Brian Crookham Wins MLS NEXT Pro Executive of the Year!

Commerce City, CO – Colorado Rapids Director of Player Personnel Brian Crookham has been named the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro Executive of the Year, the club and league announced Thursday. Crookham has been with the organization since 2007. He has been the head of the brain trust of the Development Academy and Colorado Rapids 2 for their entire histories. 

Crookham has done a fantastic job recruiting, developing, and leading talent, both staff and players. Youth development is their jam. The Rapids Academy has grown in his time in charge. The club regularly has players at every age group called up for the U.S. National Team. Every year, they send double digit players to college programs on scholarship, to say nothing of the DU Pioneers pipeline. The club is averaging a Homegrown signing nearly every year. 

He has served effectively as the General Manager of Rapids 2 in their four season existence. Crooks getting this award has to at least in part be a career achievement for what he’s done over R2’s existence, not just 2025. 

“That’s a team award,” Crookham told Burgundy Wave. “We have an organization that believes in this space. I would guess it’s an acknowledgement, a validation if you put resources in and have quality people, it can have returns. I certainly didn’t submit myself as Executive of the Year.”

Prior to R2, he was the lead behind the affiliation with USL Championship side Colorado Springs Switchbacks. He served as Switchbacks General Manager. The Rapids had several successful loan agreements during that partnership.

He’s managed squad turnover with young players, recruitment, and first team needs very well. They were bad in their first year (2022) but developed Darren Yapi for the first team. The 2024 season was a poor year, but that coincided with roster turnover. NEXT Pro has a lot of churn. Rapidos have navigated that very well. In their other two seasons, they hosted the NEXT Pro Western Conference Finals. This past year, the made the NEXT Pro final, losing an instant classic to RBNY II. 

“We didn’t have a good record (in 2023). We moved that group forward so we could create a culture this year that gets you over the finish line in a lot of areas. The ups and downs (of the cycle) will soften, because we’re able to blend the cycles.”

The process and structure has and will continue to evolve. Crookham and R2 Head Coach Erik Bushy have always made R2 productive. Most of the time, they’re doing at least one but usually two of these: 

1. Winning games.
2. Developing academy graduates to contribute to the first team and/or sign Homegrown deals. 
3. Developing players new to the club, who then progress in their career, making other players want to sign for R2. 

“Our measures of success is ‘are players able to come out of the program and be contributors to our first team roster?’ We’re a lot better at not letting guys go too long without useful minutes. As a developing player, we need you to get 2,000-2,500 minutes. We need to force the issue in getting other playing opportunities.” said Crookham.

They have done that very well, while also making two Conference Finals. Beyond that, are they helping players progress in their careers. Oli Larraz, Darren Yapi, Yosuke Hanya, Marlon Vargas, and probably Sydney Wathuta. Crookham once told me that R2 is never going to be a destination for anyone, but he hopes it will be a definitive stepping stone for most of the players they bring in. They’re getting there.

Crookham has the respect of the club, supporters, players and parents, and his peers around the league. He and the club earned this. Well done Brian. Hopefully R2 can go on and win the league next year. 

Hear more from Crookham by checking out our latest Patreon post.

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