The club finds itself in a spot of a new coach in the middle of a season, again. The question now is if this interim coach should be given the reigns to be the actual coach, or if he just wears that interim badge until the end of the season. The club has stated Freddy will get until the end of the 2019 season - something I am ok with, honestly, as long as certain things are done. The point of this thread, though, is to ask what does Jaurez have to do, in your opinion, to move to full time coach. Vote above and feel free to keep this as the thread we talk about him and/or his replacement going through the rest of 2019.
Some background on Freddy, he played some minor level soccer and coached the New Mexico Strikers before joining the RSL organization. In 2010, he joined the RSL Academy in Arizona. He was essentially the team concierge along with an assistant coach. He was counseling the kids, taking them to doctors appointments, and helping with homework. He became more significant over the next few years as an assistant before becoming Monarchs first head coach in 2015. He then joined the RSL staff in 2017 with the departure of Richie Williams, and moved up the pecking order when Cassar was booted and replaced by Petke. I love Freddy. He's a great guy and I got to speak to him several times in the early days of the Casa Grande academy. My gut tells me he'd be a bit like a fish out of water if he had to mold this team over the long haul (a bit like Cassar). I'm a fan of his, but not sure making him the head coach beyond this season is the right thing to do for him or the club. I'm not sure accomplishing any of those things in the poll above would make me change my mind about that, although winning MLS Cup would make it politically impossible to do anything other than giving him the gig.
I'm all for giving Freddy the chance to sink or swim this year. If RSL makes the playoffs, then I think he should be named head coach. If RSL doesn't make the playoffs, I'm not convinced that he still shouldn't be named head coach.
I am in the camp of rooting for him and the team, and hoping that regardless we make a splash on a coaching hire in the offseason.
Even if we win MLS Cup? Like KIR, said, it would be irresponsible not to sign him to a contract then. Lets be honest, we're not going to win MLS Cup, but that sets a point of fantasy where you'll admit "yeah, he should be coach".
Five Thirty-Eight's current estimates have us at 90% to make the playoffs, and even suggest we'll get a home game. Obviously the coaching change isn't factored in, but it indicates our path should be playoffs this time around.
here is my problem with that - it implies you don't care what happens the rest of the season. If you aren't willing to give the manager a chance to earn the spot, then why even bother? My point here is to see if people really believe at all if Freddy can be the coach. So far, it's leaning towards no. Which intrigues me. Is the solution for you to look elsewhere and completely change things? We're in the habit of looking back at the Kreis change right now so it has to be said: Jason Kreis had NO BUSINESS being a head coach. He even admitted to that. And for a year or two didn't look the part. He improved, no doubt about that, but I remember calling for his head (with many others) through 2008 and 2009. Is the league really that much different that no new coach can be given a chance?
I think could look at quantitative metrics (PPG, quality adjusted points, etc.) and qualitative (does team rally around him, what vision does he have for the crop of players given, etc.) rather than simply a top three in West or something like that. I mean 2-9 are separated by 9 points (2-7 separated by 3 points)...literally anything could happen, so hard to make final position the arbiter...unless we totally collapse or win 'em all from here.
fair point, though I think with how the schedules are built it wont end this tight. Lots of 6 point games on the horizon, for everyone. Still, rather than just a line in the sand of position an evaluation of the quality of play, or type of play, is definitely warranted. To me, that has to be a more involved Rusnak, a less involved Beckerman, a rise in passing stats, and more complexity to the tactical ideas.
His head coaching experience amounts to 2 seasons with the Monarchs, and now a few games with RSL. I'd prefer a coaching mastermind ala Tata Martino. However, I'm sure someone of that profile is unrealistic. Petke wasn't anywhere close to there, but likely closer than Freddy. He's coached players and assembled starting lineups, but in his previous roles tactics and philosophy have largely been predetermined. At the Academy, Vasquez (and his predecessors) were steering the ship. At Monarchs, RSL was (at least somewhat) dictating approach and style of play. This is the first time he'll be leading those efforts. He also hasn't had the responsibility to build a squad over time. With the academy, and even largely the Monarchs, the squad almost completely turns over every season. A bad season, doesn't necessarily affect things in the long run. That's untrue of the RSL level. As I said, I'm a fan but skeptical that he's the right fit for this level yet.
