Gregg Berhalter began calling members of the Crew SC leadership council on the afternoon of Oct. 16, 2017, notifying them of the need for a face-to-face meeting.

The message was urgent and the information too sensitive to discuss over the phone, said the Crew’s coach and sporting director. The select players were not required to drive to Mapfre Stadium or the team’s training facility. Instead, Berhalter took the extraordinary step of crisscrossing Columbus in his Acura to sit down individually with about a handful of players.

“It was a going-to-the-principal’s-office kind of feeling,” captain Wil Trapp said.

“I thought I was being traded,” defender Josh Williams said.

Nobody was prepared for what Berhalter disclosed: Team owner Anthony Precourt was exploring a possible franchise relocation to Austin, Texas, citing concerns with attendance, an aging stadium and a lack of corporate sponsorship. The official announcement would be made the following day.

“How do you deal with something like this in an appropriate way because it’s devastating news for a lot of people?” Berhalter told The Athletic on Thursday in recalling the events of last fall. “And at the top of my list was ‘how will my guys be personally affected?’

“Nobody knew what the heck was going on. It’s weird that I would call and want to meet them out of the blue, but I felt it was important information to convey, to lay it all out there. … Some guys grew up in the area. Some guys have been with the club a long time. If anyone needed to talk or if I could explain something a little bit more in a one-on-one environment, I thought, ‘let’s do that.’ ”

Berhalter met with the team as a whole the next day. He could only imagine the emotions coursing through the players. He also needed to get them mentally ready for the MLS playoffs, which were less than two weeks away.

Somehow, the Crew kept its focus, transforming a potentially massive distraction into motivation and coming within a goal of reaching the MLS Cup. But nine months later, the club remains in soccer limbo, not knowing where they will call home next season.

Clarity could arrive in the coming weeks. On Aug. 9, Austin City Council will discuss and possibly vote on whether to move forward with a stadium proposal that could deliver the club to the Texas capital. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Columbus officials, however, could muddy those plans with a lawsuit they filed four months ago in hopes of retaining the Crew. Meanwhile, the Columbus business community is working to find local ownership that might be willing to buy the team and contribute to a new venue to replace antiquated Mapfre Stadium.

There’s nothing easily processed here except for the outrage of local supporters, who have founded a vibrant #SaveTheCrew movement and perceive Precourt, a Bay Area venture capitalist, as a deceitful cartoon villain. While ownership pledged to pursue a “parallel path” in deciding whether to stay or go, it’s obvious Precourt has eyes for Austin. He’s refused, at least to this point, to entertain offers to sell the team he purchased for $68 million in 2013. MLS Commissioner Don Garber also has drawn heat from Crew fans for helping Precourt Sports Ventures in its Austin exploration.

Caught in the middle of the political wrangling and fan protests are the Crew players and coaches. More than halfway through the regular-season schedule, the club sits in playoff position despite epic goal-scoring struggles and the gnawing uncertainty surrounding its future.

The Crew is a charter member of MLS, and only once in the league’s 22-year history has a franchise relocated — San Jose’s ownership moving its side to Houston after the 2005 season. In other words, players and coaches have had little resource or history in helping them negotiate a possible lame-duck campaign.

Over the past nine months, they have learned a lot about themselves and each other.

“It’s been a real test,” Williams said. “But I can sit here right now and honestly tell you I don’t think it’s ever weighed us down.”

Crew SC coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter on how his players have handled the uncertainty regarding the franchise’s future: “The guys have been amazing. By and large, I can’t say enough positive things about this group. I’m lucky to be working with them.” (Photo from Getty Images)

‘The rock’

Berhalter knew the Oct. 17 announcement was coming. He declined to say how much advance warning he received, but it’s believed to have been a matter of days or weeks, not months.

The 44-year-old coach, who’s built like an exclamation point and remains close to his playing weight, has seen just about everything soccer has to offer. He’s toiled for club and country, spent time honing his craft in Europe and leaned the coaching game at the knee of Bruce Arena.

But nothing readies a leader for the kind of news he received from Precourt. Bill Belichick, one of the great coaches in any sport, saw his Browns fall apart midway through the 1995 season after news broke of the franchise’s pending move to Baltimore.

Berhalter decided the best approach was a direct and honest one. There were mistakes along the way — particularly in his first news conference — but he opted to share what he knew and, maybe more importantly, what he didn’t know, with players.

