:: Peter Nowak to coach DC United? :: UPDATED NEWS 12/6 ::

What? Holy crap!

 

Never.



But who cares. DC United needs someone who can lead the team back to glory, while at the same time, develope possibly America's finest youth star ever. I think a tall order like that would require at least some managing experience.

 

Very interesting.

 

Ditto.

 

C'mon. On what basis (other than MLS taking care of it's own) would he even be considered? Like Etch getting a "position" inside Anschutz's family for all his years of loyal service. Mo Johnston has him beat (on qualifications) at this point.

Thx,

Jay!

 

i'd hate to see nowak with united... but i think he would do an excellent job... the man reeks of being a consumate professional... can't hurt to rub that off

 

I'd take Nowak in a heartbeat. You remember him, don't you. The guy who actually ran forward with the ball. Maybe some of that would rub off on our guys.

If we get a first-time head coach, I'd prefer someone with recent MLS coaching experience (Bliss, Johnston, Perez, Kinnear), but Nowak would be fine with me.

 

yeah... i think nowak would mean convey's time has come

and that i would love to see

 

Fantastic player, fantastic professional, fantastic teacher, and fantastic person. But I am generally not high on first time coaches. Former great players don't often make great coaches. Some do, but there are a lot more who do not.

I'd like to see any coach get experience coaching and succeed on that level before considering them as a head coach. Even Yallop and Nicol were assistants first, and I'd love to see Nowak as an assistant. Also in the Nowak category, I wouldn't mind seeing John Harkes as an assistant, but not both at the same time, that would probably be difficult on the head coach to have two former greats under him.

Also, while I'm a big Nowak fan, he is the Fire. It would be a little wierd ... kinda like Etch coaching San Jose or something.

-Digital

 

If you were ever gonna roll the dice (in MLS) on a guy with no coaching experience, Nowak is it.

The guy knows his $hit, was the consumate professional, is respected - and still has contacts - in Europe and was an accomplished player that the players will remember or, at least, will hear about.

I think he'd be great with the kids and great tactically during the games and based on the way he was a player, I can't imagine him not being a good motivator or a good communicator.

I have no idea if he has a good eye for talent or if he has any idea how to conduct training. But, based on everything else, I'd be willing to roll the dice with that, especially if he brought along a veteran MLS assistant or two.

 

Nowak

As Sandon says, who knows if he has an eye for talent? However, that's why we have Dave Kasper. I think that if he had a good assistant, MLS experience or not, that he would make a good coach. I don't think that a player can acheive what he has as a professional and not know what to do in training and on game day. I also like the point that he is bound to have connections in Europe that could bring us a few good SI's. The only downside is the memory of 1999 and that crap game!

 

whoever the new coach is, he has to be a good teacher for the younger American players who still need some polishing and mentoring - DC's (and MLS's) younger players have a lot of talent and know the fundamentals or else they wouldn't be here - but Santino, Esky, Cook, and even Convey still need quite a bit of teaching - the best coaches in the MLS have tended to be good former college coaches in the U.S. (Arena, Bradley, Sarachen, Sigi) - or have good experience with youth teams - (and sadly, as much as I liked Ray, this was a huge weakness)

so will Nowak be OK? - supposed to a good teacher - if thats true I think its as important (if not more important) than prior experience in MLS (or the minors)

 

I am not picking on anybody but merely pointing out the fact that the above could have been said of Ray Hudson before he came here.

Well if people have no problem with Nowak being the next coach, then they should not have any problem with Etcheverry being DC United's next coach (all of the above can be said about Marco, Marco played in La Liga in Spain, Marco also played in various countries in South America where more affordable players can be found).

Having Etcheverry as coach would mean that Marco would retire, thus it would guarantee that Convey would be put into the central midfield position.

 

With all due respect, Marco's stint in Europe was very shortlived because he just couldn't hack it in Spain. And, in terms of being professional, I give the nod to Nowak, who never allowed himself to get out of shape to the point that he was an embarrasment to himself and his team.

Marco's lack of professionalism his last couple of years with the team damage the credibility he would have with the players on this team.

And, no one, at least not me, ever said Ray would be good tactically or good with kids. His record at Miami indicated a macro manager who would live or die by rolling the ball out with a veteran team and letting them fend for themselves on the field.

 

Marco played in the first division for one year. The coach (Benito Flores I believe) got fired and some of the players he brought with him were let go.

