Pick who is your selection for all-time best DC United coach, while with DC United. The criteria is up to you: minutes, quility over a length of time, most brilliant moment, likeability, etc. Previously: Goalkeepers (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262590) Winner: Scott Garlick Left Backs (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264051) Winner: Jeff Agoos Right Backs (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265390) Winner: Tony Sanneh Center Backs (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267141) Winners: Ryan Nelsen and Eddie Pope Defensive Midfielder (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=272897) Winner: Richie Williams Left Midfielder (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=274827) Winner: John Harkes Right Midfielder (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=277492) Winner: Ben Olsen Attacking Midfielder (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=280563) Winner: Marco Etcheverry Forward (https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=282305) Winner: Jaime Moreno and Roy Lassiter Coach nominations: Bruce Arena Thomas Rongen Ray Hudson Peter Novak
Mr. Hanky please turn in your DCU card your attendance is no longer necessary. PN over BA - puh-lease!
Agreed, but only because the other two stunk. He's still closer to Rongen (in third) than he is to Bruce.
Bruce Arena: 2 MLS Cups, 1 Open Cup, 1 CONCACAF Champions Cup, 1 InterAmerican Cup (and 1 more MLS Cup appearance and 1 more Open Cup final appearance) Piotr Nowak: 1 MLS Cup Thomas (coattails) Rongen: 1 MLS Cup Hmmm, boy, this is a close one...
Might be a better contest if we have a "Best Assistant Coach" award. The likes of Yallop, Simpson, Trask, Sarachan, Bradley, etc. would make for interesting debate. But head coach? Not a contest. What's more impressive about Bruce is that he's only improved his resume since leaving United, while the other two ex-coaches haven't done much, other than offering a quote now and then on the United alumni board.
I would go with Rongen in the second spot. Yes, he won a title with players who had won before. And then he lost with them. Even when Thomas's teams were losing, I think we played well much of the time. Nowak won a title in a year where the team didn't play very well for much of the season. They did play well at the end, which is to his credit. His second year, the team abysmally underformed, and in a number of high profile situations the team clearly was hindered by the coach's decisions. Both coaches have their merits. Both have their demerits. I know Thomas has never been a popular guy on these boards. But I like him.
Man, in each of their primes, that is an EXCELLENT team. I might have put Llamosa over Nellie but I won't quibble. Garlick, a two-time MLS all-star, is the only one of them who hasn't been capped. The rest have been capped at least 20 times and seven of them made a WC team. What I'm most proud of as a United fas is that there are only three foreign players on the list. Eight of the team's all-time Best XI are American and one of the foreign players is a product of the US college system. With that team, it doesn't matter who the coach is. Roll the ball out and count the wins. Seriously, you or I, or even Ray Hudson, could coach that team to an MLS Cup or two.
Mr. Hanky clearly stated, "The criteria is up to you..." If the criteria is, who would you pick to play for your over 30 rec team, then the PN selection is a no brainer.
This is the first day of a new year, so this must be a trick question. THE BRUCE is going to surprise a lot of people at this year's World Cup.
To put up, ahem, a defense of Novak.... 1) He is knighted. 2) Likeability was one of my factors. 3) I associate him with the kind of running game you see in England, which is entertaining. 4) He is a nasty Pole, and you just don't cross nasty Poles. 5) Most of DC was ready to have Coach Arena's head on a platter in July of 1996. While nobody had thought of flying an airplane trailing a banner calling for his firing, the size and variety of banners to be found in the stadium were impressive at such an early stage in the league history. When comparing Arena to Novak, let us not forget the first half of 1996. 6) Novak, the on-the-field coach, kick Arena's but in the 1998 MLS Cup. Flame on...
Not to sound like too much of a DCU apologist, or a whiner, but that was a horsesh*it game -- much more so than any other game where I bitch about the reffing. If I recall correctly, Chicago viciously cut down Etch in the box in the first half ... and nothing was called. Then in the closing minutes of the first half, Chicago scored a goal which replays show is completely offsides. Generally, I don't have a great problem with us not winning a third straight game -- I think it's probably best for MLS as a whole that we didn't. But let's not pretend like we were outplayed ... or like Chicago (and Nowak) was the better team. Please.
I'm afraid I can't recall many details of that post season loss by an Arena coached DCU to the Fire in '98, but I know it wasn't anything like the home field humiliation the Fire inflicted on PN's '05 team. Unfortunately, I do remember that one.