“I already had realized communication was important, but it’s even more important in times of crises,” Berhalter said. “Any time you are facing an obstacle, facing adversity, you have a choice in how you want to go about dealing with it. My attitude has been we are going to hit this head-on and deal with it. We’re not going to use it as an excuse.”

Since meeting with his leadership council and the entire team last October, Berhalter said he’s never discussed relocation with players in a group setting. Several team members confirmed this to The Athletic.

The focus has been soccer and what the club can control.

“Gregg is the rock of this team,” midfielder Hector Jimenez said. “What he says, goes.”

“The poise and composure he exudes has permeated through the team,” Trapp said of Berhalter. “He is so focused on us getting better, the performance, winning games. That has allowed us as a group to be centered. This is our job, let’s continue to work at getting better. You can’t control anything off the field anyway so don’t try to. He’s been excellent that way.”

Last season’s playoff run laid the foundation for the club enduring months of rumor and speculation. If they had fallen prey to distraction, the team easily could have come unraveled. The Crew beat Atlanta United and New York City FC before falling to eventual champion Toronto FC in a taut two-game Eastern Conference final.

“Last year, I thought it was a congealing factor,” Trapp said of the stunning announcement. “You could see it with the passion, the effort we got. It helped us get through tough games in the playoffs. I was watching a team coming together around a rallying point.”

Such emotion is difficult to carry through an entire season, however. The Crew has stumbled during a difficult summer stretch that’s seen it go 1-4-3 in the last eight games, including a 2-0 loss at NYCFC on Saturday night.

Hard times don’t build character, they reveal it. The group has weathered so much since last October and it falls to Berhalter and his players to rediscover their scoring touch before minds start to drift and doubts take hold.

Josh Williams, an Akron, Ohio, native, grew up cheering for Crew SC. He hopes to make Columbus his home after retiring. (Getty Images)

Taking care of ‘a nest’

On the night Berhalter met with Williams to inform him of ownership’s announcement, the 30-year-old defender was preparing to go on a second date.

So, what’s new since we last talked?

“All of a sudden, we had to have a serious discussion,” Williams recalled. “We had just gone out for the first time the night before and now I’m telling her I might be leaving at the end of the year. Is this even worth it?”

Pro sports is transient in nature. Players get traded and released. Coaches get fired. Realtors can be called more often than family doctors. It’s all part of the lifestyle.

What isn’t common, however, is having a locker room full of players all in the same situation simultaneously.

There are wives, girlfriends and children to consider. There also is the matter of leases and mortgages. This isn’t the NBA or Major League Baseball. There are just five players on the Crew roster earning more than $500,000, according to figures supplied by the players association. Eleven players make less than $100,000.

“You don’t know if you are going to be states away come next year,” goalkeeper Zack Steffen said. “It’s not tough to make relationships, but you are second-guessing them sometimes.”

Trapp got married in 2016. The couple does not have children, but he sees the strain the franchise’s uncertainty places on teammates who do.

“You look at guys with families right now,” Trapp said. “Where are my kids going to go to school? We just rented a house. We just bought a house. What are we going to do with that? Picking up a family is much more difficult than being a single guy and leaving. That’s where I have seen the most questioning and gray area.

“What is my 10-year-old going to do? What am I going to do? There is a different responsibility when you have to take care of a family, take care of a nest.”

Berhalter is married with four children ranging in age from 4 to 17. Questions naturally arise within his household, and he does his best to answer them.

“Part of it is giving them information when you get it,” the coach said. “But also understanding we don’t have all the information. I know that’s difficult for all the families.”

Williams grew up in suburban Akron as a Browns fan. He was 7 years old when the late Art Modell moved the franchise. Williams became a Crew supporter as the team began play in 1996 and realized a dream during his first stint with the club from 2010-14.

After rejoining the side last season, Williams envisioned retiring here and perhaps one day getting a job with the organization.

Now, everything is up in the air. He knows what it feels like to be a Brown in 1995.

The good news is Williams and his girlfriend, Sandra Lausecker, decided to make a go of it. They are still together. His girlfriend, like Trapp’s wife, owns a local business.

What happens if the team relocates? Where does it leave Williams’ relationship? The questions lead to lessons reinforced over the past nine months.

