Desperate times for United (Haydon, W. Times, 6/6)

Could some moderator please merge these threads about the Haydon article in the Washington Times?

Oh, wait... you are a moderator.

 

For a second I thought Knave was going to be ZAPPED by revelation!

Another good article by Mr. Haydon.

 

Re: Re: Desperate times for United (Haydon, W. Times, 6/6)

If you took the time to read it, you'd see that this link takes you to a commentary by Haydon.

 

I've been wanting to post this somewhere, but I wasn't sure what thread was best. I guess this will have to do.


When Hudson first became coach at Miami, the expectations weren't too high. He was fun. He was energetic. He was a breath of fresh air.

His team was doing poorly. They immediately improved under him. They even made a run at the Open Cup championship his first half year. I think that run changed his status from "interm" coach to "our guy" in Miami. It gave him confidence (not to mention the team).

In the offseason, Ray built a team that turned into the envy of the league. It could score, it could defend, hell, it could even entertain off the field (remember all the funny Serna stories?).

What worked for that "perfect storm" of a season was Ray's ability to bring talent together and "turn it loose". Hudson knew what Preki could do, so he just let Preki do his thing. Same with Henderson, Bishop, Chacon, ect. Ray traded away draft picks and youth for vets who didn't need coddling. Hudson convinced himself that he was just "one of the boys" and everyone had a blast mopping up the league.

Then a funny thing happened. The playoffs started. For the first time in his pro coaching experience, Hudson felt the pressure to "coach". Suddenly, stuff that Miami had been doing all season changed to a more "rigid" format. I think Ray "tightened up" under the pressure. His players tightened up as well. The offense wasn't as free flowing. Ray wasn't smiling and laughing on the sidelines. Overnight, the Fusion became a different team.....

Fast forward to last year. Hudson watches the team he assembled get contracted. He's suddenly out of a job. And then the phone rings......

The dream job of coaching the most storied franchise in league history lands in his lap. Everyone remembers his fantastic team in Miami. There is little doubt that he is the "man for the job".

But there are dark clouds on the horizon. In Miami, he tore the team up and rebuilt it from scratch.

Here, there a several "untouchable" players on the books. Ray can't "rebuild" the engine, only try and tune it up. Things don't go according to plan. Ray is being asked to actually coach young guys. He's not real comfortable with that.

Fans give him the benefit of the doubt. "Look at what he inherited" say the fans. "Give him some time to mold the team into his type of guys".

But the alarm bells should have been ringing last year. DC didn't improve right away like Miami did. Even though Ray was good for some quotes after the game, you didn't see the joy in him like you did the first year in Miami. Ray was a man under pressure.


He made some radical changes in the offseason (the deal with NY), but he didn't go far enough. He had the chance to trade away the #1 pick and improve with even MORE veterans. He could have settled the Etch situation. He didn't. He tried hard to find the right magic of special vets to "lead the way" (how else do you explain the Hristo acquistion?), but he was in over his head. Too many guys that were painters, not enough artists.

Ray had to coach. And just like the playoffs two years ago, Hudson has tightened up. He's not having a ball anymore. He's pressing and so are DC United. He's trying to convince everyone that it's "just bad luck". Funny how he never claimed that Miami had "good luck" when they were winning....