserve game, but to train with our first team. So, when you get to see a player in an environment training with your first team guys, that\u2019s the best environment you can provide for the player. So, it\u2019s not that he was just with our 16s and 18s, but we\u2019ve got him involved a little bit (with the first team) and I think we actually did a pretty good job this year with him in terms of trying to manage the expectations for him and, frankly, from fans and people on the outside. He played a little bit more toward the end of the season so we think that was managed well this year. It gave him an opportunity to play and when he came in, he did well. He\u2019s still only 16 years old and we\u2019ll see how next year goes for him.<\/p>\n

Is there anything you would have done differently with Diego, in hindsight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns:<\/strong> Well, he might say something different. He might say he wanted to play 25 games. But we\u2019re trying to look, with him, he is 16. We\u2019re just looking at the bigger picture with him.<\/p>\n

To switch the focus to the first team, how trying was this past year from your perspective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>I think from everyone\u2019s perspective it was trying. Without question. You win five out of 34 games, it\u2019s not a fun season for anyone. It\u2019s not a fun season for fans, it\u2019s not a fun season for management, it\u2019s not a fun season for coaches and players\u2026I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll find a single person who was happy with the way things went this year.<\/p>\n

In terms of bringing in some international players, like Milton Caraglio – there were reports that Caraglio was brought in based upon there being a DVD submitted of his highlights.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns:<\/strong> That\u2019s inaccurate\u2026<\/p>\n

OK.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns:<\/strong> That\u2019s true, we also had people that we trust see him in person and live and so that\u2019s a little bit..it\u2019s not entirely accurate that he was signed solely off of a DVD. That\u2019s not entirely 100% true.<\/p>\n

Along the lines of that, of the front office receiving a player\u2019s DVD reel like with Caraglio, instead of waiting for that DVD, wouldn\u2019t it be better go down there and scout him in person?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>Well, listen, I think if you look around the league, us included, listen, we\u2019re an 18-team league. There aren\u2019t scouting departments per se. So I think if you asked any team, and I\u2019ll speak for us, it\u2019s very, very challenging during the season and if you remember in Milton\u2019s case, he was a summer signing as was (Monsef) Zerka, it\u2019s very challenging for coaches to take time away from the first team during the season to go see people live. I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s impossible, but it\u2019s challenging.<\/p>\n

Now, back in April, you and Stevie (Nicol) went to Europe to go scout a few players, or a player. Can you reveal who that player was?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns:<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n

Could you explain how Caraglio fits the Designated Player description despite the $54,000 figure listed by the MLS players union?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>Listen, whether it\u2019s a designated player, or whether it\u2019s a minimum salaried player, that\u2019s one thing we won\u2019t talk about openly in terms of budget charges or salary charges or player\u2019s salary. So I wouldn\u2019t comment publicly on that. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right thing to do and as an organization, we don\u2019t talk about players\u2019 contracts publicly.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re looking at a postseason where the team\u2019s looking for a new coach. How far along is the team in terms of the interviewing process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns: <\/strong>That\u2019s a fair question. Right now, we\u2019re in the midst of the coaching search. For me, and for the organization, it\u2019s the number one priority. It\u2019s a big decision and as I said, we\u2019re in the midst of it. We\u2019re doing our due diligence. We have a lot to do in this offseason and obviously, I would\u2019ve liked to have the coach announced yesterday. But right now, we\u2019ll continue to interview people and as soon as we can hire someone, we will, without rushing into it. But it\u2019s a top priority.<\/p>\n

Is there an inclination to hire a certain type of coach, whether it\u2019s a college coach or an MLS assistant?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burns:<\/strong> Yeah, I\u2019m not going to comment on the people that we\u2019re interviewing. I\u2019m not going to comment on which direction we\u2019re going to go in. We\u2019re going to try to hire the best candidate we can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian O’Connell speaks with Revolution Vice President of Player Personnel Michael Burns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/burnsfeature.jpg?fit=490%2C225","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6874"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6910,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions\/6910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}