WASHINGTON, D.C. — D.C. United seems to have added a technical director to its front office staff for the first time since General Manager Dave Kasper assumed the role 11 years ago. Real Salt Lake technical director and former United midfielder Dane Murphy has changed his job title on LinkedIn to “Technical Director at D.C. United.”
When asked about the potential hire during an end-of-season news conference Tuesday, United coach Ben Olsen said, “If that was the case, it shows more commitment from the ownership toward the infrastructure here and keeping up with the way this league is going. You need a lot of eyes. A lot of people pulling in the right direction to be successful in this club.”
In addition to updating his LinkedIn profile, Murphy updated his Twitter description to “D.C. United” and location to Washington, D.C. His profile also features an image of Murphy in his playing days battling for a ball against current United captain Wayne Rooney.
Most recently, Murphy was the technical director at Real Salt Lake. He assumed the position at the start of the 2018 season after spending a year as a scout for the Utah MLS team.
“If it is Dane, in the end, I have known him for a long time,” Olsen said. “He has a really good eye for players and he is a smart kid. I think he has done a very good job at Salt Lake with the team now.”
United was reportedly in discussions in September to hire a technical director to work under Kasper, which was originally reported by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
“Each year, the staffing becomes more and more important with how the global the game is, the scouting and how much there is to these operations,” Olsen said. “It is important, but it is more important to get the right people.”
United made moves to improve global scouting earlier this year by hiring Rodrigo Robles as Director of South American Scouting to identify and recruit new talent from the region. United made its biggest international signing to date this season with the acquisition of Rooney from the English Premier League.
“This club has done a good job of hiring the right personalities both in a technical way and who they are as people and in how they look after each other here at this club,” Olsen said.
Murphy is no stranger to MLS or United. He made his professional debut with D.C. United in 2008 after playing four seasons at Olsen’s alma mater, The University of Virginia. He made the move to Europe in 2009, signing with third division German Bundesliga side VFL Osnabruck. He played the last years of his career with the NASL side New York Cosmos. Upon retiring from playing, Murphy joined the Cosmos technical staff as head scout.
Murphy would be United’s first technical director in more than a decade. Kasper was United’s last official technical director. He was brought on in 2002 before transitioning to general manager in 2017 under former president and CEO Kevin Payne.
United did not have further comments on the potential addition to the front office at this time.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.