“Do you understand serendipity? Everything has been like this for me,” Wilfried Nancy says, leaning in as we sit at the Goat Tree café in Santa Barbara, California, on a sun-kissed day.
The Columbus Crew head coach’s journey is punctuated with firsts. Of the eight Black coaches in MLS’ 29-year history, Nancy is the first one to win MLS Cup. Oftentimes, it is orchestrated fate, curated circumstance, celestial alignment to be “the first,” and Nancy, having kicked the door off the hinges in December 2023 in Columbus, Ohio, stands tall in the threshold, leading the pathway for others.
I give a connecting nod and say to myself, “Yes, I know this word serendipity.”
Nancy’s mindset can be aptly described as, what’s past is prologue. “I am a present moment guy. The past for me is something that helps me to build the future,” the 46 year-old said. “Yes, I have a clear vision about who I want to become as a human being and also as a coach. But I can only control the present moments. So, for me, what I’ve learned is to live these present moments and to be myself.”
Renowned in league circles for his ability to adapt tactics based on the strengths of his teams, he crafts game plans that are as dynamic as they are effective.
“I have a code, be yourself because everyone else is already taken,” he said.
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Columbus Crew co-owner Dee Haslam, who leads the most diverse front office and technical staff in the MLS and is the first female owner to win the MLS Cup twice, is not surprised by Nancy’s success.
“Well, I tell you what, we do quite an intensive process when we select coaches, we talk to lots and lots of people that know him from all different directions,” Haslam said. “We knew he was a tremendous leader, a great communicator, and a really, really good person who exudes that passion and enthusiasm for the sport.”
Nancy said, “When I knew that Columbus wanted to get me, yes, I had a different proposition. The people that I work with, it’s really important. Is there a connection with my vision and also the organization? And for me, when I sat with them, a lot of values that we have are the same.”
None of this is lost to Crew captain and four-time MLS Cup champion Darlington Nagbe, who is entering his 14th season in MLS.
“You always look around the league, and you see how few Black coaches there are,” Nagbe said. “I feel like when Wilfried came here, it was just a great opportunity, at the right club, with the right players, you know?”
Robin Fraser, 2021 MLS Coach of the Year runner up who led the Colorado Rapids to the Western Conference regular-season title, said, “A club that is supportive, upper management that’s supportive, the Haslams, and when you put all the right ingredients together, then you get results like they’ve got.”
Upper management is led by president and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko.
“You certainly have to sacrifice yourself for the good of the whole and for the club or for the team. But it’s amazing when it comes together, like it did last year,” Bezbatchenko said. “The payoffs are great.”
As “Bez” and I sit at Crew training during the final week of their preseason at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, he expresses his gratitude for the opportunity to do what he loves. “We’re in a fortunate situation,” he said. “The mindset is let’s do something really meaningful. Let’s be bold, let’s be brave.”
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Nancy’s story is not just the achievements on the field but the essence of a coach whose journey promises to leave his mark on the craft.
“How am I going to transmit my why? My why is clear, but I have to convince, that this is not for me, but because you believe that this is good for you,” Nancy said of how he communicates with players. “So how to transmit is to understand people. This is the big nuance.”
Nancy focuses his gaze. “You need empathy. And if you are not comfortable with that, you are in trouble. My job is not about winning, because I know that I have to win. But I have to develop certain tools for the player to help them, and for me, I took that for my teaching, for my day-to-day work. I believe a lot in vulnerability. And sometimes as a coach, you have to be vulnerable as a human being.”
We talk shop, exchanging thoughts, ideas and principles, from his insight into the game as a former center back to training exercises that provide three or four solutions.
Nagbe, who is the best player in the world on the ball under pressure, said, “Coach really wants the guys, not just me, but a group of guys to take control and help form that identity of the team,” he said.
“I want to be myself and try to win the way that I want. Yes, I want to inspire people. And to inspire people, you have to think outside the box,” Nancy said.
Nagbe said, “He has obviously styled how he wants us to play, but he wants us to lead the culture, lead the locker room, lead in that type of way. He wants all those people to take charge, have ownership of what we’re trying to do.
“Even if we try something, if we think something, if we try it out, we do it. It doesn’t work, like, he’s cool with scrapping it. He ain’t too proud for that. He’s happy we tried it, it’s a process and he’s happy we took ownership and tried something different.”
Nancy, like many Black coaches who have worked relentlessly while being unseen, has brightened the entire coaching community itself.
“I was happy for him when he got the job,” Fraser said. “Obviously he’s done extremely, extremely well. I always thought he was a really, really classy guy, the way he handled himself. My first thought was I’m superhappy for him. And my second thought was, f—! I was supposed to be the first. I absolutely appreciate the significance.
“I went to Columbus last year and he and I have exchanged texts over the years, congratulatory texts and that sort of thing. I don’t know Wilfried’s wife at all, but he told me that she told him to make sure to say hello and to connect with me. It was really a sense of there aren’t too many of us and to look out for each other.”
Sometimes the most inspiring people do not realize they are inspiring other people. But Nancy understands the assignment.
“For me, trophies and so on, this is not the most important,” Nancy said. “There is something more important than a trophy. Yeah, I want to inspire again with a lot of humility, but I want to convince people that we can do things.”
