Cosmos GM & Coach News ... Erik Stover is COO & Gio is coach

In a recent interview with BigAppleSoccer, current CEO of the Cosmos Seamus O'Brien stated that they expect to announce a GM and coach by the end of October or early November to prepare for the 2013 season. This leads me to beelive they are in the early stages of interviews and decisions.

Granted my voice mught not carry a lot of weight here, but i would nonetheless like t make a case for Peter Wilt and Colin Clarke.

A NASL expansion side is undoubtably going to need a different type of leadership than say hiring for those roles in a large top flight club here or abroad. The name of the game out of the box is to establish good local grassroots efforts and to find a person that has a track record of results and who has a large address book of contact s and knowledge of the US Soccer scene.

Peter Wilt has made a life out of building clubs fromt he ground up and his approach to fan base building in my opinion is exactly what a new lower league franchise needs to connect to their market and audiance. His reputation for identifying with a fanbase and generating interest is unparrelled.

The name of the game early on is to set a solid tone and foundation for getting a core fanbase established and tickets sold. While Wilt may not know the NYC/Long Islanbd market as well as the midwestern market of Chicago and Milwaukee, his general philosophy towards accomplishing the goals is spot on.

This link expalins everything, and to be honest its the precise approach that the Cosmos need to take in the local market for launch in 2013. http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/08/19/this-should-be-fun/

We all want the Cosmos to be a success story, not a example of failure. Start by hiring a man that can build the right way and who fans can connect and respect. I should also add that Wilt over the years has a good base of contacts to assist the manager in identifying players/agents/etc.


As for coach, I admit I do not know the league's rules with respect to coahcs of other teams under contract or if such a "poach" is proper; but knwoing that the first manager will likely have to have a wealth of knowledge about the US lower divisions, ability to identify talent, and a track record of success. We need to rule out unrealstic managers, at least until the team moves (if and/or when) to MLS.

I like Colin Clarke, the current Carolina Railhawks manager. He had a 13 year playing career in England and 38 caps for Northern Ireland. But his record as a manager in the USA is one that i believe qualfies him for a top NASL position (to be fair he deserves another shot at MLS).

He had a great record a Richmond Kicker manager earning him a job at the Dallas Burn/FC Dallas as an assitant and after being promoted to manager he guided them to 2nd pale in the Westin 2005 and won the west just 3 points shy of the Supporters Shield in 2006. He was let go after being upset by Colorado in the playoffs, but his team was solid and his time at FC Dallas still ranks him as its winningest manager of all time.

He guided Puerto Rico to the Commisoner Cup and the final in the USL in 2008 and more impressive he took the Islanders to the CONCACAF CL semi's in 2009 losing on penatlies to Cruz Azul.

He managed Puerto Rico's national team and earned some good results and most recently in Carolina he led them to a league best record in 2011 and has them in the semi's in this years 2012 playoffs. He upset LA in this year's USOC.

I wager that makes him a very good option as a manager. Of course he could be quite happy in Carolina and may have zero interest. But if he is interested and its acceptable to "poach" him, he would be my choice as the teams NASL manager in 2013 and beyond depending on perfomance.


Thoughts? Does anyone have other people in mind?

Harry Sinkgraven is available.

No offense to Harry, but i am hoping we can land someone with a bit more US soccer league experience and a bit of a stronger resume.

Laurie Calloway?

Lilley would be great (and available). I like Bob Lilley. He wanted to get out for personal reasons. I don't know if those reasons still hold or not.

Lilley has a great track record in the second division for sure. Multiple championships and a very strong winning record. Has NJ roots as well, not sure if he's the right guy but his credientials alone should call for an interview if he has a hint of interest in the position.

While I generally enjoy Wynalda and his cavalier attitude, i just feel he is too inexperianced right now to entrust such a big project. Hiring him to manage an established franchise looking for a chnage is one thing, asking him to bare the burden of assmebling a an expansion side fromthe ground up with a lot of pressure to perfom is another.

Manny Lagos might be available soon (may know by the end of October). He knows the league and how to put a team together that can win. With some decent backing he would be able to put a strong team together.

While I hope Manny Lagos is not availabe because he is still coaching the Stars next year - he would be a great coach for the Cosmos.

"Tanned, rested and ready!"

HA! I remember him with Metro...completely lost at sea. Lets hope Cosmos are brighter than Metro was.

What about Gio………….any place for him?

As you know, he was Head of the Academy, which has since shut down, after a fairly poor season, results wise for the U18’s in particular

He also took over the U18’s part way through the season along with Jack Gaeta to run the team, after the Head coach was fired

I watched him for the year at Cosmos and technically he is excellent – the players also responded well to him and think he received their respect

However, they were too rigid in their style and refused to change too much, which I think resulted in a lot of defeats they shouldn’t have had – was this rigid style driven by the Head Coach (Dave Price - who got fired) or by the Academy Director, Gio (who in an interview said he would try to play like Barcelona J)……………..no idea?

What I do know is that both Gio and Coach Price were side by side for every game (till he got fired) – so surely between them, they could have changed things, when it was obvious the style of play was not working?

I know Gio has a lot of contacts in the NY area, (college players, players without a club, academy teams, U23’s, etc) as well as a number of wider connections, which would be good

However, is he the right person at this time to build from the ground up with a view to the MLS??
My own view – I think he would make a great assistant, responsible for the technical training and perhaps some of the scouting process

I don’t think he is ready for the main coaching role……….yet (there were a lot of things that could have/should have been changed with the Cosmos U18’s during the season and were not – however, I also know that the focus was not always there due to outside influences, lack of funding, etc, etc)

Eddie Firmani ?

Gio is a Metro legend in my book and to this day one of my favorites. He built the Metro academy and formed the framework for Red Bull to build on. Not sure what his role could be here, but i think he should have a role.

Assistant or a liasion for the youth system to be formed. He certainly has great qualities and I'd be shocked if teh Cosmos people can't find a good use for him somewhere.

Agree entirely

He had a fairly distinguished career prior to that.

You knew that, right?

yes indeed, as player coach for the Tampa Bay Rowdies

Sure, but his hire in 1996 was a complete boner by Metro management. He lasted 8 games and in those 8 games he just out of his depth. That hire was more realted to Metro trying to link back to the Cosmos days not based on qulaification at the time. Something I hope management today will take note of and not make that mistake again. The history will sell itself, create new history by making smart decision to secure the future.

Not disputing his coaching credentials from the NASL days, just that by the time 1996 rolled around Eddie wasn't exactly a hot commodity in the coaching ranks.

If New York had been "crazy", then Kuwait during Gulf War 1 was downright terrifying. Firmani was trapped in the country when Iraq invaded in August 1990, and held hostage for three months by the forces of Saddam Hussein.

You could make the case that he had the third-best resume of all of MLS' inaugural coaches. I don't know that he was "out of his depth" in the Almost Serie A that was MLS in 1996, I just think they sucked because they didn't know what they were doing and he had to take the fall for it.

I have no love for Firmani, given how he left Tampa Bay (thanks for 1975, though!) but in 1996, there were some other guys (like Bobby Houghton and Timo Liekoski and Frank Stapleton) who were out of their depth, too and didn't last long. Wasn't a bad hire, per se. Lots of people have come and gone in Jersey.