Also, it should be pointed out that the Monarchs also have an interim head coach. Otherwise that role could (continue) to be a feeder to the first team. That was why Petke was originally brought in, and I think it also may have been the plan for Vasquez.
Good points. It'll be kind of fun to see if Freddy was watching the processes you mentioned and analyzed and learned from them, instead of just taking what he was given and trying to implement someone else's tactics and philosophy. I agree with 15 (kill me now, God) that the next few games, especially with Seattle on Wednesday, will be very telling.
Vazquez still doesn't have a coaching spot that I'm aware of. Wonder if he'll be a candidate. That would be funny.
I'm not convinced we will be able to learn a whole lot over the course of the rest of the season. I mean, we will be able to see some slight changes in tactics, subbing patterns, etc., but RSL 2019 is what it is for now. Just like it took Kreis several years to mold the team into what he wanted (and for him to become a better coach himself), I think it would take more than 1/2 a season to tell if Juarez is right for the job. So even if RSL does incredibly well, I don't know how convinced I would be that Juarez is the right long-term solution. We would know that Juarez is able to get the players to rally around him (which is worth something for sure), but we wouldn't know if he can shape a club over the long term.
We know from Petke that getting the players to rally around you and then actually being able to coach are two different things, for sure. Juarez had his first interview today as interim coach - you can see it on the team webpage. I'm not surprised at all by his comments, but sad. He did the coach talk of not changing much. An alarming thing was his response to what he would change, if anything. He said Petke's tactics are his tactics. I'm hopeful that's not 100% true. I get saying that publicly. Hopefully behind closed doors he's saying stuff like "alright, lets actually pass the ball to Rusnak for a change". Who knows. It's what I expected and feared for his first interview. I can't be upset with him, just kind of sad that he didn't say that even some small things would be changing under him. There is no way in hell he and Petke agreed on everything. Nobody does. Even a hint of that would have been nice. It feels like the easy cop out answer to say "his tactics are my tactics". That's why Mike did initially with the Cassar staff and such.
Zero Expectations - he’s playing with house money. Just watch what happens and have plans B,C, and D. Portland will surge to the second seed. Making the playoffs or hosting or winning rounds are all gravy.
I'd love to see Freddy serve as a competent caretaker this year, and then move to coach the Monarchs or oversee the "talent pipeline" - he is arguably the best example of the path from Academy -> Monarchs -> first team. I've only had a few interactions, but I like the guy and like to see him succeed - even if I don't think he's the right guy to coach RSL to "the next level" (whatever that is.)
I wouldn't expect him to change the tactics that much. Maybe a little here and there, but I would expect for RSL to play the same formation that they are currently playing. Also a bit more "pass the ball to Rusnak" and "don't get caught napping on defense". I also think he will get more out of Silva than Petke since he speaks Spanish and communicate what he wants better than Petke. After Saturday's game, we'll have a better idea of how Freddy coaches.
First, Freddy isn’t going to roll Petke under the bus. He will say ‘Petke’s tactics are my tactics’, but I’m not buying it. Second, I voted that if we make the playoffs, he will be named the manager. This is not what I feel should happen, but rather what I think DLH will do. Third, I’m all for going out and bringing in a tried and true manager who has some history of success. I don’t know what DLH is willing to spend though. If Freddy can take this team to the Western Conference Final, then I will say he has earned the shot. Fourth, my metrics still show RSL missing the playoffs. I’ll try to find the time to recalculate following the Seattle match.
I am optimistic. When Freddy left the Monarchs they tanked. correlation or causation? cant say. but correlation at least. USL is not MLS, and MLS is not the premier league, yeah, I know. But it seems like he has at least some gravity