What do you know about Richie Williams, & why should/shouldn't he stay in charge?

Okay, so I no longer live in the NY/NJ area, and I don't feel comfortable assessing a coach without being closer to the pulse of the club.

In the first weeks after Osorio took over, knowing little more about him than his past with our team, and having seen a couple video clips, and not realizing how out of touch I was, I hailed the guy as a potential savior, a long-term solution. Some folks I shoulda listened to warned me that the man was not what he seemed, but I paid no heed. Not until a third of the way through the 2008 season, seeing with my own eyes how the team played on the field, did I realize that JCO was taking us in the wrong direction.

I don't wanna make the same mistake again, so I'd love to hear from people who actually have some personal experience with Williams about why they think, or don't think, that Richie will make a good head coach.

So, if you have any personal impression about the man at all - anything from his intelligence to his personal decency to his guts to funny anecdotes about him - please spill it.

It's too early to judge from the play on the field, so let's hear about the man himself...what do you guys really think of Richie Williams? Does he have what it takes, as an individual, to become an MLS coaching great?

Because RBNY/Cosmos/Metro is the greatest and most glorious team in the history of a great nation, soon to be playing in the Palace on the Passaic, and we deserve a great coach!

Or, well, you know, a competent one.

As a player, he was a winner, plain and simple.

He won two USYSA youth national titles growing up in Jersey with the Union Lancers.

He won two NCAA titles at Virginia.

He won a minor league national title and a US Open Cup with Richmond before MLS started.

He won three MLS Cups, two Supporters' Shields, another Open Cup and a CONCACAF Champions' Cup with DC United.

With the US national team he won a bronze medal at the Confederations' Cup and another championship in the Gold Cup. He also played in a pair of qualifiers to help get the US to the 02 World Cup.

And he did all this with minimal physical gifts and modest skill. He was able to play on all these good, winning teams by being smart, tenacious and competitive as hell, all traits that would seem to indicate a good coach.

I know it hasn't translated much as an assistant in terms of helping NY win but the guy is a winner and knows what it takes to win championships. I have little doubt that if given time and left alone that he could build a very competitive MLS team. It's just in his DNA.

Thanks, Sandon. Just the sort of stuff I was looking for; that warms my heart. Granted, this team is kryptonite to lifelong winners, but maybe the spirit of the ABMOD can break the curse.

WOW.....You know, is the second time I read something similar about Richie, the first time coming from mouth of Bruce Arena, he say the same about him and I'm convinced that this statement is Richie personification...And the reason why I thing he have to be our next coach...

He once hit on my sister-in-law. A very good reason not to be in charge of RBNY.

Why? Does she need to borrow my bag?

haha. i was thinking something along the same lines.

Richie Williams once saved the manatees from the endangered species list... Then put them back on it so they wouldn't get cocky.

No, not at all; it was more the manner of his invitation....lol

What was his line? "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to bed we go..."

I heard from a well-known soccer writer that when Williams was playing in DC in the early MLS days he got into a fight with another player (I don't remember the other player's name) naked in the shower. A week later the other player got traded, to NE I believe. He's feisty.

Assuming you'll be there, I'll share it privately tonight.

aw. now that's just not fair!

He keeps starting Rojas which is a big negative in my book.

Heh heh heh. I can just see him using the "speed bag" in that fight (it'd be the right height.)

Here's something I know. Richie Williams realized that we needed 5 in the midfield to deal with NE. Sure, Osorio probably realized the same thing each time he played against them, but the difference is that Richie moved a defender up rather than a striker back

3-5-2 > 4-5-1 !!

Thanks-this disturbing image in now imprinted on my brain!!!!!!!

So you are saying she isn't hot enough to be hit on???

Read what Kristian Dyer say about Richie:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=678403&sec=mls&root=mls&cc=5901

No, not at all what I'm saying. She was just a bit shocked by the way he went about it...

I take it all back. Richie should stay on as head coach because he hit on my sister-in-law. There. That's better.

So you are saying he has no game.... That could be a problem

Was she groped? I forgot the story, but this was at that Stones concert, right?

No.

That's my point. LOL.

I told him to stick with "Adventure doesn't come any bigger than this"...