Dont know if anybody else has posted this, but Kinnear signed a two-year extension with Houston. http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20060123&content_id=50942&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp Kinda sucks.
But that'll still leave the San Jose Earthquakes led (supposedly) by John Doyle to face Houston 1836 led by Dominic Kinnear in 2007. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
It's sports. Since when do contracts in sports mean anything. Hey, it's still MLS. If they could work with other leagues to do some bullfish deal to put Landon where he wanted to go, they sure as hell can do something to put our boys back where they belong. They set a precedent. They can live by it.
You may be right however, after Ray Hudson was elected coach of the year with the Miami Fusion they folded and he immediately signed on for 2 years with DC United. Ray only lasted 2 years so its not like anything is ever guaranteed in the MLS or in any head coaching position for that matter. I'm not wishing Dom & the former Quakes play poorly in Houston, however we do not know what will happen in the future with that club. If and when the Quakes soccer team will be revived and if Dom is available he and John will be back. Then again it could be Frank Yallop once again.
I remember seeing Paul Bravo at a local pub back in early 1996 before the start of the MLS. We were talking about where most players would end up and he said he didn't know. He said he wanted to play in San Jose but it would depend on the draft. I asked him about where Kinnear would go and he told me that Dom just wanted out of this area because it was getting too expensive. How funny as it turned out that Laurie Calloway traded Bravo for Kinnear the very next year and later Kinnear became assistant and then head coach for San Jose.
I just want to say upfront that I am not infiltrating your board. I just wanted to give you a report on Dominic. He was speaking to some coaches last night in Houston. This is the first time I have seen and heard him in person and all I can say is WOW! He is the most friendly, open and genuine guy you will ever meet. He talked about a lot of things. He took a lot of questions and the event lasted 1 1/2 hour. The questions kept on coming and finally Oliver stood up and talked about 5 minutes and then you were able to talk to the coach and Oliver at the end. A few of the things Dominic talked about were the following: -He said he was put in charge to win games for the team. He said he would put his best 11 against any 11 in the MLS and he said he likes his chances of beating anyone. He said it was unfortunate how they got beat out of the playoffs after winning all those games in the season -Said he has a very young team compared to his other and has to fill a couple of holes from Mark Chung retiring and Danny Califf going overseas -He said he was a student of the game -Said he wanted the sport to grow and he hated to see Donovan leave the team but he said if it gives an opportunity to grow the sport in the U.S. and get to the semi-finals of the World Cup then he would be the first one to sign the papers to get him to LA. -He said he wants him and the players to be accessible -Said players are very accessible, humble and open and many of the players are willing to get involved with youth clubs around the city. About 1/2 of the players are involved with youth soccer clubs (especially the guy that don't have families yet). He lets them do what they want and sometimes he doen't even know a guy is involved with a youth club. -Said he likes to build relationships. -Said 14 of the 18 players have returned -He said he believes in American soccer even though he is from Scotland. He said Scotish soccer is "terrible" right now. -Said Phil Anschutz is a very generous and personable man. He said all of the teams he owns get to go to his ranch in Colorado every year to thank them for their effort and play. He said it is a real blowout. He wasn't able to make it this year but he saw it on video. (I actually did not know he owned 5 teams, I thought it was 3) -Play a 4-4-2 and sometimes 3-5-2 -He said he lets the players play, he said his responsibility is to get them ready; he said he has learned he cannot play the game for them -They practice in Carl Lewis Stadium and he said the conditions for practice are better. He said the game field is similar to Spartan Stad. but the field is similar. He said they were very successful on their field because of the tight dimensions and no one knew how to play on it. He said the dimensions are similar width wise but longer length wise. Likes the way the fans will be on top of the field. -He said practices are open to the public as long as they are quiet. He told about a funny story about a guy that was in the stands watching training and someone scored a goal and they guy started going "all right" and clapping and Dominique told the player, "I didn't know your father was in the stands." He got a good laugh -Said putting Dwayne in midfield was not brilliant genius he came up with. He just put him there one game and he shined. He said he lets Dwayne go forward as long as he gets back. -He said Marcus Storey is speedy and would get a chance to compete for a spot. He said,"one thing about speed it never takes a day off and speed never has a bad game." -He said he is excited for Brian Ching and is excited about him getting a chance to make the National Team but is also selfish in that if he does not make it they will have him for 4-5 extra games. He said it is good to have one of your players have an oppty to be on the National Team. -Talked about youth soccer and he said the worst thing about it is the parents and the best thing about it is the parents. -He said soccer has gotten better in the US because a generation of coaches are coming up that have played the geam and have a better knowledge of the game. -He said the best thing about soccer is FRIENDS you create. -Let's captains to the warmup and the warm up has not changed in 5 years. -No curfew for the guys; he gives them a lot of room and treats them like men but if he has to he will take that away. -He said he is a very fair coach and the players should always know where he stands -He said he really cares for his players and said if he has to let go of a guy from the team he will be up until 4 am knowing he has to tell them at 9 they have been released He wanted to keep going but Oliver ended it.
Wow, I just couldn't believe how great this guy is. I have never met anyone nicer. I wanted to get your feedback on something. Give me your thoughts on this thread: Idea for Quake supporters in Houston https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=314945
Yep, he seems to be a great guy and the players love to play for him. He's more or less a Bay Area native and I'd like to think that his manner reflects the better part of a typical Bay Area personality: honest, laid-back, intelligent, unpretentious, loyal. That's the good stuff. We won't talk about the bad stuff. One thing I learned about him last year though is that you shouldn't necessarily think that the laid-back niceness translates to the field. He can get very intense and combative on the sideline, and I think that's generally a good thing from a coaching standpoint. That kind of passion carries over to the players.
Shit. You should've seen him play in his prime, i.e., on the Blackhawks or Necaxa. He only had one level of play: fired up.
Yeah, I'm sorry I missed it. I guess that explains his sideline intensity. Apparently he's one of those split personality guys who's fairly laid back off the field and very intense on it.