Dave Dir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Dir is a former United States soccer player, coach and broadaster.
Dir played youth soccer with the Chicago Kickers.
Dir attended college at Western Illinois University, where he majored in broadcasting.
When he graduated in 1980, the Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League drafted Dir. However, he never played for the team.
In 1990 and 1991, he coached Regis University's NCAA men's soccer team. His record was 5-5-2 in 1990 and 9-7-4 in 1991.
The next year, he became the coach of the minor league Colorado Foxes of the American Professional Soccer League. In his three seasons with the team, he won the APSL championship twice.
When Major League Soccer (MLS) was preparing for its first season, Dir worked with Sunil Gulati as a scout for the league. Later, he became the head coach of Dallas Burn, now FC Dallas, from 1996, the club's inagaural year until the year 2000. He was the longest serving of the original ten head coaches.
In 2000, the club fired Dir and he became a soccer broadcaster with ESPN and Fox Sports. He also worked with the U-20 men's national team as an assistant coach (goalkeepers).