FC Dallas has announced three appointments to Luchi Gonzalez's coaching staff: former FC Dallas Academy coaches Peter Luccin and Mikey Varas as well as current FC Dallas goalkeeping coach Drew Keeshan.

39-year-old Luccin, a former FC Dallas player, coached the FC Dallas U13s a season ago and moved with that group up to U14s in the Academy this year. He also spent most of 2018 coaching with the first team, in what may have been a volunteer role, focusing on the midfielders and younger players.

During his career, Luccin played at some of the highest levels in Europe with Bordeaux, Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Celta de Vigo, Celta, Atlético Madrid, Zaragoza, Racing Santander, and FC Lausanne-Sport before joining FC Dallas. He holds a UEFA "B" Coaching License.

Peter Luccin coaching the FC Dallas U14s. (9/17/18) (Buzz Carrick / 3rd Degree)

36-year-old Varas is a highly thought of young'ish academy coach. He joined the FCD Academy after being named the USDA West Conference Coach of the Year for the 2016-2017 with Sacramento Republic. Varas studied coaching at professional clubs in Argentina, Italy, and Spain before starting his coaching career and has a U.S. Soccer Federation "A" license as well as a Master's in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Physical Education from Fresno Pacific University.

The 44-year-old Keeshan continues in his goalkeeping coach role from under Oscar Pareja and has been with the club in that role since 2008. Keeshan is also Director of Goalkeeping for the FC Dallas Academy.

Jesse Gonzalez works with FCD Goalkeeper Coach Drew Keeshan early in training. (4-15-18) (Buzz Carrick / 3rd Degree)

3rd Degree's Take

Retaining Keeshan was a no brainer, he's been phenomenal in his current position for over a decade now. He's one of the best goalkeeper coaches in the league.

Luccin is also a fantastic hire and one I've been suggesting when people have asked me who I thought should join Gonzalez's staff. Having played at the highest levels in the world Luccin gets a massive amount of respect from players and brings a ton of experience as a pro to this job. He played with some of the biggest names and in the highest pressure situations in the game and that value shouldn't be undersold. If there was one criticism of the Gonzalez hire it was lack of pro level coaching, by adding Luccin's high-level experience, admittedly as a player and not a coach, the club helps cover this gap.

Varas is the coach I know the least about. I met him back in September when Gonzalez introduced him to me as the new Academy U17 coach. Gonzalez had taken a step back from active coaching and handed over the 17s to Varas, in anticipation of Gonzalez taking the North Texas gig I believe. Elevating him to U17 coach then and the first team now says quite a lot about the club's respect for Varas.

All in all, this seems a pretty solid staff.

A few people wondered if FCD wouldn't bring in an older, MLS experienced coach to help Gonzalez. I don't like that idea myself. Any former MLS coach as an assistant would be seen as looking over Gonzalez should or keeping an eye on him which would only serve to undermind Gonzalez and the club's faith in him.

In this era of MLS, the head coach just manages the first team. They don't need to know all the insane ins-and-outs of MLS roster rules and player acquisition. That's what the TD or VP of Soccer Operations is for.

When Schellas Hyndman joined FC Dallas, he needed John Ellinger to help him navigate the myriad shenanigans of MLS because Hyndman had never worked in MLS and there was no TD at the club. Hyndman had to do everything. Gonzalez won't, so he doesn't need that MLS veteran coach on his bench.

Which brings me to...

Marco Ferruzzi

Marco Ferruzzi (Rick Yeatts / FC Dallas)

If you're wondering where Marco Ferruzzi went, the answer is nowhere.

Reports surfaced this week that Ferruzzi would be taking a front office role with FCD. Originally reported as being the new General Manager, that title was backtracked a bit. Which isn't surprising because the other General Manager position FCD has is with North Texas SC and it's a sales/business type position.

Based on the reports, Ferruzi will be taking over as the new Technical Director or VP of Soccer Operations. He'll be taking over for Fernando Clavijo and Luzi Muzzi, whatever his title is eventually.

This too I think is a fantastic hire. Ferruzzi has always impressed me as a methodical and straight forward guy. He's been an FCD assistant coach for 14 years now, knows how the league works, and for the last few years has been handling scouting and the SuperDraft prep as well. He also speaks Spanish for sure and I think Portuguese too (for those Brazilians).

By bringing Ferruzzi and his experience on as a TD type guy, the club gets a vastly experienced sounding board for Gonzalez while not having a coach seemingly hovering over Gonzalez's shoulder reviewing every move from the touchline.

Plus FCD now gets their final two head coach candidates both in important, positive roles for the club. That's a win-win.