Per the Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/15/pablo-mastroeni-fired-rapids-coach/ Pablo Mastroeni fired as Rapids coach, Steve Cooke named interim coach Mastroeni’s record was 38-51-35, record this season 6-12-4
I'm surprised ... and I'm not. I thought last year was a fluke - the defense was (at one point at least) a full half goal a game stingier than anyone, with a handful of teams cluster for the second best spot. Just from the games of theirs I watched, I thought they were more lucky than good and that they would revert to mean – and that if they didn’t produce goals to offset that they were dead. Pablo also seemed all about motivation and had little grasp of tactics. But I thought he would live on past year a little longer. Anyone know anything about the interim guy? Is he a likely successor?
Same thought. Like, obviously he wasn't doing a good job, but they have had some decent results lately, and it's right after the summer transfer window has (mostly) closed. You'd think they would have brought in a new guy to play with the roster in the summer, then revamp in the off-season and go for it next year. But then, it's Kroenke, so obviously they ********ed even this simple task up.
Predicting when a cheap team will fire a bad coach is like wondering when a teenager will clean their room. They probably will sooner or later, but it's on their own schedule, and there's not much that you can do to speed up the process.
well, it's season tickets renewal time. Rapids FO gotta pretend they care before hiring the cheapest coach they can find. Or keep the interim guy. I'm guessing signing Howard didn't move the needle much in terms of attendance. One can only tolerate so much sucky soccer
2015: 15,657 2016: 16,278 2017: 15,380 Who'd have thought that a goalkeeper wouldn't drive an attendance surge?
It isn't just the coach. Pablo was a pretty different coach from Pareja. The way the team was set up is so different. It would make more sense to clean house than just Pablo.
It was up in the second half of last season. Then came a bad off-season and an early trade that eviscerated the team's strength. Somehow, the bad results which came next hurt attendance.
About. damn. time. Some responses to the thread: Why now? I think there are two reasons. One, Hinchey left at the beginning of the window, midway through they made Smith the interim GM, and he was focused on the window until last week. Two, the season ticket auto-renewal deadline in Friday. For background last year the Rapids announced that if you signed up fro season tickets you would automatically be renewed unless you cancelled them in a 21 day window that ends Friday. My bet is they're getting a lot more cancellations than they hoped. Howard attendance bump. Yes there was one. Its no conincidence that the only non-sellouts last year after mid-May were a weeknight game and the night that the Broncos played their first post-Super bowl champions preseason game, the Rockies played, and Journey were at the Pepsi Center. That's not because the Rapids were suddenly good. Steve Cooke full-time/ I doubt it unless he lights a fire under the team and they somehow storm to a playoff position from being toast (something that's never happened). Also Pablo was 4 games short of tying the record for most games coached by a Rapids coach.
I can't help but feel a bit sad about how it all played out. Pablo is a legend to the club for what he’s done as a player. Last year’s run was also an achievement worth noting. However, I always felt he was in over his head as a head coach at this level, and to some extent I truly feel bad for him. He was not a particularly good coach, but his appointment was a hastily formed shotgun-marriage by the FO, and he was rarely given the resources to be successful, resources that are common in any well-run MLS organization. A coaching change is a good first step that has been long overdue, but the Rapids front office and KSE still have a lot of bad decisions to answer for. Will they actually conduct a real coaching search instead of just hiring the cheapest/easiest option? Will player acquisitions be more meaningful to the roster's actual needs? Will there actually be a long-term plan to build a competitive side? It is rather conspicuous that this would happen now; only a few days out from the end of the season ticket renew op-out period. I wonder if the number of people "opting-out" was large enough to cause alarm. ...and bear in mind that we've been all but mathematically eliminated form the playoffs for quite a while now, and this also basically makes it official that the summer window was totally wasted. The FO/KSE still have a lot to do before this club is no longer a train-wreak. Thank you for your service Pablo, even if it didn’t turn out the way Rapids fans all would have liked.
@KCbus , @Yoshou , @Ismitje can one of you fix the spelling error in the title? Let's at least get his name right.
Color me surprised. When Pablo started talking about 2018 six games or so into the season I figured there was a dude who knew he had ironclad job security.
Why is anyone surprised Mastroeni was fried? After all, weed is legal in the great state of Colorado.
The Rapids firing Pablo Mastroeni is roughly equivalent to White Star Lines firing the deck chair steward on the Titanic.