Last year, in its inaugural season, San Diego FC announced Tyler Heaps as its first Sporting Director and General Manager. He has consistently made a major impact month after month, showing his passion for his job and the community.
Back for Year Two
On Feb. 26, San Diego FC officially announced Heaps’ re-signing and contract extension. At the team’s practice the morning of, he spoke to the press about the meaning behind the re-signing.
“[It was] an easy decision at the end of the day for me,” Heaps said. “I get to come to work here every single day, and I’ve got to have a huge part of building this club with a bunch of really good people, and I think that’s why I was really excited to come back for year two.”
Heaps extended his contract for, what he said, “three and a half years starting today,” which means he should be with the team until 2029.
When asked what led to his extension, he said it had been a long time coming.
“These conversations started towards the end of last year,” Heaps said. “I knew that they were taking a risk on me… because of them hiring a person that didn’t have a lot of experience. My goals and ambitions, as in everything, was always to take a role and do very well at it, and I thought I could. So luckily we had a lot of success in year one, and so those conversations opened up pretty quickly.”
Heaps also commented on the differences he has seen from year one to year two.
“Year two is a lot easier than year one,” he said. “Less moving players in, less players just to bring in from a squad. Now it becomes individual. How do we get better in specific positions? How do we try to extend people that we want to keep around for a long time? … It’s about trying to build the squad to be as sustainable as possible. So that’s how it’s probably changed the most.”
Heaps is incredibly enthusiastic about the extension he has with the team and believes that this move shows how much trust the team has in him.
“It is a tremendous vote of confidence from leadership and from ownership that we’re doing things in the right way here, and I think that’s what’s really important for us and the same reason why we extended Mikey [Varas],” Heaps said. “I’m just really thankful for the trust in me but also the trust in this whole project and what we’re building.”
Looking Ahead
The future of San Diego FC is bright, and with the re-signing, there will definitely be more updates to the team in the coming months. In his second year with the team, he is looking to see what more he can bring and what more can be done to make the team better than ever.
“You show up most days and something happens that you’re not prepared for,” Heaps said. “We’re fortunate, and we’ve got a good group of players, and we’ve got a good group of staff. Hopefully that continues and that we can continue to build on it.”
