Gerg's spectacular failure suggests that he should not be retained. However, Crew management will point to the US Open Cup win and Supporters Shield win and give him a new 3- or 4-year contract.
I'll say again, the dynamics of the situation seem to favor canning his worthless ass. Previously, you had to call the guy in and say "Butthead...er, I mean, Greg, listen: your work has just not been what we hoped, and I'm afraid we're going to have to let you go. Here's a box, clean out your desk and turn in your keys" Very traumatic, firing a guy, and HSG just HATES canning people. As someone who has gotten the sack once or twice myself, as well as having delivered the bad news on more than one occasion, it's not fun for anyone. NOW though, it's diffferent. Greggie is essentially unemployed. You'd have to offer the guy a new contract, and it's an insult to offer a guy anything other than a raise from the salary he signed for three years ago. And I just refuse, absolutely REFUSE to believe that even the guys at HSG, as humane and compassionate as they are, will actually call Greg in and say "Hey, Bud, here's a nice raise and a new three year deal for ya. Keep up the good work making our loyal fans hate us" I just don't see how that's possible. But then, Clark Hunt works in mysterious ways.
As long as we're throwing out improbable names with some Crew connection, why not rescue Oscar Pisano from coaching youth girls in Texas. Hell I firmly believe after watching the 2 year's away from his offensive teachings, he was responsible for the 2001 and 2002 offense. However, Andrulis felt threatened by him and Oscar got ******** canned for being a competant coach.
All right, I am calling bull on this. Let's look at Crew history. Not counting the dreaded shootout, the 1998 team won 15 games, lost 12 and tied 5. That 50 points. The 1999 team also would have had 49 points in the current non-shootout format. Okay, so this year's team got to 49 points in two fewer games than the '98 and '99 teams had. That's a good point. But they still couldn't have won 15 games even if the season were extended by two games. But I'll take the 1998 team over this year's any day of the week. That team also reached the final of the US Open Cup and the Eastern Conference Finals. Not only did it accomplish more on the field, it was infinitely more fun to watch, with Stern John and his 26 goals, McBride at his peak and a rookie named Jeff Cunningham not yet beaten down by the weight of being on the Crew for seven seasons. There was also this short little guy named Andy Williams who showed up midway through the season, baffled MLS defenses for 12 assists (and 4 more in the playoffs), then disappeared into the night. Good grief, when I think about watching that team versus watching this team slogging through the season, unbeaten streak or no, I want to cry.
This team is more like 2001's team. Incredible winning streak that petered out at the end; lost in the first round of the playoffs. The only difference is 2001 featured an offensive juggernaut and lost on defense, 2004 has the strong defense but no offense.