Is Wynalda becoming a legitimate MLS manager candidate?

Just wanted to hear your thoughts as every season brings MLS managers with clubs with high expectations, yet poor results/poor season record on the hot seat.

Do you think will hear Wynalda's name mentioned as a serious candidate for a MLS manager's position? Do you feel he's earned an opportunity to show what he can at the MLS level? Which MLS clubs that may make a manager change do you feel would be a good match for Wynalda (and the possible baggage that may accompany him). I can see him as supported and beloved by an MLS side's supporter group as he will be honest in his assessments with media-savvy flair as only Wynalda can be. Oh and I'm sure MLS brass would enjoy reading his pre- and post- game comments on the referees, what needs to be addressed in MLS, etc in newspapers each week.

Wynalda as an MLS manager, good for the league? Brings the type of attention you want for the league if he says something not to PC?


I know he was rumored to be interested in Chivas USA and, I think, the Fire at one point during their coaching searches.

I must say beating a Portland side that had a good number of their top players playing was eye-catching to say the least.

Not a big fan of his commentary, but maybe worth a chance at being a MLS manager in the near future.

He is still the same old Wynalda so no.

Philly fires Nowak, hires Wynalda, fans collectively say "are you ********ing kidding me"

If his squad gives Seattle a run and, in the next few years, he continues to have success you'd have to think he would be on the radar of some MLS clubs. I think he'll land an NASL type position first, which would really show if he even had a chance as an MLS manager.

He is no more of a legitimate candidate than Gary Parsons.

Who? The coach of the Michigan Bucks.

He could finally put his money where his mouth is...

I started to type, "Do you think you should have to coach somewhere for more than a few weeks to merit consideration as an MLS head coach?" but then I thought "There have been ex-MLS players who've coached nowhere and gotten a shot, so why not?"

Take the personality out of the equation for a second. Forget it's Wynalda and the bravado that goes with that just for a second. Retired former MLS players who have been hired as head coaches in this league despite thin resumes include Jason Kreis (the example everybody can use for all time now), Peter Nowak (who had no coaching experience when hired by DC), Jay Heaps (ditto), Preki (who spent one year as an assistant at Chivas USA and was in the organization when Bradley left), Peter Vermes (who had been the Wizards' Technical Director and a US U-20 assistant) and Ben Olsen (who had half a season as a DC assistant before being elevated to the top job).

So you can't exactly say, "Go coach in the USL or the NASL or somewhere and get some experience and come back and talk to us," based on those precedents (some of whom have had some success, some who obviously have not).

Now, the corollary to this is Harkes, obviously, who, depending on whom you believe, turned down the opportunity to be the head coach in Rochester some years back because he felt he didn't need to do that. So he did two years as an assistant in New York under Bruce Arena and hasn't gone back into coaching that I'm aware of. Would he be an MLS head coach today had he taken the Rochester gig? Maybe.

So now bring the personality thing back into the equation that you just put aside. The things that helped make Wynalda a terrific player are the things that may have rubbed some people the wrong way as he transitioned into post-playing life. On merit, he's surely no less a legitimate candidate than Kreis or Olsen were and might be as legitimate as Nowak was (though Nowak was greatly respected as a player and his gravitas may have been a big help to him in getting hired). But in some respects you kind of have to play along sometimes before you get to go along. And that brash personality that served him well as a player and which (I thought, anyway) made him a great TV color analyst might be what's holding him back here.

It may take a while, or it may take him softening his edge a bit, or it may just take someone willing to take a chance on him. But it sure would be fun to watch.

lulz...lets not overestimate wynalda. he only beat the timbers, who did not care about this match.

Being the polarizing figure he is, I don't think any MLS team is really going to give him a shot now. If he truly did have a passion for coaching it would probably be a good step for him to take a job in the NASL or USL and show what he can do there and prove that he can put his attitude to the side and do something with a team. I think that would go a long to showing an MLS team they should take a shot with him but now I think he is viewed as a big risk.

Wynalda could make a few bucks as an MLS scout but billionaires do not generally hire - into positions of public prominence or meaningful authority, anyway - people with a track record of publicly biting the hands that feed them.

So, no.

All bets are off if he actually wins the USOC, though.

Other than starting seven regulars and three part-timers, no, they didn't care at all.

To be fair, I think a few of their starters were injured so they probably cared more than you implied.

I thought Yallop, but his resume prior to his head coaching hire seemed more robust than some of the others'. He and Dom both did some work prior to getting the gigs they got.

I am not implying they didn't care. I was actually implying that Portland did care about winning this match. And they outshot Everybody's Darling FC 37-8 and had something like an 11-3 edge in corners.

But sometimes...the damn ball...will not...go in...the net. That's football. And so a legend was launched.

Surely they didn't get the result. Which doesn't mean they didn't care to get one, no matter how many times people try to equate results with effort.

I know Kenn, my wording was intentionally contrarian because I was being sarcastic.

If Jay Heaps was a legitimate enough candidate to be hired to coach the Revs, then certainly Wynalda is a legitimate MLS coaching prospect.

The question really isn't whether Wynalda is legitimate, but whether any MLS FO could tolerate him enough to have a civil and productive working relationship with him.

Heaps had two (possibly three) things going for him: he was already there, and he no doubt works cheap. If there's a third, it's positive name recognition among the fan base (penalties in the 2006 MLS Cup notwithstanding).

Someone would have to be able to get past EBE, definitely.

LOL

Sure, he could be a MLS manager. I hope his team keeps winning.

I'm glad Wynalda makes people angry. American soccer needs people like him. Some of the fans get upset over him but they get upset over everything, so what's new.

Jay Heaps, cheap? Some things never change

I think he has the knowledge to recognize talent and be a great coach but I don't think anyone wants him. This is why he started in the 5th tier with Cal FC. Somewhere along the line, he burned his bridges...

He definitely tells it like it is but sadly, a lot of people don't like to hear the truth.

Were his MLS comments at the NSCAA Convention really biting the hand that feeds him? In my opinion he was supporting the hand that feeds him - Fox Soccer. He was blaming MLS for why Fox Soccer didn't win the renewal of their TV rights and why they didn't take MLS more seriously.

No, but they could be seen as pissing off a potential future employer, if the premise of the thread is that he would be considered for MLS coaching jobs after leading Cal FC to continental glory.

Jack Jewsbury desperate to get back on despite bleeding all over the place says they cared a lot more than you want to pretend they did.