Following the departure of Wilfried Nancy for Celtic FC, general manager Issa Tall is spearheading his first coaching search for Columbus Crew.
Given the Crew's success under Wilfried Nancy, Issa Tall knew it was possible Nancy would move on to a club overseas.
On Dec. 3, it happened. Scotland's Celtic FC officially announced Nancy as its new coach.
Nancy's departure came after the Crew offered the 48-year-old a contract extension near the end of the season that would have made him the highest-paid coach in MLS, according to a source.
Tall now faces his first coaching search since taking over as general manager for Tim Bezbatchenko, who left the Crew to become director of Black Knight Football Club in June 2024, and Tall is going into the process prepared.
"Over the past 18 months or so, we’ve kept a list of names just because we knew this could happen," Tall said. "So, we kept a long list read, something we were checking quite often. We were removing names, adding them again, back and forth. So, now that it’s real and it’s happening, we are actually ahead instead of starting out of nowhere."
While 16 names were on the list at the time Nancy informed the Crew of his interest in joining Celtic, only six to 10 coaches were being considered as of Dec. 4.
Tall's would ideally like to make a hire before players report back for preseason in four weeks. There's no guarantee that will happen.
"We want to get the right person and don’t want to rush in to try to get someone as soon as possible," Tall said. "We’ve obviously done the work the past 18 months, but we want to be very diligent in not getting someone that would not fit us, because it would take us backwards."
Columbus Crew are 'not looking to replicate Wilfried’s style' according to Issa Tall
When Nancy was hired by the Crew in January 2023, he brought a unique playing style to Columbus that centered around dominating possession. Tall is mindful of that.
"We hired Wilfried because we wanted to play a certain way," Tall said, "and we have gone very far in this philosophy to the point that [it's in] our academy, our [other] Crew teams. ... We’re not looking to replicate Wilfried’s style, per se. I think we can evolve from it."
While Crew assistant coach Kwame Ampadu followed Nancy to Celtic, fellow assistant coach Yoann Damet stayed in Columbus and is a potential candidate for the open position.
Damet joined the Crew in 2023 from the Los Angeles Galaxy. Before his stint as the Galaxy's assistant coach, Damet was the interim head coach for FC Cincinnati, where he went 4-0-13.
Tall, who was internally promoted to become general manager, stated that the Crew have "been very good at promoting within," but is still keeping an open mind in hiring externally.
"When you look at the current coaches that finished top four in our conference, and in the Western Conference that’s gone far in the playoffs, you have a wide range of profiles," Tall said. "You have guys who didn’t know our league whatsoever, and guys that were experienced. When you look at the coaches across our league, you have a 34-year-old and a 74-year-old."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew's Issa Tall on finding Wilfried Nancy’s replacement
Category: General Sports
