I figured it's time to give the coaching search its own thread. At this point we don't know the time frame that Pádraig Smith is looking at as he hasn't publicly stated one. Personally, I would prefer someone with MLS experience either as a coach or player. Perhaps that's because I think think it's less of a risk. I doubt that Pádraig will go with someone that's out of his comfort range such as a non-English speaker or someone that doesn't have a connection to British football in some way. Colorado Rapids coaching search: 12 best candidates to fix the clubby @soccer_rabbi #Rapids96 https://t.co/GozuYusuMl— Denver Post Rapids (@rapidsnews) May 14, 2019 Hard to imagine the Rapids could afford someone like David Moyes. And would he work in MLS? An interesting thought of his is DU's Jamie Franks.
Out of the Denver Post article, this seems like Smith's #1 choice: "A source with ties to the Rapids has informed The Denver Post of one candidate under consideration by the Colorado Rapids, Paul Clement. Clement coached Reading FC in the English Championship until this past December; before that he was head coach at Swansea City in 2017, taking over just after LAFC head coach Bob Bradley was fired. Clement saved Swansea from relegation that season, only to be fired the following year as the Swans slumped once again. Clement is a manager who has been asked to do a lot with a little with Reading and Swansea, an experience that might feel familiar, for better or worse, with the Rapids." This just seems so Rapids AKA the English Championship Jobs Program.
Paul Clement -- two failed stints as manager but long-time assistant under Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich. Love to see how that's spun, if hired, to Rapids fans. His Derby County stint was so-so. That's his "success" as a manager.
Personally, I would love to see someone who can develop all our young talent. Seems like that came through in Smith's interview (see "the Endline" podcast). Which may mean one of the USMNT Youth coaches may make a lot of sense. Seriously, there is some good young talent here that needs to be nurtured and built. Hopefully to stay, but possibly to sell. rod.
Its a better CV than pretty much any manager the Rapids have ever hired though. That said, the fact that he's never completed a full season as manager does have me concerned.
Oh here's a rundown of the "wish list" of candidates in the article: Jason Kreis Josh Wolff Tab Ramos Robin Fraser Jamie Franks (current Denver Pioneer's coach) Rafael Punete, Jr (formerly of Lobos and Queretaro in Liga MX) Robert Dante Siboldi (formerly of Veracruz and Santos Laguna in Liga MX) Alan Pardew David Moyes Bob Lilley (current coach of USL's Pittsburgh Riverhounds) Brandan Burke (current coach of USL's Bethlehem Steel) None of those names really stick out to me. But beggars can't be choosers when you look at the debacle of the Rapids. The guy I've always liked is Bob Lilley. I think he's - hands down - the best manager in the USL Championship. His teams are always exceptionally sound defensively, he likes a 3-5-2 with loads of wing play and his teams score goals but........ there's probably a reason he's spent his entire career in the A-League / USL Pro / USL Championship and never made the jump to MLS. He may not be good enough.
I expect that the Rapids will try another relatively young up-and-comer who they don't have to pay a lot. I don't know enough about most of the names in the article to have an informed opinion. I don't think I want an EPL re-tread (Big Sam, Pardew, Moyes, even Clement) because, at some level, they'd think the Rapids and MLS were beneath them.
Just finished listening to the Endline podcast interview with Padraig. Really good interview. Highly recommend if you have 20 minutes to spare. From the times I have heard Padraig Smith speak, he has always been thoughtful, well spoken and introspective. Some interesting takeaways from his comments on the Coaching search. - He emphasized (multiple times) the importance of “learning from past mistakes” and bringing in someone that can “not just coach, but also teach.” I took that as an indirect implication that that may have been one of (the many) issues with Hudson. - He specifically mentioned the depth of domestic coaching options from college, the assistant MLS coaching ranks and/or domestic coaches that are “outside of MLS.” It pretty clearly sounded like this was the way they were heavily leaning which makes many of the names we’ve all heard (Wolf, Ramos, Franks) as likely on that list. - He did mention there were a few strong international candidates as well, but immediately caveated that with the point that they would be “extremely careful” with those candidates because of the steep learning curve associated with the league. I took that as another indirect acknowledgment of the mistakes that were made with Hudson. I’d say it’s also consistent with what we’ve seen in recent player signings with a much heavier emphasis on domestic MLS players. Anyways, good podcast. Insightful and helpful. From it, my gut tells me it’s going to be one of the US names we’ve all heard.... .....which obviously means he’ll be Eastern European from Bulgaria’s second division.
I am past this whole "what they say" point. Show us all how much you have "learned" with wins and not verbal platitudes, I hope PS is down to his final chance.
