FC Tulsa and the value of swinging for the fences

Why a disappointing 2023 is the first step towards bigger things

In their final home game of 2023, FC Tulsa drew a club-record 6,444 fans out to ONEOK Field despite sitting in 10th place in the East. They lost the match in questions, resulting in their elimination from playoff contention.

Tulsa has averaged an attendance just over 4,300 this year, a 7% jump from the 2022 season. The rise came in spite of a middling season on the pitch. The club’s playoff odds peaked in April by my modeling. At the end of a five-game win streak in August, Tulsa had still only risen up to eighth place in the East.

Even considering the stellar fan support, it would be easy to cast 2023 as a failure for FC Tulsa. Missing in the playoffs in a league where two-thirds of clubs make the cut? Finishing with the second-worst goal difference in the conference? Losing to an NPSL team in the Open Cup on the worst pitch in world history? It seems to a bleak picture.

Everyone in Tulsa will have wanted better, but I’d argue 2023 was the start of something bigger. Moral victories only go so far, but this club was never afraid to take a swing and build towards. That counts for something in a USL Championship that skews conservative more often than not.

For starters, this was Blair Gavin’s first year as manager after well-regarded assistant stints in Phoenix and Columbus. On the front office side, this was also Sam Doerr’s first full season in charge. 2023 was always going to be a transition year, and that meant Tulsa was starting at a deficit from the get-go.

The transition on the pitch actually started last year, when Marcus Epps was acquired in a trade for striker JJ Williams. Though Williams was in the midst of one of the more prolific scoring seasons in team history, his contract was up at the end of the 2022 season - he would end up landing a six-figure deal in Tampa Bay in the offseason.

Doerr and co. turned a player who was all but gone into Epps, whose deal runs through the end of 2024 and who returned eight goals and five assists this year. That’s smart squad management, and it’s emblematic of the re-tool Tulsa is undertaking.

During the last calendar year, Tulsa let six of their 11 all-time leaders in minutes go. Some, like Rodrigo Da Costa and Dario Suarez, were turned into assets. Others were simply allowed to walk, having outlived their usefulness.

Da Costa, of course, was turned into Phillip Goodrum via trade. Goodrum, a star striker with potential to generate a transfer fee from MLS, scored a dozen goals after making the move away from Memphis. Suarez, meanwhile, yielded Tommy McCabe, who debuted well and added balance to the midfield as a pure No. 6 before an injury. McCabe is 25 years old as compared to the 31-year-old Suarez.

Meanwhile, injuries undermined Gavin’s preferred tactical structure in 2023, particularly in the back line. Bradley Bourgeois, the team’s captain, missed almost half the season, and other influential players like Rashid Tetteh and Moses Dyer were absent for crucial weeks-long runs during 2023.

Amidst the upheaval, Gavin began the year in a classic 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, emphasizing interchange on the flanks and using Da Costa as a false nine. The system wasn’t leading to rampant form, per se, but it still generated strong performances underlined by a fun-to-watch pressing style.

Midway through the year, Gavin adopted a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, one in which Milo Yosef played a highly aggressive role as the right wing back. Tulsa could adopt a three-man midfield if desired, or they could swap a No. 8 out and use Dyer as a second striker running off of Goodrum.

The back three galvanized Tulsa’s autumn winning streak, and it may be the path forward. Buying Patrick Seagrist, who I lauded as the USL’s best left wing back, was a step in that direction and a sign of the club’s win-now ambition.

That neither approach carried Tulsa into the playoffs comes down to the niggling injuries that always struck at the wrong time. Even so, 2023 was a learning experience in which Gavin illustrated an ability to adapt around his best players while maintaining a clear philosophy, even across different formations.

More importantly, Tulsa continued to establish themselves as a USL leader in youth development. Nathan Worth has been the breakout star, starting each of the club’s final eight games at the time of writing at just 16 years old. He was signed out of the New York Red Bulls system in the spring, and a full minute of the poised midfielder’s highlights are seen above.

In the last year, players like Worth, Angel Bernal (18 years old), Aimar Membrilla (20), Christopher Pearson (20), and Luca Sowinski (19) have all debuted for Tulsa. The club has tapped into youth pipelines like the Barca Residency Academy in Arizona while keeping an eye on local outlets as well.

There’s a long-term vision at play here - Tulsa is making the right moves to build past 2023, whether in their immediate transactions involving senior players or in their commitment to youth.

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Maybe you’re unconvinced at this point. It’s hard to spin a second consecutive year without a playoff appearance as a win, especially when Tulsa has never advanced past the conference quarterfinals in club history. Still, compare where this team is to a rival like Hartford Athletic.

I don’t want to drag Hartford, who have done an admirable job attracting fans and are poised to start a new era with new front office leadership. Still, Hartford splashed big in every respect in 2022 and 2023, hiring Tab Ramos bringing a who’s-who of 30ish-year-old USL veterans.

The problem? Those stars didn’t coalesce into a team, and they didn’t harbor any re-sale value because of their relatively advanced ages. Ramos was fired amidst a total lack of a tactical philosophy. Hartford didn’t have a vision at any level, and that’s where FC Tulsa differs.

Tulsa spent on their roster, but they did so wisely. That stat about never having done a thing in the postseason since the club’s foundation in 2015? Sticking with a core of fan favorites wasn’t going to solve the problem. Still, you don’t change things by grasping at straws like Hartford did.

The new Tulsa regime has longer-term sustainability and year-over-year consistency in mind, which is smart in a changing USL. Monterey Bay re-signed 12 players off of their inaugural roster to multi-year deals last winter; that would’ve been unheard just a year or two ago. Think about the Epps trade with that trend in mind, and you see what this club is driving toward.

At the end of the day, the goal of the sport is to build a community and hopefully win some ballgames. FC Tulsa is knocking the former out of the park and growing their fanbase. 2023 wasn’t perfect, but it was a huge first step in attaining that latter aim and giving the Tulsa community a winner.