Fort Worth Vaqueros General Manager Tobias Xavier Lopez has resigned his position from the NPSL club. We first heard the news from a source earlier today and this evening Lopez confirmed his departure.
“I officially tendered my resignation to the ownership group on Sunday,” Lopez said. “It was something I’d been deeply pondering since the end of the season. With the owners’ meetings in two weeks, it seemed fair to the club that I do it now so they have the bulk of the offseason to prepare for 2020.”
From the outside at least, there appears to be no specific incident that triggered Lopez’s departure.
“This was about where I’m at in my life personally and professionally as an attorney,” Lopez made clear. “This isn’t one those situations where a guy resigns and then next week takes a new position somewhere else.”
Lopez has a history in the game of soccer having spent 15 years working as a professional soccer writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, SI.com, and USSoccerPlayers.com during which time he founded the North American Soccer Writers organization.
After graduating from the Texas A&M University School of Law in 2014, Lopez joined the Ed Jones Law Firm of Fort Worth with whom he has practiced criminal defense since.
Lopez was with Vaqueros from the very beginning in 2014. The first three years as Director of Business Operations and the last three years as General Manager. Under GM Lopez’s direction, Vaqueros hired Nick Stavrou, went to the NPSL playoffs for the first time in 2017, won their first playoff game in 2018, and won their first conference title in 2019.
As for what comes next, another soccer gig for Lopez appears to not be in the cards. At least not right away.
“I haven’t had any discussions with any other soccer entities and I’m not out looking for a new position, ” Lopez continued. “People who know me know how close I am to my daughter who turns 16 on Friday. I can’t foresee taking a new position in any soccer venture for at least a couple more years.”
Ever the positive optimist, Lopez couldn’t resist a final plea thrown into the soccer winds. “If some rich clubs want to fly me out for a weekend consultation I’d certainly take advantage of that!”