Solid podcast, thanks for the recommendation. I don't see how he wouldn't be. He's got 3 crucial decisions in the next 8(?) months and if he strikes out on any of them its a huge long-term issue for the club. He has to hit home runs on 2 of the 3 and at least hit a single on the 3rd (to stretch the analogy). We could get an average (average, not bad) coach and two amazing DPs and do pretty well. Or we could get a great coach and a great and an o DP and do well. But we can't have a bad coach or a bad DP on a long-term contract and we can't have just an average coach and average DPs. BTW, he's asked in the podcast if this is a "make or break" decision for him and his response is "Yes, its a massive decision". So he knows he's got to get it right for his job too.
As of right now, we are the only MLS team that fired a HC this season and has retained their GM. The other teams all fired GM shortly after.
NE fired Burns. The GM in Cinci was also filling another role and has taken a step back to focus on just that role, he wasn't fired.
Colorado Rapids coaching search: 13 dark horse candidates to consider https://t.co/V2rJPyo9CN— Denver Post Rapids (@rapidsnews) May 16, 2019
Some interesting names in Mark Goodman's article. Most there seem to be not realistic or good candidates. One that caught my eye was the Eduardo Coudet who is currently with Racing in Argentina. He seems to have proven himself at the highest level at Racing and looks like his contract in June. Apparently he is rumored to be interested in coaching in MLS and he has a bit of experience in Philadelphia a a player. He also mentions Jill Ellis and Thierry Henry. Hard to imagine either being realistic possibilities.
Agree that it's very worth the listen. Jeff Casimir does a good job of getting right to the point with his questions which are both about the coaching search and recent player acquisitions. After listening it seems that he ha already spoken to a number of candidate and he stated that there ha been a lot of "applications." He does seem to be leaning more towards someone who has had MLS experience of some sort, but didn't rule out going Euro, etc. I too found that the seemed to be thinking that the next coach needs to be a "teacher" and have the ability to develop young players. He really talked up the talents of the players on the roster who are 25 or younger. Interestingly, he stated that they brought in Jonathan Lewis without - obviously - having the new coach in place. But, he noted that all the candidates he's spoken with were very positive about the signing. Lastly, he didn't rule out Casey as getting the job permanently.
True, but I took that as more of a "Yeah, if we go on a run and somehow get into playoff position we have to give Casey the job at that point" type of response. Barring a miracle run like that I don't see Casey as a real candidate.
Is MLS an attractive job in general relative to LigaMX or a low/mid table team in one of the big Euro leagues? And then why would someone with any sort of resume want to come to the Rapids after reviewing their recent history?
Ability to "save" the team (these guys have egos), Ability to influence many of the player acquisitions, Solid young talent, Is in MLS, the top league in the US, And Colorado is a great place to live. I know we get down on our team, but there really are some reasons why someone might be interested in the job. Maybe not compared to top jobs in other leagues, but most of those top jobs won't have an opening. rod
But does this overcome negatives: History of HC low pay (National Sports News carried story that Pareja was lowest paid coach in MLS) Whereas the Field gets top ratings, There has been long running rumors that training infrastructure is lacking and players having to join Denver Athletic club to access better equipment History of swings and misses with Player acquisitions and will PS give up any of this power. Positive you missed, Rapids are middle of the pack with player spending.
The first negative would be covered by any offer. The coach would know if they are lowballed or not. Recent homegrown signings are promising and show at least some way of getting young talent. Plus, the coach would be more concerned with the senior players for the short term anywa . So, the second negative could be overcome. The third would also be overcome by PS allowing input or not as part of an offer. He seems to be more open to coach input these days and indicated Hudson had say in things. The negative you hinted at, but didnt explicitly state, is the the Rapids are a dumpster fire and just seem to always make bad choices. That is something which would give pause. My only real point is that PS could get some attention from quality coaches if willing to pursue someone. If ego says he only will accept applications, then we are screwed again. Rod
I think another negative would be the fact that we still have KSE as the owner, and PS as the VP of Football ops... However, that being said, the Rapids are in a very prime position for a young up and coming coach or a coach who wants to take his success in "lower" divisions around the world and put it to use on a bigger stage... We're gonna have 3 DP slots open at the end of this year, a crap ton of cap room (see what I did there??), and plenty of young talent to go around. If you think about players on our roster that are 25 or under that are getting good MLS minutes, and show good MLS potential like Lewis (21), Acosta (23), Bassett (17), Ford (23), Rosenberry (25), Vines (19), and Shinyashiki (21), we've got a lot of good pieces to build around for the future. **Side note, I'd include Abubakar if we can manage to get him on a transfer instead of just a loan. Seeing as how he's only 24, he'd be a great piece to include on this list as well. Columbus is stockpiling a ton of cash right now, and they may be willing to ship him to us if they are trying to make a big signing** We've also got a couple players that are getting good MLS minutes, that show a ton of upside, but need some refining now in Rubio (26) and Mezquida (27) If I'm a coach and I see that start of next year I'll have LOTS of roster money, 3 DP slots, a team and franchise hungry for results, young and talented (albeit unrefined, but talent can't be taught like the game can be taught) pieces to build with/around....that's a pretty enticing place to go to