Coach of the Year: Steve Nicol

Re: Coach of the Year

Well who's your choice? He took a last place team and they finished first in their division. Now they're playing for the title.

 

Re: Re: Coach of the Year

... against his team

 

Well, he won the division with a losing record. I forget what his record was but it wasn't much above .500 if I recall correctly.

I'm sure someone will correct me.

I would have gone with Sigi. He doesn't get enough credit (except for his beer belly).

 

Re: Re: Coach of the Year

I don't want to rain on Nicol's parade but he did also benefit from the Great MLS Florida Garage Sale. Just because Oz got the same benefit and yet f-ed it all up in NY doesn't mean Nicol was a genius, just that Oz is a moron.

I'm a Fire fan and I'm sure this will bring down howls of "Bias!!!" but my vote regardless of bias would be for Bob Bradley for simply getting the Fire to the playoffs despite call-ups and injuries that would have knocked any other team in MLS out of playoff contention by mid August.

But to expect people to vote for any coach other than one who is in the final is unrealistic. It would be too risky for most of the voters so I guess
Nicol it is.

 

Re: Re: Re: Coach of the Year

I honestly have no idea what that means.

 

sorry, against dawgpound2's team

and yeah, thank god new england got rooney, chacon, and diallo/serna, where would they be without them?

 

Re: Re: Re: Coach of the Year

So Bobby B. should get the nod for grabbing the 8th best record in a 10 team league - and this only at the eleventh hour - then getting quickly knocked off in the playoffs? Sure, that sounds right...

The Fire were in the East, where it was downright tough to eliminate yourself from playoff contention. Nobody managed to pull this off (eliminating themselves from contention that is) - not even though DC and New England who made some valiant efforts.

 

I would have gone with Sigi. He doesn't get enough credit (except for his beer belly). [/B][/QUOTE]
I agree. Compare the Galaxy players vs. Revolution players over all. I think Schmidt has done a fine job with very limited talent. Victorine, Vagenas, Mullin, etc, don't compare to Ralston, Hernandez, Kammler, etc. IMO.

 

A good number of those losses, though, were the result of the tactical stylings of Fernando Clavijo, however. It was inevitable that he was going to get it.

And Rodan, if ANY other team had lost the services of as many key players as Bradley did, making the playoffs at all, even in the East, would've been out of the question.

 

I respectfully though vehemently disagree.

I can certainly understand Steve Nichols. Shmidt would also have been a fine choice, as would have Mike Jeffries (the late slide killed him - but so did the teams torrid late-season schedule).

Bradley...er, no.

 

I'd say you have to give it to the coach who had the best record since Steve Nicol took over the Revolution.

 

they had them before Nicol took over and they pretty much stunk up the joint...

 

Well posters, it looks like this thread is academic since SN has officially been give Coach of the Year honors as of this morning (check other threads).

 

Mea culpa. Maybe you should have stated the dude officially won the honor for brain dead posters.

 

I couldn't be happier that Stevie Nichols won - but I wouldn't be surprised (and the history of this award seems to back this up) if having been around a while didn't help Zig much. The longer you've been around, the more toes you've had time to step on.

 

So you'd give it to Sigi?

 

But the real shocker is that Rongen won it at all

 

*Ding*

 

Nicol would have been my choice as well. Dismal performances, high expectations, no training camp to mold the team into "his" team, yet he still managed to overhaul the roster, bring in a new high profile attacker (Serna) only to lose him to injury as he finds his form, bring in an A-League defender (DC United's #1 SuperDraft pick Daouda Kante) late in the season and finish 5-0-1 and stay hot through the playoffs. Great job indeed!

Now, if Kraft is smart, he'll take that silly "Interim" tag off and sign Nicol to a long term deal. If he doesn't, some English Nationwide side will.

Sigi always has his teams peak at the right time, and Ruiz is looking like Batman, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. But, Sigi has had plenty of time to build a strong team, and succeeded. From now on he's really only measured by hardware, and the Open Cup isn't enough.

-Tron

 

Wasn't he on the short list of prospective coaches for DC? Damn. Another missed opportunity.

buc