Minor speculation in the Chicago Tribune on who'll replace Bradley if he goes to New York. Link below http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...chgone,0,5309896.story?coll=cs-home-headlines
Why would he leave Shitcago? I mean besides coaching such a goon-filled team, I thought he liked it? And no, I seriously don't see Jefferies moving up there.
hahaha, yea then we can get back to our old pattern of quarterfinal-semifinal-quarterfinal-semifinal-quarterfinal-....he didn't get to lead us to the semi's in 2001 , DIR! you have some unfinished business.
You know, I like Dave Dir. And I think he's a good coach. But if you were to ask me who I'd like to have as coach of the Dallas Burn, I'd say Mike Jeffries. He's given me much more of a reason to believe that team weaknesses ultimately get addressed. In one full offseason, he did more to improve the defense than Dave Dir did in five years. I at least want to see how he addresses the problem of this team's lack of killer instinct this offseason.
Actually, I think we can do better than either Jeffries or Dir. I'd love to see a coach here of the caliber of a Bob Bradley or Sigi Schmidt. But given the choice between Dir and Jeffries, I'd take Dir in a heartbeat. Certainly the Burn's defense improved this year under Jeffries, but I think that was mainly due to acquiring better players, not due to any particularly great coaching on Jeffries' part. At least under Dir, the Burn came pretty close to making the MLS Cup in 2 out of the 5 years he was here. This year, Jeffries was coaching arguably MLS' most talented team, and yet they couldn't even make it out of the quarterfinals.
The fact is, that the truly elite coaches, those who 1)excel at both the evaluation and the aquisition of talented players and 2)can take talented individuals and make a team out of them and 3) can actually can manage a team ($$ wise) and 4)can handle the tactical demands of this level are rare. In MLS, that's been Arena, Bradley, Sigi, and Yallop. Dir and Gansler's teams, though talented, have tended to under-perform. Jeffries teams seem to be very slow starters, some question his tactical abilities. Hankinson can't draft and his talent evaluation skills are questionable. Hudson isn't so hot at talent evalation, either. Nicol has done well on the field with a team of players somebody else aquired + Dadouda Kante falling into his lap. Let's see how he does in the draft. I don't know what to think about Andrulis, or than he seems to be pretty good in all those areas, but not really elite in any.
My major points: Insisting on a committed, stay-at-home 'at least three' on the back line. Letting Cerritos develop over the whole season as a starter. The three/five debacle that left Kreis and Pareja at a fraction of their worth. [*]Starting Ronnie O'brien. Watching Suarez and Broome push at the same time left me queasy all season. Commit three to the back at ALL times. San Jose's leading all-time scorer should've been given a better shot. Wearing down the league's leading scorer and the Burn's MVP really bothers me. BUT, although, by no means, a saving grace - MJ finally started O'brien. Does he deserve another shot at doing things 'better'? I just can't bring myself to say yes.
Jeffries has righted the defense, drafted well, gotten the best players on the field and improved our regular season performance. His weak areas have been well discussed already. Up to now I'd say it's a push. If he left, I'd be a little concerned, though not crushed. If Dir did come back, I think the GM should take over drafting responsibilities. I wasn't that impressed with Dir's drafting.
I cannot believe how little you respect what Jeffries has done. Your memories are short. Too short. I think it's a moot point. I cannot see Jeffries moving to Chicago anyway when he's already established here.
I'd like to see the Burn have the following front office structure: Pres.: Andy Swift GM: Mike Jeffries Head Coach: Dave Dir, or Mooch Myernich, or ?? Unfortunately, as long as the Burn remain a league-owned team, we're probably not likely to see the league fork out the extra bucks to implement such a change. But if the league were smart, it would spend a few more dollars on the Burn and help them break out of mediocrity. Ideally, when the Burn are eventually sold, their investor/operator will be someone new to MLS. And for most such investors, it would be great to purchase a franchise that's already first rate and not a fixer-upper that'll require extra work to become a championship club.
