COLUMBUS, Ohio – The boss of Columbus Crew SC will be sticking around for a while.
The club announced Friday that head coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter's contract option had been picked up for its fourth year, keeping him in Columbus through 2017.
"I'm excited," Berhalter told MLSsoccer.com Friday afternoon. "This is a place I really want to be, and I think this team and the group has a lot of potential. It's been a pleasure to work with them, and I'm glad to be able to continue."
Now in his second season with Crew SC, Berhalter said when he took the job, he hadn't even thought of how long he would be in MLS.
"In coaching, you take one day at a time," he said. "You know that's my philosophy to prepare the team, and it's no different in coaching. You have a plan, a large-scale plan, and you set out to execute it every single day. I'm happy that [investor-operator Anthony] Precourt is appreciative of the work so far, and I hope to continue on and make a strong team."
And for Berhalter, the extension allows for more planning for the club's future success.
"You can plan the team on a mid-term basis; it's not only short-term," he said. "You can get guys with a view to develop that you believe in. I think that's important... It's the connections that you make with the players. And your bonds become a lot stronger with the community. That means a lot to me."
Berhalter said he can also spend some more time working with the team's academy system.
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"The work with the academy is still very basic so far with what we've done," he said. "We brought in a couple of key people, but we want to continue to do that and align the academy with the first team and have them playing a similar type of soccer."
Berhalter also made it clear that job security isn't his main concern, and he won't be feeling any less motivated for success now.
"It's more of an honor that Mr. Precourt values me that much that he would want to [extend the contract] at this stage," he said. "There's always pressure in coaching, whether you have a one-year contract or a ten-year contract. But that's the nature of our game. It's just nice to feel that support from ownership."