With all due respect, you watch more DC United games than you do Fire games. Nowak was as competitive as Marco and used the same tactics as Marco to get an advantage with the ref (sorry no difference there).

While you specifically did not said that "Ray would be good tactically or good with kids", there were many on this DC United board who did.

 

I'll be a bit disappointed if Nowak really is the team's #1 candidate. He's just a completely unproven quantity as far as coaching is concerned.

Having good contacts in Europe is arguably less valuable than having good contacts in the 3rd World -where players are more affordable to MLS. Most important of all is to have a good understanding of the American soccer pool. These areas may largely fall under Kasper's jurisdiction, but a real head coach better have some significant influence on player selection, too.

Nowak could turn out to be a great MLS coach. Or not. I just think it's a total gamble and I'd rather see us looking at some more proven candidates.

Convey's time HAS come (if he stays with the team). But that really has nothing to do with the new coach. Etch is leaving - or the league is going to have a very difficult time explaining our Adu allocation.

 

I would love to see Nowak as coach of United.

I think he's a great choice.

I know a few Poles in section 134 who'd be happy with that too.

 

I would prefer Etcheverry to Nowak, but I would prefer a coach with experience over both. Unless it's John Harkes or someone else who has suited up for the Black & Red.

 

Nowak is intriguing--I'm still trying to get my mind around that one. It's definitely not a "safe" or "conventional" choice.

I think the argument for Nowak isn't about being a good player or having contacts in Europe or having been an MLS star. I think the arguments go something like this: he had a particular vision for MLS (read about how Bradley recruited him--or how they recruited each other), he has been mentioned by Wolff, Armas, Curtin, Bocanegra and other young (and no longer young) Americans at Chicago as being the guy who really took them under his wing, who really developed them. And he has been probably the best pure CAPTAIN in the short history of MLS (plenty of anecdotes on this one) that imply he has possibilities as a coach. This is also intriguing to me b/c it implies that Payne is talking to Bradley. And if that's the case, I'd think MoJo would still be a strong candidate.

Still, I think I'd prefer a coaching experienced candidate.

And the difference with Marco (and keep in mind, Bruce Arena always said that he'd love Marco as a USMNT Assistant when Marco retired), is that Nowak has been retired for one year. Why does that matter? B/c transitioning directly from coach to player (especially on the downside of your career like Marco and Piotr were), it's messy b/c you've got guys who you had issues with as a player (you competed with them for PT, shots, who takes corners) and now suddenly you're in charge of the whole thing. Players wonder if that hard tackle they gave you in practice last year is the reason they aren't starting this year--and all other sorts of mind games. If Nowak was coming straight out of playing, no-way I'd tolerate him even being a candidate (regardless of his potential).

And I've got to wonder about the "foreign candidates" as well.

Very intriguing.

 

Um... who said that Ray was good with the youngsters before he came here? I remember people saying he specifically isn't comfortable with them.

A good motivator, maybe. A good teacher - clearly not.

 

1. Nowak (as has been said) is as professional as any you can find in the game. He probably could do it, but should wait a few years and start as an assistant somewhere (Fire?) and then move on to a higher coaching position.
2. I would hate to see him leave the Fire organization right now...or in the not too distant future for that matter.

 

I guess I'm repeating a lot of others here when I say...

I like Nowak a lot, but I'd rather see him as an assistant, with somebody more experienced in the head coach's job.

I wonder who the foreign candidates are.

 

There were people saying that before he got hired.

They pointed out Rimando, Leo Cullen and Jeff Bylik as examples.

 

This has to be a joke. What's with all this "lets roll the dice" crap? Where is all the clamour from all you critics about lack of coaching experience, tactical knowledge, game management, "teaching young players", organizational ablility, etc.? Everyone jumping on the bandwagon for the first non-Ray coaching candidate is ridiculous.

If Nowak or some mythical european coach is as far as the DCU managament has gotten in the search for a replacement for Ray, then we can expect more of the lack of decisive leadership that has been DCU. Maybe we can expect a coaching decision before the draft, I doubt it.

Personnel decisions need to be made between NOW and then. I guess we are to leave them in the hands of Kasper and Payne. That is not reassuring.

This has got to be a smokescreen by management while they are negotiating with an experienced, MLS knowledgeable candidate. If not, then DCU has no plan and we in for more of the same if not worse.