Likely scenario is to let Conner Casey finish the year, to avoid paying *another* coach, remember the Rapids are cheap and the bean counters were told by spending on these new players we'd be 7-1-1 now and the hot ticket in town. I do think that going overseas for coaches is over-rated compared to ex-MLS players. Their virtues do not easily translate here vs. folks living in the Western Hemisphere. That said, are any of the 'hot' assistants any better of a risk than Casey? Why? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Soccer_coaches R
Yes, I saw him here as a Fox for a bunch of years, then as a Rapids for like 2 or 3 years...I liked him as a player. Then there is the he got fired thing.....OK it was Chivas R
I agree in that I don't think the Rapids have any choice but to ride out Casey until they make a hire. But that is normal business in sports. The thing they have going for them is that the team and record is such a mess that Casey won't be blamed for the inevitable struggles. The FO has time to make a good decision but unfortunately there is really no history of that, i.e. hiring a quality coach based on a well thought out and rigorous process. Again, that is normal in sports. I hope Casey does well because I have such great memories of him when he partnered with Omar Cummings up top then went beast mode and scored in the MLS Cup. But this coach hire needs to be well thought out and not done on the cheap. Kronke has a habit of sticking fan favorites in jobs as a short cut, like Pablo and Patrick Roy, then of course insane things like Hudson. So the fans need to hope that Kronke or his son break character and sort of show desire to do the right thing.
This is right on. The question now is what kind of thought and leadership will KSE demonstrate in searching for the next coach - how much rope will Smith have? Or who else in KSE has significant soccer expertise? This is where paying some serious $ for a credible headhunter / consultant could probably well be worth it....
Like many post here, I hope the process for finding the next head coach is different than when Hudson was hired. But with KSE and the Rapids I am not sure who among the higher ups is a soccer guy outside of Pádraig. Ideally, there would be some sort of group with a variety of perspectives who could look at the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate and make a solid decision that does well for the Rapids. I prefer that this time it's not just Pádraig. I do feel it's important that this hire has some MLS experience as a player and/or coach. I seems that there is often a misperception of what MLS is all about. by outsiders.
As I recall, the Rapids enlisted help from an outside firm last time, when they ended up hiring Hudson. Although, I believe the input was analytical more than anything.
i'll tell you frustrates me about KSE.... The fact they absolutely made the right hires in Michael Malone and Jared Bednar but continue to miss with the Rapids. Neither Malone or Bednar were slam dunks hires. The hires were met with some degree of scrutiny. Malone was a long-time successful assistant but failed in his 18 months in charge of the Sacramento and Bednar's only head coaching experience came via the AHL. Yet KSE had a plan, provided the resources they needed to build their teams, and every year they've improved. Improved so much so that the Avs and Nugs are both young, exciting, and serious title contenders. They are setup for the next 5+ years. The Rapids.......not so much. I just wish equal attention was given to the Rapids. KSE has a winning initiative but somehow that doesn't always apply to the Rapids.
I fear that the KSE understanding of a good soccer coach is finding someone either with an accent or a foreign sounding name............
Are you sure that's because KSE actually had a plan and provided the appropriate resources? Or is it they just stumbled their way into a couple of cheaper, low-experience hires that just happened to work out? I mean, there is quite to bone yard of failed coaching hires that proceeded them. KSE's track record of consistent failure and stinginess is pretty overwhelming, and the amount of really bad years massively outweighs the number of years their teams are competitive, never mind actually good. KSE deserves zero credit until they can prove they're able to sustain success for more then 1-2 years at a time (which is usually between 6 to 7 years of being the league's running joke).
i read somewhere that Malone was one of the highest paid assistants in the NBA. I don't know how that correlates to his pay as a head coach and/or if that made him a "cheap" option. He's mentioned in several interviews on radio/TV that one of the big draws to Denver was their attention to the draft, promise to improve the roster, and getting some veterans to fill some holes. So that would indicate a plan. Sacramento was such a mess when Malone was there. Management and ownership did everything they could to f*** it up. The Kings are/were the NBA"s version of the Rapids in mismanagement so I highly doubt Malone would have taken the job without a plan. As for Bednar, i think he was the "cheap" option after the failure of Patrick Roy. However, his name had been rumored with a few openings and you get that he was a up-and-coming coach and KSE moved on him. I honestly don't know much about the coaching ranks in the NHL to say if KSE stumbled into something by going the cheap route. bednar has panned out so it worked. 100% agree. They deserve little credit when it comes to the Rapids. Their other entities are judged differently obviously because of their success and upward trajectory. I just hate how the rapids are treated and operated with KSE.
