Austin FC announced today that Claudio Reyna has transitioned into a technical advisor role, from the club’s sporting director. In addition to his responsibilities as head coach, Josh Wolff will now serve as the club’s Chief Soccer Officer on an interim basis and lead Austin FC’s sporting department. Sean Rubio, who has served alongside Wolff and Reyna as director of player personnel since August 2020, has been promoted to interim sporting director as part of the restructuring.
“We are grateful for Claudio’s contributions to both our club and our community,” said Austin FC majority owner and Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Precourt. “Claudio has been committed to building a club that inspires Austin, and he will remain in a position to contribute to our organization.”
“I am grateful that Anthony and the organization have given me the opportunity to reclaim my role and responsibilities and continue to contribute to the success of a club that I love,” said Austin FC technical advisor Claudio Reyna. “I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved but I’m looking forward to a less demanding work schedule that still allows me to assist with ongoing club development.”
To help ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities, Reyna will remain with Austin FC as a technical advisor, while head coach Josh Wolff and interim sporting director Sean Rubio will jointly assume additional day-to-day responsibilities, including the club’s talent identification, acquisition, and management strategy. , as well as full technical and high-performance duties. While Wolff will lead the sports department as Austin FC’s interim chief soccer officer, both he and Rubio will report directly to Austin FC majority owner and CEO Anthony Precourt.
“I’m confident in the leadership team we have in place at our club,” Precourt said. “Josh is a tremendous leader and is without question one of the best coaches in North America. Working alongside Sean, whose talent and experience has been absolutely critical in our roster construction over the past two seasons, I have full faith that we have the People in court to continue to compete for trophies and make Austin proud.
In addition to Wolff and Rubio, Nolan Sheldon – who previously served as an assistant under Wolff for both the 2021 and 2022 seasons – will take on additional responsibilities in Austin FC’s sporting operations, overseeing the connectivity between the academy, ATXFC II and the First team. Both Sheldon and Austin FC sophomore head coach Brett Uttley will report directly to Wolfe, as will High Performance Director Dave Tenney and Vice President of Sporting Operations Andrew DiLalo. The Austin FC Academy will now reside under the daily supervision of Rubio.
Austin FC began its preparations for the 2023 season on Friday, January 6 with ten days of training in St. David’s Performance Center. The team is currently based in its preseason camp in Florida where it will be stationed from January 16-27. After spending six (6) days at IMG Academy in Bradenton culminating with a match against Philadelphia Union on Saturday, January 21, the Verde and Black will spend five (5) days in Orlando with a match against FC Cincinnati on Friday, January. 27 in Clearwater.
After returning to Austin, the club will host USL Championship sides El Paso Locomotive FC and Louisville City FC in St. Louis. David’s Performance Center for friendly matches on Saturday 4 February and Saturday 11 February respectively.
Following the end of preseason training, Austin FC will begin its third season with back-to-back home matches at Q2 Stadium against 2023 MLS expansion club St. 25 and Saturday March 4 respectively. ATXFC’s first road match of 2023 will see the Verde & Black take on Real Salt Lake on Saturday, March 11 at American First Field in Sandy, Utah.
On the field, Austin FC had a historic 2022 campaign in which the club finished second in the MLS Western Conference and tied the league record for the largest point improvement by a second-year expansion team (+25). Austin also became only the third MLS team to advance through its first two rounds of post-season play in club history, defeating Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas to reach the Western Conference Final. In addition, the club qualified for the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League by finishing fourth in the Supporters’ Shield standings.
