Myernick or Ellinger are my choices..both have had success at high leveks as head coaches and also have international experience. As a dark horse selection, I would select Bill Moravek. He coached with Southampton in England and is now a coach with Jamaica's National Team. He also has good international experience and decent head coaching experience. Moravek's downfall is he hasn't been in the USA for a few years and may not be to familiar with the league structure, draft picks and so on. Onalfo is a definte no. He has no head coaching experince and was an assistant under an unsuccessful coach in rongen. Being one of Bruce's "boys" is not enough I believe to warrant his selection. I couls also see a Myrenick/Ellinger head coach selection with a Moravek as assistant coach.
Yes eltico, Rongen's assistants were Dave Sarachan and Frank Yallop. His assistants with the Youth National Team have included Dave Dir and Fernando Clavijo as well. So, it's clear that Rongen recognizes talent. -Digital
Mark Watson kicked some serious ass for The A-League Champion Charleston Battery this year, anchoring a very stingy defense(16 goals/28 games). Probably made a nice chunk of change too. from the Battery site about him playing for Canada:
coaching options John Harkes has been super on MLS wrap. He is very knowledgable and seems very articulate. How that would translate into coaching..who knows. Don't think he has any experience but certainly like to see him begin as an assistant, get his coaching qualifications and go from that. Again, having head coaching experience at a high level, international experience is key. There really aren't many people here that qualify in this category. I still place my money on Myrenick, Ellinger, Moravek. Or the first two as head coaches with Moravek, Harkes or Onalfo as an assistant. The one thing that Moravek has over ALL of these other candidates is head coaching and coaching experience over seas. And he is American to boot.
Re: coaching options Because we know that overseas coaching experience has been so critical to the success of an MLS coach, NOT. The 2 biggest things a coach needs to be able to do in MLS is 1., develop young players and 2., know how MLS works. You can get help with the second but the first is critical because of the cap. Moravek's biggest detraction is he's been no where near the league and doesn't know the first things about it. Also would he want to leave coaching a national team to be an MLS coach? Jamaica may not be a peach to deal with but it is a national team that usually has a 50/50 shot at getting to the world cup.
Re: coaching options I'm sorry, I couldn't get past "articulate" without screams of hysterical laughter. Johhny is photogenic, but not articulate. JH was a mediocre player with a huge ego (at least his last year or two in DC), and he's a rotten commentator. I can't honestly see any reason to think he would be a good coach. JMO, YMMV.
Re: Re: coaching options Mediocre American players don't play in the EPL. You are probably one of the few that see him as a rotten commentator. Other than a lack of coaching experience there is no reason why he wouldn't make a good coach. He understands the game. He can relate to the players because he has been there before. Also he is a proven winner.
Ray Hudson played with an EPL team (before there was an EPL), then with an NASL team, and was a GOOD soccer commentator, perhaps the best. That was how he got the Miami job, where he did very well. That said, I have a feeling that Harkes has more surface than depth and might not have the concentration and attention to detail to be a successful coach. Also,as in other sports, a standout career as a player usually means little (one great exception, Johan Cruyff, Hristo's mentor) when it comes to coaching. For every Joe Torre, there is a what's his name with the Marlins. Arena's USMNT "career" consisted of a single game, and I don't think Bradley or Sarachan were legendary players either.
Sorry if this has been broached in prior pages/threads, but I'm going to run this idea up the flagpole and see who shoots anyway: How about keeping Hudson and replacing Trask with Onalfo? Those of you who are near the team/coaches know who is the real coach here (x's & o's), and I suspect that it is Trask. While our defense has improved considerably over the last few years, our offense has not, or even regressed. Now that we have a decent defense, we need an offensive SYSTEM, to go along with it. Onalfo, who has worked with Bruce & wRongen, could provide that offensive system, IMHO. This year, with Trask/Hudson, our offense has not produced, nor have they been able to adjust to other teams defenses. (Asbestos suit on, ready for flaming!)
I would be lacking in my contribution to this board if I did not bring up Geoff Aunger As I do in every DC United future coaching threads......
Terry Phelan maybe? I know he has expressed his interest in Coaching and is very much respected here in Charleston. I'd love to see him back here next season as a player or in some sort of coaching role. He has too much experience and knowledge of the game waiting to be tapped. mikey
I don't know about Phelan since he's still a player. But, if you're gonna look at an A-Leaguer, I would think Charleston's Chris Ramsey, who led the Battery to this year's league title, would have to be on your short list. Besides winning the A-League, he played at a high level in England, coached at the youth team level over there and coched England's U20 team in the 1999 World Youth Championship. Other A-Leaguers that should merit consideration are Rochester's Pat Ercoli and former Hershey and Montreal coach Bob Lilley.
Ramsey's ours and you can't have him! He is a great coach with a very long impressive resume boht as a player and a coach (with one more year on his contract here in Chucktown) Ramsey doesn't like big attitudes so I think a couple players would be put on the transfer list. And I think you would see Stewart in a more leadership postion As an outsider looking in, and I hope you don't mind my opinion, your team seems to have too many chiefs and not enough indians. A good house cleaning might be what's in order so whoever takes over can keep control of the team. Ramsey would be a great part of that equation. But like I said earlier, you can't have him! Lilley is looking for a job now and you could do a lot worse than him. Mikey
I think Lilly or the Charleston guy would be good choices. They have a track record of success with pro soccer in the USA. This means that they understand how to relate to american players (something I don't think ray can do). They might not understand all of the MLS crap, but isn't that Kasper's job?