Executive labels may have changed over time, but tumult between the Sporting Director and Head Coach has almost become a given when talking about the New York Red Bulls.

Three full months into their tenure, Sporting Director Ali Curtis and Head Coach Jesse Marsch have done their best to change that narrative — against some steep odds.

“The good start was important for a lot of different reasons,” Marsch said with a chuckle, quietly acknowledging the tumult of the offseason. “The good start has meant there is belief and validation of who we are and what we are going to do.”

So far, the new two-headed regime has exceeded expectations. Once met with snickers and laughter, “high-tempo” soccer has been a reality throughout New York’s successful start to the season. Without Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, Marsch has made the “team” the star, giving attacking players more complex, dynamic roles within his system. That has allowed players like Lloyd Sam and Dax McCarty to flourish as leaders, forcing them to step up their game in the absence of the big name stars.

It also hasn’t hurt Marsch and Curtis to remind players of just how dismissive fans and media were of the club after the firingof Mike Petke and the departure of the team’s star players.

“I think the guys definitely still have a chip on their shoulder. They felt slighted in a lot of different ways by who they are and what they’ve accomplished in their careers and what they’ve contributed to both to this team and to other teams they’ve been on,” Marsch acknowledged. “There is definitely a sense within the group that they felt strongly about who they were becoming and they wanted to show everybody what that meant. I think it’s still there. We know we’re going to have to earn everything that we get, so that part doesn’t change.”

Hand in hand, Curtis and Marsch have breathed new life into a very familiar roster. Yes, big name players and contributors may be gone, but both men have done well to identify, acquire and utilize talent towards a series of surprising early victories.

In the past, that type of relationship has been rare for the Red Bulls. Former Sporting Director Andy Roxburgh took little to no input from Petke when it came to the direction of the club. Erik Soler and Hans Backe had a better working relationship, but over time, their roles became more defined and less integrated. Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Osorio and Jeff Agoos were infamously at odds during their tenure in New York.

So far, Curtis and Marsch have been able to buck the trend of contention and separation that has plagued past Red Bull sides.

And regardless of what many may have assumed, a past friendship has nothing to do with it.

“Just to be clear, Ali and I were acquaintances,” Marsch clarified. “There has been talk about us working in the league office together. I’ve played against him and we shared mutual friends. In the league office, I ran into him once on the street while I was working at MLS Digital. The job I did at MLS Digital was far less important than his job at MLS over the past five to six years.”

While that relationship may have been overplayed, their current arrangement has taken the best of both men, bringing an understanding and harmony to the player personnel side that has trickled down to the first team roster.

“Between Ali’s strengths and my strengths, it has been very good,” Marsch said. “He trusts me to coach the team and help the team and make the players better every day and I trust him that the organization gets stronger, better, more clear on roles and functional.

“[The relationship] has helped me already in so many ways, whether it’s organizing how we put our player pool together or how we communicate with the youth academy. Having someone like him helps me to focus on my job which is to coach the first team and all the other little details will be taken care of because he is on top of it.

“For me, I’m not overly focused on anything external. I’m focused on on everything internal, and making sure that on all levels our team comes to work every day to train hard to get better, to focus on the details, that we focus on the development of our young players, that we’re pushing everyday to make sure that we’re better than we were the day before. Again, that’s the job and if I do that part well, then the rest will follow. I can truly honestly say that my focus every day is just on the team.”