Buh bye, Cassar, Darryl Shore has been named interim head coach. http://www.rsl.com/post/2017/03/20/real-salt-lake-dismisses-head-coach-jeff-cassar Time to discuss the next steps and phase for this club....
A little surprised they didn't just promote Petke, honestly. I understand that you wouldn't want to eff up the farm team either but still...
Organization is a mess right now - so basically we wasted the entire off season with an extension that never should have happened. I agree with the change but the timing makes you question the competency of both our GM and owner.
Right? It's like they've just written this season off already. Promoting a GK coach (where have I heard this before?) somehow doesn't feel like an upgrade from Cassar. The plan is probably to have Shore finish out the season and then promote Petke I guess? Or, I'm pretty sure Sigi is still out there...
Agreed - at this point the season is very recoverable. Just ask Garth & the Sounders. Unfortunately their performance at the end of last year means I can't call them the Flounders (for a while).
My thought is that Waibel had an idea that this would happen and privately told Petke as much. He asked Petke to come on as coach for the USL team with an eye to replacing Cassar. Don't be surprised if they announce Petke as head coach this week. That would be an upgrade.
No, Petke wouldn't be an upgrade. Petke struggled tactically just like Cassar. He had the benefit of having Henry cover up his mistakes. Petke has also been out of the coaching game for a couple of seasons. Let Petke stay with the Monarchs and bring in a seasoned coach.
If this turns out to be true, then Waibel can begin final preparations of his neck for the headsman's axe.
Based on Waibel's interview just now on ESPN700 I would not expect a coaching announcement anytime soon (relativaly speaking), "we have a list that's very long right now and we're going to start narrowing it down" was the approximate quote. He really wouldn't give anything else in terms of what they expect the focus of the club should be going forward, in terms of tactics, coaching preferences, etc etc. Only mentioned that he felt like there was a level the team was playing at and that we had good enough players to be moving to a higher level. I want this team to do a proper coaching search, I want every little detail combed over and I want the team to take their time on this hire. Find a coach that wants total control and a vision for what he is trying to accomplish, whether that means overhauling the roster, completely changing tactics, whatever it is make sure the guy has a clear cut plan/idea for what it is he wants. Like I've said before, I don't give a shit if it means casting guys like Beckerman, Yura, Plata, etc off, I just want to see a plan of action and something that this team can build towards. If it takes a month to find that guy, so be it, don't just go out and hire someone this week on a whim.
I don't think it's that recoverable. I do think it's possible to begin steering the jalopy away from the cliff though. We still have serious back line talent, midfield possession and attacker chemistry issues that need to be addressed for a season recovery to happen.
I still won't be surprised if Petke is announced this week. If not, who (besides Sigi) is available? Steve Nichols ??
If this is true that they are just now starting the search for a coach, then Greg Waibel has to go too... What a cluster...
Hard to read too much into the interview, it was basically a "this has been something we've been looking at for a long time, felt like the team wasn't improving, and now we're moving forward" type of interview. More or less something you'd expect to read in a press release, short on real details and future ideas. Quite frankly the way Waibel was talking it was only a matter of time, they had clearly set benchmarks for Cassar and have been measuring him against those benchmarks over the last several months up until now and he didn't meet them. The Petke hire, at a minimum, was an eye towards a post-Cassar future. Whether that means Petke was going to be the head coach or not, hard to say, but I can't believe they have not been vetting potential coaching replacements for the last couple months.
I really hope they truly look for a good coach to bring in. I can live with Shore coaching for a month or so if it means bringing in someone good. Now if they just promote an assistant to finish out the season, I'll be upset. We need someone new to the club, not someone already here or a rehash of a past assistant. Having the new guy in before the summer window should help if we can offload or gain a piece or two to help for the second half of the season. This is just laughable. If you already had so little confidence in someone that you already had yourself ready to fire them so soon, why on earth bring them back? It would've been nice to have a new coach in the offseason, who could've built the team more in his image, instead of having to try and work with what is already here.
1000% agree. Get a coach with an actual pedigree and coaching philosophy. Not a fan of hiring Petke that's for sure.
I'd honestly be fine with Sigi if we went that route. He was pretty good for the Sounders for a number of years. It sucks that we didn't do this in the offseason, because our options are going to be limited unless we want to throw this season away and let Shore do his thing until next offseason.
I agree that he should go as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if keeping Cassar came from DLH. What RSL needs to do is ditch the 'RSL family' mantra, and learn to critically look at everyone in the organization every year.
Here's a thought. DLH loves Cassar, won't let Waibel fire him at the end of last season, Waibel gets DLH to agree to setting unattainable benchmarks he knows Cassar can't reach, i.e. 2 goals in 3 games, Waibel hires Petke, as back up plan, and something about Russians.