Hard to walk away from watching that without thinking how genuine and down to earth the guy is. He did put emphasis on Andy being much more involved. Seems he's reckoned that for a while. That's a plus.
Jeff seems like a hell of nice guy and a great father figure type. My question is can that kind of personality succeed in a position where you often need a little a$$hole in you to succeed. And with Andy as another really nice guy, we better get two ueber d!cks as our other assistants to effectively play coaching good cop and bad cop
In his interview on ESPN 700, he said he's got a couple of assistants in mind that have been former head coaches. I wonder if he goes after Fraser, or maybe Jesse Marsh (sp?). He's got the offense covered with Andy, now he needs a defensive specialist.
This all makes sense due to Kreis requiring Andy to attend more training sessions this year. I wonder if Kreis had an idea this would happen.
One piece of information that came out of Dunny's interview with Cassar was that Miles Joseph went with Jason to NYCFC. I hadn't heard that before. It'll be interesting to see who Cassar brings on for his staff.
I would be SHOCKED to get Fraser as an assistant, especially after he interviewed for the HC job and didn't get it.
Andy did seem to be at a lot of the practices, especially towards the end of the year. Definitely seemed to be playing the role of assistant to the assistants and working alongside them.
Former coaches? So we're picking up Clavijo as an assistant? Time to lose all our good players for scrubs, and hopefully sacks of peanuts or gift cards or something. Maybe we can get Ellinger back too lolololol.
Marsch? Good hell, no. If you want us breaking legs, sure. Hard to play the beautiful game when your defensive coach was maybe one step above Dema in the "get stuck in, son" school of thought.
CJ Brown as a player was in the 'get stuck in' mold. Then again, if you are saying RSL players got stuck in too often last year, then I see your point.
Andy will be coaching the midfielders. They apparently already have a goalkeeper coach identified. No clue who it is, but I have heard that Tony Meola and Cassar are friends. Maybe? They will also be looking to bring in a forward coach, and a defensive coach.
Tony Meola would be an interesting hire. I always liked him. Keller would be another good goalkeeper coach option, but I don't know if he'd want to leave the broadcaster booth. I mentioned Jesse Marsh because he's a former head coach. I assume that Cassar will want to keep the same all-MLS coaching staff style, so who else is there on the former player and former head coach list? Preki is under contract with Sacramento Republic FC. Klopas, Yallup, and Kinnear are under contract. Nowak would be a terrible idea, and I don't think he'd go for an assistant role. Dennis Hamlet, Kurt Onalfo, and Tommy Soehn are options, but Onalfo has been linked with the CUSA job. Hamlet would be a good option, and he has a lot of experience to lend. Anyone else on this list?
Jeff didn't go to Duke, so maybe we can branch out a bit? I highly doubt Keller would leave for a job in RSL. Seattle I could see. Not RSL
He probably knew he was very likely to lose an assistant or two, so might as well be training some people. Then, that phone call came.
I am little surprised how many assistants Cassar will have. Sounds like at least 4 assistants. Kreis had 3 max I believe. Some MLS teams only have 1.
Who has 1? I think most teams have 3 or 4. The reasoning for the extra assistant makes sense. And they are adding the extra assistant at the cost of a full-time scout, so there's no incremental spend.
I predict a rocky year in 2014, I think it is going to take some time for Cassar to step up to the challenge. But I can see him becoming a great coach. Who is this Kreis people keep mentioning?
Well lots of MLS team now have one assistant (CJ is the only one in Chicago right now). Lots of coaching influx in MLS. I have read that Yallop only had 2 or less at SJ during his time. I have no problem with lots of assistants. In fact, I rather them have 4 assistants AND a head scout. No need to stop that process (I guess they'll just have Andy do double).