“The right mentality is everything,” he said. “This is just another test along the way. It’s all about how you respond to it.”

While attendance at Mapfre Stadium has dropped this season, a vibrant #SaveTheCrew movement looks to keep the club in Columbus. (Getty Images)

A life altered

Berhalter has no trouble identifying one of his biggest mistakes during this trying time. It came at his first news conference following the owner’s announcement.

“Any time you hear of ambition from the club, it’s a good thing and I think it is a positive,” Berhalter said last Oct. 17. “I understand there’s some complications with that with people’s feelings and things, but as far as I’m concerned, being an ambitious club and the ambition of ownership, it’s exciting.”

The comments understandably did not sit well with a jilted fan base, one that’s watched Precourt apply a high press on Austin City Council while leaving them with empty promises and a decaying stadium. Supporters have taken to posting pictures of wobbly railings and broken toilets on social media.

The team’s schedule appears designed to drive down attendance. Three home games in March. Only one each in July and August. The club’s plan to honor the 2008 MLS Cup title winners is tentatively set for Sept. 29 on a night the Ohio State football team faces rival Penn State.

In February, Berhalter apologized to Crew fans at a supporters summit. He expanded on his remarks Thursday after training.

“I just did not show enough empathy and compassion back in October,” Berhalter said. “I processed it as a professional in a transient environment instead of saying, ‘Hold on, there are people whose whole lives revolve around the support of our team.’ As I had the offseason to think about that and process it, the only thing that comes to mind is that I share their feelings and I understand their point of view and understand where they are coming from and I feel really bad.

“We are not going to be able to determine whether the club leaves or not. The only thing we can give them is performing on the field, and every single game we are trying to perform for the fans.”

The Crew is 6-3-2 at home this season and host a pivotal match Saturday against Orlando City SC. The club ranks last in attendance (averaging 10,948) for teams having played more than three home games, according to soccerstadiumdigest.com. That figure is down sharply from 15,439 a season ago.

Players say they are grateful for the diehards’ continued support. They realize the dislike for Precourt and the reluctance to buy tickets for a team that might be playing elsewhere next season contribute to the rows of empty seats.

“There are two ways it can go, right?” Trapp said. “You rally behind it and say, ‘I want to save this team.’ Or you say, ‘(ownership has) gone about it in a way where I can’t give you my money.’ I think we have had people go both ways. I can’t speak to either way because I know people have their own priorities and that’s the way it goes.”

Trapp hails from suburban Columbus. He grew up attending games here and took pride in his city having the nation’s first soccer-specific stadium.

He worries about a way of life being altered for family and close friends should the Crew leave and the city be unable to build a new stadium and attract an expansion franchise. For all the ire directed at Precourt and Garber, some city officials took the franchise for granted and didn’t pay attention to the growth of MLS and the influx of new venues until ownership threatened to leave.

“My wife and I have had conversations,” said Trapp, who’s becoming a regular on the U.S. national team. “You are always prepared for change. It’s just professional sports. But it’s different when it comes down to my immediate and extended family — my parents, my brother and sister, my cousins. That changes the equation of how we perceive this. I could leave or be traded, but the club would still be here. That’s where this is different. That’s difficult.

“We have grown up with it. We have seen it. To not have it would be difficult. It’s managing your emotions, and those emotions shine through in a lot of ways. It’s good to see that emotion not only with my family, but also with a lot of other people in the community.”

Trapp made the comments Thursday sitting on a bench outside the club’s training facility. He is 25 and an old soul, one that’s experienced so much joy and frustration kicking a ball around an out-of-date stadium located off U.S. Route 71.

These last nine months have matured him as a captain of a franchise in roiling waters. His future appears bright no matter where he calls home. But he’s very much a player grounded in the present and he takes his responsibilities seriously as long as he wears the black and gold of Columbus.

“All of this has made me stronger in how I deal with adversity, how I deal with pressure,” Trapp said. “Every time we step on the field and every time we do an interview there is a heightened sense of eyes on us. Eyes are evaluating how the team looks. Eyes are evaluating whether we’re being affected by the news off the field. For me, I have worked very hard to insulate the team, and the staff has done the same.

“We’re doing the best we can.”

— Reported from Columbus

Top photo: Wil Trapp and his grandparents (Tony Quinn via Getty Images)