Major League Rugby made its debut in Arlington this year with the Dallas Jackals concluding their winless rookie season in early June.
Looking to put their 2022 season in the rearview mirror, newly appointed general manager Santi Sodini spoke with KRLD about his experience, goals for this team, and the importance of promoting local prospects.
A former professional rugby player himself in Italy, England, and Australia, Sodini has experience working with MLB, MLS, and NFL organizations. In 2021, he also worked with MLR's Rugby ATL as their high-performance manager - a season in which they reached the final.
Now setting up shop in Texas, Sodini doesn't see his hiring as 'big news,' but rather an opportunity to play a part in improving an organization.
"I always imagined ways to add value to organizations," Sodini said.
"In this case, I add value as the general manager of the Dallas Jackals which is a big challenge, and commitment for me, a responsibility within the Dallas Jackals organization. But that's how I see myself, I'm not seeing [myself] only as a role or as a big announcement, I see it as a big opportunity to add value as a general manager."
Looking ahead, there is plenty of work to be done if he's to turn this 0-16 team into a winner in 2023. And the first step for Sodini is ensuring a sense of tunnel vision among members of staff.
"First of all, we are starting to talk to all the people involved in the organization, we're having calls and talks with all of them from the players to, of course, the assistants. And we are making sure we are aligned on the same page," Sodini said.
With the blinders on, focusing on turning this ship around, the next step will be to hire the team's first head coach - after last year's appointment fell through due to visa issues.
Thankfully for Jackals fans, this wait should be over shortly.
"Then regarding the dates...we've started the search for the head coach which we should be announcing pretty soon," Sodini said. "Then we have the draft which is going to be on August 18th. And then of course after that, we're planning to have some activities between now and Thanksgiving, and then of course our plan is to have everyone ready to go on the first week of January so we can have everyone settled so when the MLR preseason officially starts we are all here and not waiting for anyone regarding anything. You never know if something comes up, but we are planning to have everyone as soon as the winter holidays finish here, we want everyone to be here in Dallas ready to go."
So with approximately five months to go until his first Jackals team needs to be ready and raring to go, what sort of team is Sodini looking to construct?
"First of all, we need to make sure we have a winning team," Sodini said. "Our mindset is to win games and then of course after that we go to playoffs and look at the possibility of winning a championship. But we are looking to cover every aspect of the game and make sure when we get to the season, which is a tough season because we need to play during the winter in tough weather and then you need to play in the summer, so we need to make sure we have the resources to play in every environment and every scenario."
And a major part of the future success of the Jackals, as is the case with fellow professional DFW franchise FC Dallas, is local prospects.
"We need to create a pathway, especially for the whole region including Oklahoma as well," Sodini said.
"The only way to go is to create local talent, I'm talking about American talent, and that's the only way to get better, especially with the Rugby World Cup coming in 2031. And again, I've been part of USA Soccer as well and their academies, and I've seen the way their growth was prepared and planned and that's the way to go. We need to make sure we have young people playing rugby all over the country and make sure they have a pathway to get better and get to the MLR."
Of course, all of this will take time, and realistically speaking, turning a winless team into a contender isn't typically achieved overnight. But one theme that came up again and again with Sodini was his desire to win.
"We are looking forward to having them (the fans) and putting together a team that they are proud of," Sodini said. "We need to make sure that we are here to give 100% of ourselves in every aspect outside of the field and on the field," Sodini said.
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