Indy Eleven 3.0? Call it whatever you want — this team is intriguing

INDIANAPOLIS – As the Indy Eleven prepare to kick off their fifth season Saturday on the road against the Richmond Kickers, this club has reached a new, compelling version of itself.

Maybe we'll call it the Eleven 3.0.

“You can see the players just engaged even more in what they’re doing and excited about getting in a proper game,” said Eleven head coach Martin Rennie. “Obviously, we’ve been training hard and working well in the preseason games, but there’s something different about the first game of the season and everybody seems to be looking forward to it.”

New faces: Indy Eleven's first USL roster is barely recognizable

Moving to Lucas: 'We can't wait to see you at our new venue.'

With a barely recognizable roster, new coach, league and $700 million-plus confines of Lucas Oil Stadium to now call home, it’s safe to say a new era has been ushered in.

But first, how did the club get here?

Growing pains

The Indy Eleven 1.0 labored through their first two seasons in 2014 and 2015. Under the tutelage of then-head coach Juergen Sommer and later interim manager Tim Regan, Indy won a total of 14 North American Soccer League regular season matches in the two-year span.

A massive chunk of the club’s player budget was wrapped up in Brazilian midfielder José Kleberson, who couldn’t stay healthy enough to live up to his contract. A carousel of modest NASL talents rotating in and out of the starting 11 further characterized Indy’s early years.

The Hank Era

In 2016 and 2017, former head coach Tim Hankinson sat at the helm of the Indy Eleven 2.0. He assembled a roster of aging veterans and played a sensible style of service-into-the-box-oriented soccer in 2016. A healthy and stout defense also caused opponents fits. Success came quickly: an NASL spring championship and coming within a penalty shootout of hoisting the league title in the playoffs.

As 2017 rolled along, a sense that 2016 was a swan song of sorts for that group of players – given the average age on the roster – began to emerge. Losses piled up as quickly as the injuries did, and when guys returned to the lineup some appeared to have lost a step. The once-stout defense became the NASL’s worst. Indy finished sixth out of eight teams in the combined table, and dead last in the fall season.

Moneyball

Out of the ashes of a turbulent offseason following the team’s 2017 campaign arose the Indy Eleven 3.0. The club departed an unstable NASL, which was ripping apart at the seams, for the USL.

Indy upgraded from IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium to Lucas Oil Stadium, instantly becoming the most enviable venue in Division II soccer. Hankinson’s contract wasn’t renewed, and Rennie got handed the car keys. Only three players – Brad Ring, Justin Braun and Ben Speas – were retained.

Rennie’s first order of business was to completely retool the roster. And to do so, he borrowed a value-minded personnel strategy straight out of a Michael Lewis book.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve tried to do, (take a “Moneyball” approach),” Rennie said. “Try and find people who are worth more than maybe we’re getting them for, for various reasons. It takes quite a lot of work, but we’ve been fortunate to have been able to do that in a short space of time. And I think we are happy with how deep the squad is.

"I think that’s going to be important throughout the season because there are lots of games, and there are lots of mid-week games as well. So, we’re going to have to be able to rotate the team and play different players in different games."

Indeed, depth seems to be the hallmark of the 2018 roster. DePauw men’s soccer head coach and Eleven color commentator Brad Hauter agrees.

“(Rennie) has put together one of the classiest group of players I’ve ever encountered,” he tweeted. “And it’s a ridiculously deep and talented team.”

Indy will make its USL debut in Richmond on Saturday, with kickoff set for 5 p.m. The Eleven will then return home to christen their new digs on March 31 at 7 p.m. against FC Cincinnati.

Call it version 3.0 or something else entirely, but a new era of Indy Eleven soccer has arrived. It's entirely different than anything we’ve seen before.

Kevin Johnston is a special IndyStar contributor. Find him on Twitter: @KJboxing.