The guy had ONE very short term, yet quite successful, coaching gig. One. And he was coaching the HOME team at the World Cup. Forgive me if I don't consider him the bastion of all that is good and right in soccer.
If I had to guess... I would look toward a certain local college coach. But seriously, that's just a guess.
Overcorrection. You're not wrong about Klinsmann's record. But we're not talking about all that is good and right in soccer. We're talking about player/personnel director for a 2nd-tier team in a tertiary league that just happens to be located in the same nation that a certain idle soccer mind happens to have made his home. Klinsmann to FCD probably won't happen, but it doesn't hurt to make the calls and have the balls to try ... he is idle for now. The worst that can happen is he says no and laughs in our face ... but then we'll have a real measure of what we're up against in attracting top foreign talent (that isn't on the wane). So I'm only half-kidding. Make the call ... WTF?
wouldn't he have left them already? I'm sure he's had dozens of offers over the years. However, being a master at ju-jutsu and feeling no pain in the crotch area he'd be safe if AA ever wanted to knee someone again
Everyone keeps saying Hitch is a good marketer and salesman...um, maybe in corportate sponsorships he has made some headway(even though most of the sponsors the team have are similar to another Frisco franchise), but they are still lacking in ticket sales, which he has been in charge of. Maybe this market is just bad, but I am stunned at the lack of sellouts they have been able to create since the stadium opened. If I recall correctly, we are at 0 for a regular season game, correct? The opener of the place was limited capacity, and the only sellouts I can remember are the MLS Cups. Right? Or did I miss a game or two? My point is, they brought in the hotshot sales guy from LA and DC, who didnt really have a lot of prep time to develop for a franchise that was attempting to take big steps, and as a result he has struggled a bit. If you factor in the relationships with CAP and T&T, those are good steps for sure. But they are prob discounted when you look at a few signings he has okayed. to sum up...strugggggggggggggggling.
Probably. I can do that sometimes I'm talking about all the "but then I realized I was dreaming" stuff. Is it really a "dream come true" kind of scenario? The only thing that stopped him from being the head of the USMNT program was an issue of control. Last USMNT coach was hired and fired by an MLS club in the course of a year and a half. Doesn't seem like he so "untouchable", nor does it seem like he's anything close to "dream" worthy. Not until he builds up his coaching/management resume a bit more. Well....sure...I guess. Couldn't hurt.
Now we are cooking with Crisco!!!!!! A modern format upon which to make the soccer decisions. Hallelujah. If the "separation of powers" formula is followed, you all know how long I have hoped for such a thing to happen. Player salaries decisions are getting more complicated. Integrating the development and needs assessment from feeder teams is the direction that the league is moving towards. What was good enough a year ago could bury you today. I'd love to see a model arise that allowed for club stability through a long term plan. Coaches come and go, but the club "system" should be entrusted to a more permanent person. And that all important person needs to be a 100% soccer guy. The current job title requires more bean counter DNA than a true-blood soccer dog.
of course he is the one guy that could do all three and do it well. I'm sure FCD wouldn't mind it but the stangs probably would.
Does anyone wonder about the timing of this decision????? Talk about a terrible time to do this. The winter transfer window has just opened, the college combine and draft are just a couple weeks away, the Ruiz trade is still up in the air. Why on earth would this not have been done immediately following the end of last season, not at possibly the most critical time for player/personnel decisions. Questions for Buzz: 1. Who is in charge of Player/Personnel decisions in the interim? Morrow? 2. Did Hitch do something that was "the last straw" on player/personnel decisions? (maybe he got blamed for the FCD-LA-DCU Ruiz trade falling apart)
A couple of thoughts: 1. The Ruiz trade is still in the air? You must mean the idea of trying to trade Ruiz is still in the air. But we don't even know that. All we know is we tried to trade him and that trade is dead, no longer in the air. 2. How do we know when this actually took place, word just leaked out, but no announcement has been made. Maybe this was done quietly weeks ago and only now has it leaked out. Maybe this was a planned thing for a long time with the timeline being to take place 12-31? Hey I don't know, but it is possible that the things you are worried about are taken care of and planned for..
1. Yes, I meant the idea of trading Ruiz is still up in the air. I know the first trade is dead, but it appears Ruiz is still on the trading block. Someone needs to be evaluating the value of various trade offers and whether a trade should be made. This could be the single most important offseason move, as several other moves will cascade off of this. 2. I hope that this has been taken care of and a formal announcement on this restructuring and who is handling player/personnel will be made shortly. My gut however says this is not the case, and this is a terrible time to be conducting a search for a new Director/VP/GM of Player/Personnel.
In the most recent announcement on the blog it states that the current Finance Director has been promoted to Operations Director, and he will be taking over some aspects of Hitch's current responsibilities. It goes on to state that Hitch will remain in charge of Sales/Marketing and Player Personnel. So, unless they plan on making ANOTHER move that will take Player Personnel away from Hitch, making him nothing other than the Sales Director with a GM title (something I doubt will happen), Buzz's sources got this one a bit wrong.
I don't think they did. FCD is going to a three head system. This guy is now head of operations and stadium. Once they find a technical director, Hitch will just do marketing and sales i am told. I rechecked with my sources, nothing has changed. According to my sources this current announcemnt is just a middle step on the way to the new setup.
Morrow and Hammond. And according to FCD, Hitch. According to my people Hitch isn't involved anymore, or won't be as sson as they hire a technical director. not according to my info. look in the end I may look stupid, but my sources are good ones and they say it's happening. I guess I will find out just how good they are.
If that's true then the really SHOULD strip him of the GM title. He'd have too narrow a responsibility to be considered a real GM, IMO. Cool....sorry, didn't mean to call your report into question. I just found it odd that they went out of their way in this Press Release to state that Hitch is still in control of Player Personnel.
As much as we can rag on Hitch for some personnel decisions that he at the very least signed off on (if not initiated) this move also logically looks like a man who was spread too thin and asked to do too many jobs. FCD needs someone to focus ONLY on ticket sales strategies because they ain't going like hotcakes. That said - this sounds like a good step in the right direction. I've got a name I would like to toss in the ring - Dave Dir. He was and is a pretty good player evaluator.
MLS agrees with you.... At least they did back before 1996. Dir was in a select committee whose sole purpose was to scoure the American landscape in search for players for this new league called MLS.
Just as long as those duties don't prevent him from regailing us with his stories of his favorite fish & chip joints during FCD game broadcasts.