Austin FC has its new head coach. The club announced the hire of former FC Dallas Manager Nico Estévez as the second head coach in Austin FC history Friday morning, ending a nearly three-week search that began with the October 6 dismissal of former coach Josh Wolff.
Estévez, a native of Valencia, Spain, lasted roughly two-and-a-half seasons in Frisco, leading FC Dallas to the MLS Cup Playoffs in his first two seasons in 2022 and 2023. He was fired in June of 2024 after a 3W-8L-5D start to the MLS regular season and finished with a total record of 28W-27L-29D.
Following his dismissal from FC Dallas, Estévez returned to the role of assistant coach with the U.S. Men’s National Team, a post he held from 2019-2021 as one of Gregg Berhalter’s top assistants.
Estévez also assisted Berhalter when the former USMNT coach was with the Columbus Crew from 2013-2018, under the ownership of Anthony Precourt, who later sold the Crew to become the majority owner and CEO of Austin FC.
If that résumé sounds familiar, it’s because it almost exactly mirrors that of Wolff before he became the first head coach in Austin FC history. In fact, Wolff and Estévez worked closely together under Berhalter in both Columbus and with the national team, and are very close friends.
“We are delighted to have Nico join Austin FC as our second-ever head coach,” Austin FC Sporting Director Rodolfo Borrell said in a statement. “Our search process was extremely detailed and we feel he is someone that ticks all the boxes – he is highly ambitious, has experience in MLS, and he is familiar with the culture in Texas. We believe he will be an excellent fit for this Club and community both on and off the field.”
Following Wolff’s dismissal, Borrell bragged that he had heard from “at least 25” coaches from around the world expressing interest in the Austin FC head coaching position, “names that you couldn’t even believe.”
Estévez, frankly, does not fit that description. The former Valencia CF interim manager would be a believable candidate for just about any MLS opening. It represents a less-than-ambitious, less-than-exciting, somewhat underwhelming hire for a club that has routinely sold its fanbase on being one of the most ambitious clubs in North America.
In a video posted on Austin FC’s social media, Estévez indicated that it was Borrell who first reached out to offer the position, rather than the other way around.
“Rodo called me, he told me, ‘Nico, this is an amazing place to work, an amazing place to do things well, and we want to build a club that everyone feels proud of.’”
While the similarities to Wolff’s CV are uncanny, Estévez does bring some fresh qualities to Austin that the club’s former coach did not possess. For starters, the Spaniard is obviously bilingual, which will likely be a breath of fresh air both in the locker room – given the large quantity of Spanish-speaking players on the ATX roster, as also for the Latinx portion of the ATX fanbase.
Estévez is also generally regarded as charismatic, unlike Wolff, and has already made direct overtures to the club’s supporters in ways his predecessor never really got the hang of.
“Austin is a vibrant city with fantastic music, food, culture, and most importantly, a fanbase that is incredibly passionate about soccer and Austin FC,” Estévez said. “That passion was one of the main reasons why coming to Austin was so exciting to me, and I’m looking forward to growing the team on the field while getting to know our supporters on a personal level.”
Read more Austin FC coverage at austinchronicle.com/austin-fc.
This article appears in October 25 • 2024.
