New thread for a new year 2021 thread -> https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/mls-coaching-and-front-office-news-discussion-thread-2021.2113866/ Some recent updates from that thread. https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/philadelphia-union-announce-ryan-richter-as-assistant-coach Good to see Marc is continuing to climb organizational charts. Former Director of Player Development/Academy Director for the Sounders.
I don't know if we're tracking the MLS Next Pro coaching here, but the Rapids announced their staff for Rapids 2 (aka: Los RapiDos) https://www.coloradorapids.com/news...ical-staff-ahead-of-first-mls-next-pro-season
The Rapids just announced an extension to Robin Fraser's contract taking him through the 2025 season. If he stays into 2024 that would make him the longest tenured coach in team history. Assuming 2023 is still 34 games he'll be one game short of Mooch's record at the end of next season.
Multiple sources have told me head coach Matias Almeyda attempted to resign from #Quakes74 this week, although he wants to be paid for the season (plus his staff).Both parties want to resolve this as soon as possible, and not at the end of the season as has been suggested.1/2— JMoore Quakes (@JmooreQuakes) April 16, 2022 Translation: I want to leave but I like your money. There are people online blasting the FO and owner. But, seriously. They went sort of big on Almeyda and spent a reported 1.5 million a year for him and he reportedly has a 3 million dollar termination clause. He has absolutely not delivered and has been increasingly poor as time has moved on. I can see why after all his antics they aren't paying him off. You already have sunk almost 5 million in the guy so his "just pay me and I'll leave" attitude could really rub someone the wrong way. And he'll walk into another job straight away because people will just assume that he is right and it is the front office being cheap is why he failed. Though if anyone with half a brain looked at how his team has performed they'd see that it isn't the roster talent that has been the issue.
Quakes and Head Coach Matias Almeyda "mutually agree" to part ways. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/san-jose-earthquakes-part-ways-with-head-coach-matias-almeyda
A few more details on @TheAthleticSCCR, unlocked for all to read: https://t.co/TKJwzBVrOD— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) April 20, 2022
Sounds like he may have lost the locker room. Many players were turned off by Losada's management style. Certainly played a role in Arriola's departure. Things reached a breaking point leading to Open Cup game in Rochester. Among the issues: Losada wanted Birnbaum to travel, front office overruled him.— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) April 20, 2022
Sounds like players don't like hard training. Also seems DCU didn't like a coach that would call them out for wanting better players. They want want coaches who won't complain and agree to every move the FO makes. Olson lasted 10 years. Losada who had DC playing good last year was fired after winning a game.
He lasted from 10/9/19 to 1/17/21 at Beerschot winning 47.62% and then from 1/18/21 to 4/20/22 at DC winning 41.46%. Not much difference in either place. 15-16 months, less than 50% wins, and leaving during the second season for one reason or another. I think it's a combo of losing the locker room and demanding different players from a front office that hasn't shown it can consistently find good talent. He's probably a lot like Heinze was in Atlanta in his approach to fitness over everything which isn't a real option with the limited MLS rosters, but it didn't really work for him in Belgium either. DC United needs a complete rebuild with a front office and coach that both understand the workings of MLS and have a unified plan that has a chance to be successful in the league. Do what Cincy did this offseason and target people who have worked together in a successful system. I'd break the bank for Freddy Juarez and someone from the Seattle front office.
What I find funny about this is it isn't like the club he coached in Belgium was a high spending club. In fact, the most they've spent in a while was the first year under him full time and their first year in the first division. They spent 4.35 million that year with 3.3 million being on two strikers. One that has 7 goals across 3000+ minutes in 2 years and another that had 1 goal in 600 and was sent out on loan. DC brought in a DP forward this year, another forward that could be a DP if they exercise the purchase option, and a U-22 d-mid. They also went out and got him a forward last year (that he apparently wanted) and an American defender from the Belgian top flight. And it all worked really well last year right up until it broke because they died from overuse in a high intensity system. This year, well, it hasn't. And you need to have a team that believes in you and will basically work themselves to death for you. Marsch had that in NY and seems to have that at Leeds so it has worked (I'm ignoring Salzburg because I think even Aron Winter would win the Austrian league with a team like Salzburg). He didn't in Leipzig and he was canned. If Losada lost that then there was never any real way back from that short of firing all the players and bringing in new ones.
That will be a big downgrade from Losada to Juarez. But it's DC, it won't surprise me one bit. Maybe if they can get Hugo Perez from El Salvador or Thomas Christiansen from Panama it can probably work out better. Hugo might even get some El Salvador players like Tamacas and Mario Gonzalez to help them with attendance. Who knows if that will help them on the field though.
And not just a 4th consecutive loss, but one where they had a 2-0 lead, lost a player to a 2nd yellow before halftime, continued to play the pressing style while down a man, and didn't make their final two subs until the 89th minute after the game had already been tied up. It was a failure at every point of coaching, from player discipline to tactics, to bench management.
Some insight to the Losada days at DCU: A thread about when fitness and daily lifestyle in pro sports was taken to far. And how it can affect a pros mental health. I will start out by saying i was one of the big boys, from year one at RSL i was a member of the fat camp. Every coach i ever had questioned my figure.— Chris Seitz (@Seitzy1) May 10, 2022
Charlotte FC fired their coach while just outside the playoff line in their debut season. They had the 26th highest paid roster at $10.7 million in total.
Charlotte fire their head coach Miguel Angel Ramirez. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/charlotte-fc-part-ways-with-head-coach-miguel-angel-ramirez Feels a little harsh. Would have liked to see him get some more time. They have looked decent when I have watched them.
Why Charlotte had "no choice" and why they "had to do it," we'll never know (unless MAR starts talking or leaks emerge)... https://t.co/ZBUq0Rorsw— Andrew Wiebe (@andrew_wiebe) May 31, 2022 Charlotte FC's Zoran Krneta on the club firing Miguel Angel Ramirez after 14 games:"There's not much point to speculate what exactly happened. I don’t want to go into details. It’s not going to help anybody. ... We wanted to change direction, that's it. That's all I can say." pic.twitter.com/iPhmjOHTGX— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) May 31, 2022 This feels very much like Alan Koch’s departure from Cincinnati their first year. Ramirez had 5 wins in 14 games, compared to Koch with 2 wins in 11. Given what was said about Ramirez’ comments in the roster build in the article linked above from the MLS site, one has to wonder about player attitude. Koch was let go due to a deteriorating locker room. Not wishing anyone the curse of Cincinnati’s first year, but…
It certainly seems harsh to fire him after a good start (for an expansion team). There has to be something else going on? The guy had a 5-2 record at home and, as you mentioned, the team looked decent despite there 0-6-1 away record. All he had to do was clean-up their road performances and the team had a shot at making the playoffs..
More info about MAR's termination: What I’ve come to understand regarding Charlotte FC firing Miguel Angel Ramirez is that a Designated Player refused to play for the club after the international break if MAR was still in charge. This provides context on Zoran’s statement “we had no choice, we had to do it.”— John Hayes (@JohnHayesOnAir) May 31, 2022 Any idea which DP it would be if the statement is true? It, again, seems odd that they would pick a DP over their HC tho.
It's also telling that all but 2 assistant coaches were let go. Christian Lattanzio stays on and is promoted to interim manager, along with goalkeeper coach Andy Quy. Still surprised by this move. One of the Polish DP's unhappy, perhaps?
We probably could have seen this coming a couple of weeks ago. Zoran Krneta assesses team's season thus far These quotes are in the article from 5/19: The coaching staff in general gets mentioned once or twice, but almost all the praise is for the players.