You're right Viking, Jeffries deserves a lot more credit than he gets around here. I've often wondered what exactly it is about him that just doesn't catch on with lots of fans. Too soft-spoken? Not enough passion on the sideline? I don't know. But he has done a hell of a job compared to some of the coaches (Mondelo, Rongen, anyone from the Revs) who basically destroyed the teams they came to. Yeah, I'll give Jeffries props.
Nice point. However, I don't really think that'll sell me. That this coach didn't destroy the team like other coaches have. Instead we ended up with another team that didn't quite make it. That fell out at the quarters. For whatever reason. The upshot is that when it comes down to titles, for the past two years, things haven't been any different than the first five. Now, I'm not ready to ditch him yet. But if we don't at least make semis next year, he's out, as far as I'm concerned.
You really would be satisfied with the Semi's? I think next year we should be going into the season as favorites and I frankly would be disappointed if the season ends without some silverware and at least a place in the League finals. We have top-notch talent. We have probably have the best depth in the League. We'll be adding basically the best rookie (Gbandi). And perhaps most importantly we should be returning our full squad intact, unlike several other clubs who may see some players leave due to cap issues or a jump over the Atlantic.
I think Jeffries has done an pretty good job here. But will that be good enough to take the Burn to the next level? Consider the coaches who've led their team to the MLS Cup championship: 1996: Bruce Arena 1997: Bruce Arena 1998: Bob Bradley 1999: Thomas Rongen 2000: Bob Gansler 2001: Frank Yallop 2002: Sigi Schmidt While its possible for a so-so coach to lead his club to the top of MLS -- if Rongen can do it, maybe anyone can -- most of the teams that have won the championship have been led by one of MLS' top coaches. And while Jeffries is a nice, articulate guy, in my eyes the 2 years he's been here have shown that he's not in the same league as an Arena, Bradley, Schmidt, or Yallop.
I totally agree that Jeffries has done pretty well, and deserves at least another year. If the team doesn't improve, then maybe I'll jump on the "new coach" bandwagon. While I can understand why they wonder if he's good enough to take the Burn to the top, it's not like we've got Bruce Arena waiting in the wings to take over.
Are these guys top coaches that led their team to the MLS Cup or did leading their team to the MLS Cup make them a Top Coach. (Chicken and Egg) No way you would have said Yallop was a top coach if he hadn't won the cup his first season. And Bob Gansler a top coach? Are you kidding me? Come on, Jeffries has been a MLS head coach for two seasons, and he has clearly built the best team in Burn history. I like Dave Dir, but in 5 years he never built a team anywhere this good. Give the guy a break. And this teams history of underachieveing started way before Jeffries. I remember losing to Colorado in round one before.
I have to agree with this 100%. When Jefferies pulled the trigger on the Graziani trade I was livid and thought it a huge mistake - no matter what we got in return. Obviously I was way wrong there (but dead on with my bet that Graziani would score more goals than Cerritos ). Jefferies has put together an extremely talented team. This year, he has to figure out how to use them best AND develop that killer instinct that turns talented players into champions. That is his test this year. The machine is there. My expectations for 2003 are high.
so are mine. There is no way this team finishes without home field advantage next year, and if they don't make MLS cup then you CAN make a case that Jeffries is out of his league. They will walk onto the field for training in late January with the knowledge that they should have been in MLS Cup, and that the acceptable goal for this season is MLS Cup. I bet on teams that feel they've been denied in the past. When you know you deserve to be there, success does not unsettle you. I look at LA exactly that way. They finally got it in their heads that the game owed them a championship. Because of the way the Burn season ended, I think they will have much the same attitude.
3D, I said most of the teams that have won the championship have been led by one of MLS' top coaches. If you notice, I didn't include Gansler in my list of top coaches at the end of the post. Probably true, but the fact is that Yallop did take what had been the last place club in 2000 and led them to a championship in 2001. And although San Jose faltered early in the playoffs this year, they arguably played the best soccer of any MLS team for much of this season.
Yes, Dir never built a team as good as this one -- that's why I suggested that Jeffries would make a great GM/director of player personnel -- but at least Dir's teams made it past round one of the playoffs every other year. While I agree the team underachieved somewhat under Dir, in my opinion, it's been a bigger problem under Jeffries' watch. BTW, when exactly did the Burn lose to Colorado in round one before this year?