New Crew era attractive to executive additions
Tim Bezbatchenko needed help. A couple of months before the start of the 2020 season, the Crew president and general manager saw two of his key executives — director of team operations Zach Crusse and academy general manager Dennis Sanchez — leave the club for other opportunities.
With plans to field a reserve team, Crew 2, in the United Soccer League and to open a new stadium and training ground in 2021 — and also trying to maintain a top team in Major League Soccer this year — Bezbatchenko sought new hires who had been through similar transformations.
He eventually settled on two people whom he had worked with in Toronto before taking the Crew job in January 2019.
In March, Bezbatchenko hired Jaime Mcmillan as vice president of soccer administration and operations and Corey Wray as assistant GM of the Crew and GM of Crew 2, which has not yet been formed.
Mcmillan and Wray, who have been married since 2016, played significant roles in turning Toronto FC from an Eastern Conference doormat into one of the best teams in MLS.
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In Columbus, they will not face the same drastic construction of a championship contender that they executed in Toronto, which entered MLS as an expansion team in 2007 and did not qualify for the playoffs in its first eight seasons.
But Mcmillan and Wray found the idea of building the Crew into a consistent winner more appealing than trying to sustain what they helped build in Toronto, the 2017 MLS Cup champion and runner-up in 2016 and ‘19.
“It was a hard decision; I have to be candid and honest because Toronto is my home,” Mcmillan said. “(But) every time I see these new images of this jewel of a stadium and this gorgeous training ground, and you hear Tim speak about what the vision is, there’s an allure to be a part of that.”
Mcmillan began as Toronto’s coordinator of business operations in 2010 and worked her way up to senior director of administration and operations in 2018.
“She’s grown to the point where she’s a leader, she’s well-respected within the industry,” Bezbatchenko said. “I can tell you we’re not the first club that has expressed their appreciation for her talents and what she brings.”
Bezbatchenko said Mcmillan was integral in the so-called “Bloody Big Deal” in 2013, when Toronto acquired Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe to start the process of becoming an MLS contender.
“Jaime will make the entire organization better,” former Toronto striker Jozy Altidore said on Twitter about the Crew’s hiring.
Bezbatchenko said Mcmillan can handle anything from day-to-day soccer operations to managing facilities and training grounds. Her expertise in caring for players and staff and their families, however, is what might separate the Crew from other teams.
“What I have found is that it’s very easy to talk about family or culture in words,” Mcmillan said. “The difference is putting it in action and living it.”
Wray began as an intern in Toronto FC’S first season, then progressed to director of team operations and eventually assistant general manager under Bezbatchenko.
Besides helping as a scout and with analytics to identify players to acquire, Wray — along with Mcmillan — helped streamline the player pathway from Toronto’s academy to the professional ranks with the senior roster or the reserve team.
“He has a really nice touch for player recruitment and establishing rapport with agents and with players in a variety of different ways,” Bezbatchenko said.
Wray said one of the challenges he sees in his new role is educating parents of academy players and other youth teams on the best pathway for their sons to play professional soccer. But the process of building another reserve team from the ground up appealed to him.
“It’s really important to us to be cutting edge in what we’re doing and, I think, innovative as much as possible in the areas that we can (be),” Wray said.
The coronavirus pandemic and government-mandated 14-day quarantines when they travel back to Canada have complicated the couple’s move. Wray estimated they have stayed in nine different places — apartments, Airbnbs, and their house in Columbus — since moving from Toronto.
They’re ready to make Columbus their home, with a winning soccer team being a main attraction.
“All the pieces are there to put something together that the city of Columbus deserves,” Mcmillan said. jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers