Jason Kutney was named the academy's Director of Youth Development. The academy was originally created as a partnership with Premier League club Everton. The partnership with the English club would allow the Riverhounds to share the same training methods and some of the same coaches. Former Riverhounds coach and general manager Gene Klein said, "The agreement is one of the first of its kind in the United States and will raise the level of soccer played in Western Pennsylvania from youth leagues to the Riverhounds." By 2009, the academy had expanded into a year-round program. As of 2013, the academy had between 800 and 1,000 players in its year-round program at any given time, while 1,500 more took part in more than 20 different camps held in the region throughout the year. The Riverhounds Development Academy (RDA) trains players between the ages of 3 and 17. The academy has experienced rapid expansion, increasing the number of participants from 244 in 2007 to over 700 in 2012. As of 2013, the academy generated 80% of the Riverhounds organization's revenue with revenue from the academy increasing from $124,000 to $900,000 over the same period. At that time, the academy maintained a waiting list to join of over 250 youth players. In 2013, the Riverhounds officially unveiled its first registered team to represent the professional club in youth competitions around the United States. Only ten months after the team's inception, it was crowned national champions in U.S. Club Soccer's top youth bracket, defeating top teams from around the country and drawing interest from top NCAA Division I coaches and the United States National Team. Since then, the Academy has sent four of its members to U.S. National Team camps and over 30 players have been invited to the United States Soccer Federation's training center in Ohio. In April 2015, it was announced that the Riverhounds Academy would shift its center of operations from the Greentree SportsPlex to the Allegheny Health Network Sports Complex at Cool Springs in Pittsburgh's South Hills. The 172,000-square-foot indoor multi-sport complex will offer outpatient orthopedic care, diagnostics and athletic training services through Allegheny Health Network and a full-size indoor field which will allow the academy to train year round. The academy officially moved to the new facility on November 2, 2015. On November 26, 2013 it was announced that the Pittsburgh Riverhounds had secured a Premier Development League franchise that would begin play during the 2014 season as part of the club's player development system as a link between the academy and senior squad.