MLS coaches (current and potential) and coaching thread

i am listening to an ExtraTime Radio podcast where they interview Dan Hunt, son of Lamar Hunt. He thinks the reason why FC Dallas has such a great academy system is because of the players his dad brought in at the start of FC Dallas. Those mostly foreign-born players stayed in the area and developed the club teams. Also, Lamar Hunt got the stadium built and I suppose funded a lot of the early infrastructure.

of course, a lot of owners are going to say things like that, but maybe it's true in this case.

 

I voted for Heaps to get the axe, but that should surprise no one who has visited the Revs board in the past few years. Many people were questioning his hiring right from the start and he has done absolutely nothing to dispel the thinking that he is unqualified and inexperienced, even after 6 years. His in-game substitutions rarely make sense, his tactics are naive at best, and his player management of sometimes difficult personalities and egos is nonexistent.

He was saved by Jermaine Jones in 2014, should have been let go after 2015 when the team declined, should definitely have been let go after 2016 when they didn't make the playoffs. But Burns cited they missed out on "goal differnece" (which is technically true, but they were toast for weeks leading up to that), and claimed the team was "on the cusp" of being an elite team.

Bottom line is while the Revs are not world-beaters, they do have some talented players and should be in a much better place than they are now. They haven't won a road game on US soil since 2015 and are notorious for blowing leads with bonehead plays that turn wins into draws and draws into losses.

He needs to go. Period.

Savarese wouldn't be a bad choice, and he fits the Krafts' main criteria:

• Willingness to work cheaper than a "name" coach
• Eager to get a shot at an MLS job, even if it's a stepping stone
• They "know" him, as an ex-Revs player
• Done well with the chaotic environment of the Cosmos (not that the Krafts care about results)

 

The story was going around that Savarese was the Loons first choice, but the Cosmos (have I mentioned lately that I have really loathed the Cosmos since like 1975?) wanted a boatload of cash, Joe Mauer, the Mall of America, the Christian Brothers hockey stick factory and the deed to the town of International Falls as compensation.

 

Voted for Olsen, but Curtain, Heaps, and Heath are solid choices as well. It seems like there was a little too much coaching stability the last couple years, so there are plenty more changes which can be made even after four midseason firings.

 

Heaps and Olsen both underachieve.

 

Which, to be fair to both Manny and Blooter, could be as simple as Waxman doesn't represent anyone they wanted (edit: or felt they could reasonably afford).

I freely admit to not knowing who Waxman represents, however.

 

I saw the article on the MLS website: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/08/30/sabetti-10-coaches-who-would-be-good-fit-mls... and then I saw this thread and it got me thinking.

I think it might be a sign of the growth of the league that foreign coaches are starting to do better as MLS coaches. Yes there are some uniquenesses to MLS, especially travel and salary cap. But for years foreign coaches seem far more likely to fail than to succeed. I'm frankly shocked that Vieira is doing so well, and Tata M seems to have transitions extremely quickly and well in ALT. Now both are at clubs that have significant ambitions, but I do think it is a sign of maturity for the league that we can now support both developed coaches and quality international coaches.

Do we have any stats on this or are my feels not really supported by facts?

 

I used to talk with Ron back in the day, and he would sometimes feed me some inside, "off the record" stuff about how MLS worked then. Yeah, he can be outspoken, and like every agent, his guys are the best and players he doesn't represent are, um, maybe not as good.

Having said that, it certainly can't be a shock to anyone with a pulse to hear that Burns isn't exactly considered a shining star. His previous employment was serving as a bridge suppport on the Southeast Expressway, and he just figured out how to use the "+" symbol on his phone last year. His only qualifications for anything is being a Kraft yes-man. Here's a guy who couldn't understand when fans ripped him a new one when the Revs voluntarily Joe Public-ed themselves out of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, after hearing the excuses that they needed to "concentrate on winning MLS Cup." You may recall that, despite all the "concentration," that didn't happen either.

So yes indeed, Waxman is correct, Burns is a blithering dolt who barely knows enough to come in out of the rain.

 

Repped for the closing line.

The lesson of Minnesota is that it can be easier to find MLS level players from domestic minor leagues than from Scandinavia. Partly because those leagues are no longer a step up, and partly because NASL and USL players are used to the quirks of playing here, like the frequent travel and the widely varying weather.

Most of the top of an expansion club roster probably needs to come from Latin America. The best Americans and Canadians are taken already, and most really good European players are making more than you can offer without going far from home.

If Heath had voiced the right concerns to ownership about the roster early enough, it's possible that most of the blame will (and should) fall on Lagos. But if the roster was built with his open input and in accordance with his stated needs, he may be in trouble. This roster wasn't good enough, and those who thought so need to own up to it. (Possibly including the team's owner.) There's just not a way to make a roster this cheap be effective.

 

Man City un-Man'ed him.......

 

He needs to screw his courage to the sticking place?

 

I'm curious, does anyone think Ali Curtis might get another GM gig in MLS. I thought he was doing pretty good in NY. He'd be a huge step up over Manny Lagos.

 

Ali Curtis was interviewed in an extratime radio podcast recently, and he did not impress me at all.

 

Kroenke finally fired Mastroeni. How much longer can Heaps last under Kraft, especially after that 0-7 debacle in Atlanta?

 

At least until the end of the season.

He'll probably "not exercise the option" on him after the end of the season, but it will be well into December before we have a new manager, and of course there will be no time in the off-season to get the team together, so we'll start the season again at 2-5-3 next year and it will be the same thing all over again.

or he may decide that Heaps was just "unlucky." After all, they only lost by a single touchdown.