I think you're being extremely optimistic thinking any current success and "upward trajectory" from the Avs and Nuggets is going to sustain itself for more than a year or two. The minute player, coach, and FO salaries go up after being mildly successful, they'll just burn the whole thing to the ground to save a couple of pennies...and then the Avs and Nuggets will go right back to bottom-feeder status that is a hallmark of Kroenke ownership. KSE doesn't build organizations to win. They build them to wring as much money out of other people as possible.
FWIW calling either the Avs or the Nuggets a contender is probably optimistic. As much as they've improved this season, the Nuggets will be decided underdogs if they advance. The biggest development is they managed to home grow a legit superstar which is huge since they can't attract one via free agency. How much of that was them and how much was luck is a question. (They drafted Jokic 41st, so they though enough of him to take a flier but not enough to spend any real draft resources on him.) The Avs may have a chance because from what I can tell, NHL is weird and an 8 seed has actually won (2012 Kings). But the Avs have basically been bouncing around between playoff periphery and high draft picks for years and were an 8 seed this season. They have good young players, but that tends to happen when you draft high and has been the story for a while. Once upon a time Duchene and Reilly were gonna be the guys. The Nuggets have seemed decently run for a while, though the decision to fire George Karl and start over was obviously quite controversial. But they were right to let Carmelo go and got a huge amount haul out of him leaving when most teams get a lot less. They have spent at times...not top 5 money but I recall them being above the NBA average. Their weaknesses seem to have as much to do with the NBA as anything (attracting the free agent banana boat).
Avs have the 7th higestest payroll and Nuggets 16th highest. The salary cap in the NHL may very well cause the Avs to blow the thing up in and couple of years as key players will need to get paid. The Nuggets on the other hand.... NBA contracts are nearly fully guanteeed so they can’t exactly kick players to the curb and blow it up. That’s why the draft is so important with the NBA so if they keep their core players and continue to draft well, the nuggets will be contenders in the West for a handful of years. I get what you’re staying though but KSE has not proven to be the cheapest of the cheap in their other entities. That was really my point. That’s what really frustrates me and quite frankly pisses me off about KSE.
I'd add one thing to this. In the case of the Rams and Rapids, KSE also builds the organizations to support KSE's land development ventures.
Exactly. Except in this case the cheap bastards won’t even pony up for a damn parking lot on the west side for the fans at the Dick. That cow pasture doesn’t cut it. Truly pathetic and totally disrespectful. Symbolic of their efforts on the soccer end of things.
Alan Koch, now formerly of FCC, is a available! Sounds like a perfect fit to kill a culture. You'll love this nugget..... https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/05/07/fc-cincinnati-part-ways-head-coach-alan-koch
The 6/1 match Rapids v Cincinnati should be barn burner. (checks personal schedule, schedules overnight backpacking trip for that weeekend.)
Save your vacation for 4th of July and the Colorado-New England match. That might set the league back a decade.
Unless I've missed any, this is number 2 already for this year. I think this speaks more to the lack of coaching talent available to the MLS than anything else. 2018 saw 9 coaching changes (a record year, mind you). (EDIT): 2017 also saw a record 5 coaching changes. That's not a good trend. Right now there's an increase of player talent available - see Portland Timbers signing yesterday for another recent example of teams going big. But as the player pool grows, it would appear the coaching talent pool isn't really growing at all. Finding the next coach of the Rapids isn't going to be easy. 1) Because it's the Rapids. But also 2) It isn't going to be easy, because there's a lack of talent available at the coaching position in the MLS. The MLS is an extremely unique league, and not everyone can cut it around here. Padraig searched long and hard and found Hudson last time. Who knows who they find this time.
Already booked, backpacking near Atlantic City, WY - helping a friend do GPS marking of a 40 mile trail he unofficially surveyed as part of an Eagle Scout project way back in the early 80's.
I don't think that MLS is unique in having difficulty finding successful coaches to bring into the league. Many sports and leagues tend to recycle coaches, with new blood having difficult times getting in and staying in. In soccer, look at the EPL - how many chances do Alan Pardew and Fat Sam get? Other sports examples abound - the NBA, NFL, college football, etc.