Y'all are missing the point, which is - of course - that Our Friend Peter had a conversation with TV's Rob Stone.
I don't really understand the comments upthread that Laurent C. doesn't have MLS experience. Courtois played for Chivas USA for two seasons (he was traded to LA Galaxy late in the second season), then he played and coached for LA Galaxy 2 for a third year, then went to Lyon for four years, and has been in Columbus since 2019. He has been in the USA in the ranks of MLS players, assistants, and coaches for 7 years. We are really comparing that to Gerrard's two year walk-about with the LA Galaxy?
What are we supposed to do? Not complain? Be happy we might have a viable candidate? You've got some nerve, ZipSix.
I've been thinking this same thing. Courtois has been in and around the MLS format for long enough to understand how it goes. Bez will still be here to handle all the complicated roster building machinations unique to this league. I'm not necessarily saying he's the man for the job or not...(although I'm fine with giving him a shot)....but I don't see why he's not basically as qualified as most of these other guys with experience working in this league.
I don't see how this has anything to do with Gerard. But Courtois has zero senior coaching experience of any kind, not just in MLS. He was an assistant coach for LAG 2, coached the Lyon academy, coached the Crew academy, and then coached Crew 2. He's done very well in those roles, obviously, but the fact remains he's never coached players any older than their early 20s. He's never had an MLS coaching gig that in any way has had to deal with the senior league's roster structures. Maybe he's ready to make the leap. I'm just pointing out that it certainly would be a leap for him based on his long stint coaching kids and very young pros. Again, I like him and especially like his professional career. He strikes me as a person that players would respect. I'd just prefer that he'd have spent some time coaching adults, that's all.
The Athletic is saying that Houston may be trying to hire Ben Olsen. I have to admit, he'd be pretty far down on my list.
Yeah, way down. Why the hell any team in MLS would be looking to hire Ben Olsen to be a head coach again is beyond me.
Wait so Houston fired the manager midway through his first year, replaced him with the Dynamo 2 head coach, and are interviewing Olsen and Hugo Perez. Maybe Bez should have taken notes from Onstad (but maybe Onstad is bad at hiring a manager tbf).
If Caleb Porter was Mister Mediocrity, then Ben Olsen flat out sucks. Now I readily admit that I am not the resident MLS stats guy. But I can fetch some stats from Wikipedia. What a decade-long dumpster fire of head coaching.* Yeesh. *As a faithful Crew fan, I loved every minute of it.
One name that would be completely out of left field is none other than Federico Higuain. He has very little coaching experience, and none as the head man, but I'd still prefer him to someone like Benny Olsen.
No - just no I like Pipa My daughter LOVES Pipa I wouldn't want to see him tarnish his reputation here because he is inexperienced as a coach. After all - his only "pro" coaching experience is as an assistant with Inter Miami 2 Don't hire on sentimentality Coaches are hired to be fired after all
Courtois has worked for about 10 years in academies, 5 or so here in the US and 5 or so at Lyon, arguably the best academy in all of Europe. Courtois had a great year with Crew 2: - Coach of the year - league mvp - league golden boot - multiple best xi players - won the cup - promoted players to the first team - best offense - best goal difference To even have Pipa and Courtois in the same conversation is laughable.
Oh, I agree completely. Same reason I didn't want GBS coming back to coach. I was just throwing it out there.