MLS coaches (current and potential) and coaching thread

Ben Olsen today, Ben Olsen tomorrow, Ben Olsen forever.

 

Shoulda left him behind inside RFK when they locked up.

 

1) Biello never impressed me, and Saputo has an itchy trigger finger. No surprise.
2) If RSL doesn't extend Petke, the club should be dissolved.
3) Savarese deserves an MLS job, but I'm supporting Friedel to the Revs so he gets off of my TV and out of the national team program.
4) Good for Dave. Hope it's his only match.

 

Biello got what, 2 and half years? That's plenty of time. Having said that, his hands were tied roster wise due to Nick de Sanctis and Joey Saputo having significant input in roster construction.

Always a bit sad when a club legend gets fired though

 

Oh I totally agree. I'm just never surprised when Montreal fires a manager. 4 managers gone now after 6 seasons despite 3 playoff appearances, 2 Canadian Championships, and a Champions League final appearance.

 

This is a WTF? moment.

LA Galaxy relieve Pete Vagenas of GM duties, hand keys to Sigi Schmid

I thought he had a chance to be fired. I mean, there's a hearts and minds battle set for next year and they are staying analog in a digital world

 

Removing Vagenas makes sense. He was a temporary patch. Rumor is Sigi is switching to GM, and won't coach. A bit unorthodox, but could be worse. I don't know if it will work, but it has a chance to.

My biggest concern is likely coach Kinnear. The league has passed him by. (If it turns out Sigi tries to do both, that may be even worse.)

 

That's wonderful news!!! Now that Sigi is GM, Curt can come back!!!!

 

The printer worked well enough to get a contract printed.

 

Who has interims or vacancies right now? Montreal, also Colorado and New England. I think that's it. I think we hear from LA first, announcing Kinnear as HC now that Sigi is GM. I don't think he does both.

 

In a radio interview today Rapids interim GM Padraig Smith stated that interim coach Steve Cooke would be staying in the organization but not as head coach. They also expect to announce the new head coach within the next couple of weeks (Nov. 1st was the goal they set about 6 weeks ago).

 

Any rumors?

 

Nothing with substance. Names like John Hackworth, Josh Wolff, Henning Berg, etc. have floated around, along with discussion of talking to coaches in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, England, etc.

 

Cool chart!

 

I usually care more about longer term, but repped for the beautiful chart. And a collapse during a season is certainly worth considering for a new coach or one who has been average or below average. (Also, Kinnear was fired this season, too.)

No way should Sigi be coaching at LA. Yes it's a bad team, but 0.7 PPG isn't merely bad, especially when someone was fired for getting only 1.2 over about the same amount of time. If he's juggling GM and HC... that's not a recipe for success.

Kreis is a coin flip. I can see replacing him, and I can see giving him through midseason. I think he has what it takes, but he had a bad situation in NYC and hasn't shown enough strategic flexibility at either NYC or Orlando. When something isn't working, stop doing it.

And there's just nothing to say about Olsen and Curtin. They're done, and they've been done for a while now; we're just waiting for the GM or owner to realize it.

Heath also doesn't belong, but I'm not completely on board with firing an expansion team coach who had a typical expansion team season without any DPs.

Pareja's past successes should and will buy him another year, despite the historic level of collapse in 2017.

 

I think you underestimate how much rope Curtin, at least, has. Objectively, of course you're correct, he should be on the hot seat. But believe me, the throne in Philadelphia remains seasonably brisk.

 

I disagree that Kreis was in a bad situation in NYC. NYCFC is unique to MLS. The gig has REAL pressure attached to it. The expectation is to win, and win now. At RSL he had time, and had built up a huge amount of stock with them. He made RSL a contender yes, but MLS was a completely different league in 2008-2013. The past 5 years MLS has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of player quality. I agree with your point about Kreis being inflexible. I honestly think the league has so quickly in these past few years and Kreis (along with other coaches) just hasn't kept up.

Viera walked in as a first time manager and took almost the same team to the playoffs.

I think He's in a bad situation with Orlando. This off season will be very interesting for them. I have a gut feeling they won't be making any splash signings (no more $7M DP's, Kaka was a one off). There are signs that they don't have the money that many observers thought they had. The Kaka signing skewed things a lot.

Curtin will get at least until the World Cup break next season. He's in a difficult situation. He's fully aware of how Philly fans are, as he is one himself having grown up in the area. Unions fans are pissed, and frustrated that 8 seasons in the team is still stuck in neutral. Philly is a top 5 media market in the country, with a passionate fanbase. Union ownership is not shy about the fact that they don't have the funding of a TFC, ATL, LAG, or LAFC. Plus they essentially rebooted everything when they parted ways with Nick Sak and brought on Earnie Stewart.

The ownership group and FO often talk about how great their Academy is, yet there aren't any regular first team contributors who came through the academy as of yet. Earnie Stewart was lauded as a money ball savior, yet quite a few of his signings haven't panned out as hoped. So all around there is a lot of frustration.

Curtin is backed by the FO and owners. Philly doesn't have the funds to get any real difference makers. Hell, they don't really have a scouting department outside of Earnie Stewart and Oka Nikolof's (current Goal keeper coach and long time Bundesliga vet) roll-a-dex's. Does another coach get better results? That's debatable. Curtin is married to the 4-2-3-1, which is another HUGE point of contention of the fanbase: tactical inflexibility.

Much like Ben Olsen, Curtin is going to a gunfight with a knife. Olsen likely isn't going anywhere until the current owners sell DCU. Curtin isn't going anywhere for now either. Unless the Union stumble out of the gate again in 2018 like they did this season, Curtin will get next year, and at the very least to June.

Heath, no idea how he got another head coaching gig so quickly. Winning in USL/NASL while nice, does not equate to MLS success. There is a wide gap between teams at the lower levels. If you spend more then your opponents, you will more then likely win at the USL/NASL level. MLS is a completely different kettle of fish.