You will never hear me use the US Open Cup as a defense of Olsen. When I use the term solid coach I also mean a coach who would only win an MLS Cup under extraordinary circumstances. I.E gifted a couple of dubious PKs to win early matches. Then Bennyballs a final win.
I am OK with him being kicked up stairs which is what we all know will happen. However as I have said all along I want a better option to replace him. 97% of the names mentioned here over time are not improvements IMHO. And "not Olsen" is not an improvement for me.
To a large extent it doesn't really matter whether Olsen is to blame or whether there is clearly superior replacement. It's a matter of accountability. He's plateaued with where he can take this club, and it's time for someone else. What's Arriola's contract status? This was a very disappointing season for him. He's clearly skilled but it seldom translates to goals or assists.
I would love for ben to stay with the team in some capacity. I just don't know enough about the workings of the organization (if we can call it that) to say where the best fit would be. However, whomever guides the day to day team practices should be keelhauled.
"Not Olsen" would be an improvement in one way. Not Olsen is not likely to have any substantial former ties with DC United so if he proves to be mediocre or worse, he would be let go after 2 or 3 years instead of kept forever. I have no illusions about the ownerships capability to hire a manager. If they do it will be whoever is today's version of Curt Onalfo.
Also because he didnt leave voluntarily. We didn't want him any more for good reason. Why should he not celebrate.
I dunno about "for good reason". Deleon rediscovered his game in Toronto. His 6 goals and 4 assists would have been welcome here this year, but he probably never would have had a chance to do that under Olsen.
I believe Harksie the Elder has been doing a decent managerial job at Greenville (?). FWIW, he'd walk in the door with more managerial experience than Ben had. (i.e., zero) [Does Adler need to duck?]
I am sure he had his fans. I was a fan, but most people believed at $440k, which was the escalation specified in his contract, that it was best to let him move on. I'd thought he was on 4 goals coming into this game, but my stats could be wrong. Either way, his goal didn't break our back, it just kicked us when we were down. Some full back coverage would have been nice to have had, but lets be honest, our season followed Lucho's head into the shitter. Mora's injury broke our rhythm, but again NDL never showed us he was that class of player if he'd been filling in for him. He might have kept us out of some of those bad games we played with a back 3. Maybe that gets us a home game, but with Lucho wandering around the field like he was having an out of body experience while Wayne went looking for new ways to miss games, we were never anything other than one and done. Arriola is locked up for another year or two. They'd be stone cold dumb even answer the phone when someone calls about him. I think Ben has really taken this team as far as he can, but I still doubt whether ownership can pick a coach and spend adequately to put an MLS Cup contender on the field in MLS3.0
No retreads. Do we not have the personnel necessary to identify potential coaching hires without resorting to the been there done that pile?
Yep, Bruce has former DC guys Onalfo and Richie Williams on his staff in NE. Richie has been touted as a potential head coach for years. Here? Only if Arena retires, I guess.
I respectfully disagree. Olsen will remain the head coach, unless he resigns, through the final year of his extended contract because the team is too cheap to fire him and pay him for not coaching next year and the year after that.
Of course the owners are cheap, but making the playoffs is their excuse for not getting rid of Olsen. That is good enough for them. If they had finished near the bottom of the table, I expect somebody would be saying it's time to get a new coach. (How many owners do we have now, anyway? I lose track.)