Brian McBride is too boring to be a head coach. If the club were to hire him, we would also need to hire a spokeman like Ray Hudson to deal with the media.
Thanks Dave - I'd forgotten about the "injury/can't play/fly to Germany" theme. That was really the last straw. And that Dooley line about Fitz never having played professionally while he himself had all this experience - sums it all up in a nutshell. After that the problems started with Stern John - missing meetings and generally giving Fitz the finger. And it wasn't just him. As you point out, Fitz reacted with a "get tough" policy, stating in the off season that he was really going to be kicking ass and cracking the whip. He had always been a players' coach, and it was a real shock. The players responded to this by turning him off completely. Rootes and HSG really had no choice but to can him although if ever there was a great example of the old "we can't fire the players so we have to fire the coach" bromide, that was it. There was more than enough blame to go around. In a funny way, I think that's part of Greg's problem. He had a front row seat while Fitz went from the player's pal to a hardass to out the door and he doesn't want to make the same mistake. The amazing thing to me was that McBride managed to ride above the whole thing, and came out smellling like a rose. I always wondered what would have happened if he and Mais and Clark and Lapper would have gotten together and taken a stand. In other words, shown a little leadership. But BMB is beyond criticism in Columbus, Mais was nursing injuries, etc. So it all went down the drain. The big question now is: What do the players say behind Greg's back? Even the rawest Dev player has more high level experience than he does, let alone guys like Elliott and Fraser and Lagos. Is he able to stand up to them and lay down the law? I sincerely doubt it, and I think he's seen what can happen if he tries. It's exactly why I'd take a chance on a guy like Harkes. Who knows if he can coach or not - I sure don't. But he'd be up in your grill and on your case and nobody can say he hasn't been there and done that. He's the kind of guy this organization needs to shake off the cobwebs. The whole problem IMO boils down to inertia, a "same old same old" thing with this franchise. We need someone to open the window and let in some fresh air.
I wonder if articles like these are also a reason the FO and HSG is so secretive in everything involving the Crew. Seems like a lot of dirty laundry was thrown out there early and their worried stuff like that will hurt their image and pocket book with families. So they just say nothing. Although some things from Dooley sure do sound familar with Andrulis. Like this:"Dooley said he asked permission to go to Germany because he did not expect to travel to Washington for the third game because of a groin injury suffered before Game 2 in Columbus. He was left at home for Game 1 when he said he was healthy. Fitzgerald said he was injured, although Dooley was not listed on the injury report." Sound familar? For what it's worth I always thought Fitz wasn't that bad, however, the time for him to go was past time for him to go. Also, I'd take Dooley as HC anyday of the week. He really seemed to love this city and he has the credentials as a player and coach that I think the Crew need.
Count me in as part of the group that liked Fitz as well. Though as much as I liked the guy and regardless of how it happened, he lost the team that last year. I also thought it was a bad move when he started talking about how talent v talent, DC was so much better than the Crew. I don't think many people disagreed with him at the time, but it is just something that you just don't say. The whole Dooley to Germany thing was a bad move as well. Personally I don't care if Dooley was injured, not injured, on the travel squad, not on the travel squad....heading to a coaching seminar when your team is in the play-offs doesn't really show that you are a team first type guy to me. I think had he put aside his differences with the staff and showed up anyways, he would have gotten a chance to take over the team. Great point myshap on the whole player supposedly injured but not on the injury report thing. Maybe GA did learn something from Fitz. My biggest beef with the Crew, since Rootes left, has been that there really isn't somebody else within the FO with any type of soccer background. I don't really buy being with the Crew FO for 'X' amount of years gives you a soccer background, it doesn't. I know that some were not too high on Rootes, but I really think we have lost a step or two since he moved on. Giving full player control to the coaching staff is just a bad move. It wouldn't be so bad if it were somebody like Ellinger, somebody with a pretty good insight into the younger plays, familar with a good many college coaches and has a good many connections. I guess the thing that gets me is that the total control was given to GA not because he was so good at it or thought of as some kind of genius when it comes to player movement, but simply because there was nobody in the FO with much knowledge. Typically teams give that sort of power to high profile coaches as extra incentive to bring them in or because they have built a reputation as being very good in that dual role, not because there simply isn't anybody left to do it.
Oftentimes the very good and great players are just so naturally talented and the game comes so easily to them - not that they coast, but they just get it - they have trouble understanding that it's not like that for everyone and they have trouble getting their message across. I've read that Ted Williams was a terrible manager (0.429 winning percentage) and one of his biggest faults was that he couldn't understand how not everyone could hit as well as he could. As for former US soccer players becoming head coaches in general, I suspect it's likely to be more common for our former players to jump directly into head coaching slots than in many other places and not working their way through the ranks as Eggy posted. With a fairly limited number of opportunities - not too many lower division professional teams coupled with NCAA - it's more difficult to have a lower level at which to start. I think, however, assistant positions would be good starting places, plus putting former professionals-turned assistants in charge of game day management for the new reserve teams would be a good learning opportunity for hopeful first-team coaches.
I updated Firefox the other day and now I can't get the right mouse button to function correctly, so I can't snip and paste the url, but there's a good piece in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (my hometown paper) today about Harkes interviewing for the Rhinos vacancy. The reporter gives the distinct impression that the job is John's if he wants it, and apparently he does, although he admits that his Head Coaching experience is limited to his son's U 9's. (They also mention Antonettas, one of the great Italian Restaurants in the hemisphere, which is near where I lived. Took Lefty there for lunch a month or so ago. Food to die for. Or from.) Maybe someone not using Firefox and thus not right-click limited can post the damned thing, but this is an interesting development. Could be that by the time HSG finally wises up and sends the Bearded Vagina back to Dayton, Harksie will have established the bona fides for the job here. Or maybe Rochester will get an MLS team and he'll stay there and we'll be out of luck once again.
I'm using Firefox and my right click works just fine. Here it is: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041203/SPORTS05/412030382/1023
Don't know if this is what Bill was talking about, but I actually found a couple talking about the position. One from Nov. 24 that mentioned that Harkes had yet to return the team's call and one from the Dec. 1 that mentioned Harkes as a finalist. Though both articles mention that it appears that Laurie Calloway is considered the front runner for the position. http://www.democratandchronicle.com...?AID=/20041201/SPORTS05/412010312/1007/SPORTS
I don't see Rochester hiring Harkes. They want someone whos going to be there long term, not a stepping stone type. Maybe if Rochester is really planning on moving up I could see it happening. Calloway will be their pick I think. He flipped me off after the USOC game when he came over to get that little ******** Schwitzer who thought he was the ******** instead of someone MLS teams ******** on. Can't say I didn't deserve it though, I did let both of them know their MLS Rejects and I had a special message for Calloway's wife.
Try and reinstall it. I upgraded from the 1.0 Preview Release the the actual 1.0 and had a bug or two that shouldn't have been there. After reinstalling 1.0 again I didn't have any issues. As far as Harkes and job are concerned, I think it would be a great place for him to get his feet wet before moving to the MLS (or possibly to Virginia in the future). I do think myshap is right about Harkes and Calloway though. Calloway is more likely to stay long term, but his teams are all boring as hell to watch. But who wants a dude named Laurie coaching their team?
Damn, I go away for 6 days to find that someone busted out a rolleyes and is analyzing my text ! Way to go, I hope you gained much happiness from your post - Joe