Questions Re: Colin Clarke

If the growing pains of MLS restrictions are put aside (limited developmental programs, temporary compensation and single entity implementation, budgetary restrictions, etc.) and critical coaching skills are considered; there remain questions as to his effectiveness. If management has stated a three or five year plan of success for results; his effectiveness will show. Mind you; that many MLS fans believe that a one year plan is all that is necessary to realize success.

Simply put; a coach has the same responsibilities as a company manager. He recognizes abilities, inspires his players to recognize and actualize these abilities, and then connect with teammates to produce a greater sum of the whole.

While this growth pattern is singularly critical; it is not always realized in the individual - let alone collectively. So questions still remain as to his ability to establish rapport and build relationships - especially with youth development (aside from inherent restrictions) that produce results.

HSG has given him a longer tenure to produce these results - and the coming turnover of players changes potential relationships as well; so measuring progress of a new core of players is factored into the equation.


El Jefe can create effective stats as to development of players; so I would suggest something along these lines is considered.

 

Colin was in a tough spot to start 2004. The team was coming off their worst season in 2003, the only season to not make the playoffs in team history. He turned to team around rather well, for a good time the players were all working for eachother and intent on erasing the nightmare of 2003. The first 4 games of the season, we went undefeated with 2 wins (one against the toughest defense in the league and one at our arch rival's house) and 2 ties (both involved very bogus ref. calls, both could very well have been wins). From there is was a bit of a roller coaster ride, we were randomly winning and losing. We'd beat teams that we shouldn't beat then come home and lose to the worst teams in the league. It was very up and down.

There were a lot of on field cancers (Davis, Quill, Toni) that didn't need as much playing time as Collin gave them. Now I understand he didn't exactly have a lot to work with but at the same time, he put out the same lineup every weekend and teams knew our weakness...

that weakness was our ultimate demise, we were 0-12-1 (IIRC) when getting scored on first. The team just seemed to give up when they went down. I don't know if you blame this on coaching or what.

As far as the youngsters, CC has a bad rep for not playing them, he says whoever earns playing time in practice is who plays, hinting that the younger guys aren't ready yet. The one he used the most was Nunez and Goodson who both showed promise accompanied with a few bone-headed mistakes.

 

CC is probably a good coach for a veteran team. If you are looking to blood young players he doesn't seem to have the patience. Since MLS has such a small cap and small rosters he needed to get minutes for young players whether they earned it in practice or not. The team is now in the position of losing the veteran players he used because of cap problems and not knowing which young players are keepers. The young players he does keep are all going to be rookies next year since they had so few minutes this year. Compare that with Novack at DC who took his lump early with Adu, Gross, Carroll and a few others. They all helped by the end of the year, the team went on a roll and he now has seasoned vets instead of young unproven players.

If you are watching him with the Northern Ireland National team in mind then he should be considered if you have a veteran group of underachievers but not if a large turnover is needed and young players are to take over.

 

Interesting question. I think you are going to get a wide variety of opinions on this.

Personally, I don't think he had the guns this year to do what he wanted. Jason Kreis wasn't 100% [and may never will be again...:-(], and neither was Oscar Pareja. His try at establishing Brad Davis in the middle didn't work out.

OTOH, there are some questions about what he did with it. Early in the season, they were playing a compact, yet boring, style of soccer that was getting results. For whatever reason, he went away from that and was never really able to get it back. We seemed to be chasing the game from then on. Not sure if that was just a lack of confidence from a team that had just come together with a lot of new faces or what, but there you have it.

 

You would get a lot more forceful answer on opening day 2005. Really, you would. Let me explain.

1. He took over a team that would have been relegated had it existed in MLS. He had a few games at the end of 03 to see some things, but that was it. He took the job under a pretty much cannot win scenario, and I doubt they paid him much either.

2. The league rules on salary cap, plus the injured status of a couple of players meant that while he did turn over a third of the team, he was limited in what he could do because high salary players were untouchable.

3. MLS has this thing, it's called allocations. If a team has an allocation, they can sign higher-salary players sometimes higher than league per-player max salary. An allocation is also an acquisition right to any American big talent that decides to come home. The Burn had two, used one for Corey Gibbs, but the other allocation with even higher value went unused because of salary cap problems. By missing the playoffs again, they were given another.

4. So now Clarke is again sitting on two allocations, one high value (could be as much as 500k, more like between 300 and 400K, one medium value (maybe 200k), he has a good drafting position in the draft (4th pick in the draft) in early February, and odds look good that he will have salary cap room to use his allocations to sign high-value quality players.

5. He has to decide who to leave open to being taken off the roster for the two expansion teams that begin player operations this week. He is only allowed to protect a little over half the roster, so he has to pick wisely.

If he fails to sign at least one high quality striker or attacking mid, he should be canned. FC Dallas has the most resources they will ever have to start a season, and if he blows it by signing lousy players, the franchise will suffer for years to come. His team will take the field in a now-under construction soccer stadium in a few months, and if his team does not bring fans to the stadium, MLS as a league will have problems.

So, when he has signed his new high-dollar players and drafted the college kids, and taken his roster through the league-expansion process, we will really know whether he's the man for the job.

As for your questions. Petr Nowak who had never been a coach before just won MLS Cup. On that basis alone, Clarke had better produce.

 

I'd like to have my previous comments stricken from the record, and a simple, "I agree with my good friend from Mexico" placed in its stead.

 

Go to page three of this forum. You will find a thread titled "If the Burn do not make the playoffs, Colin must go." It is a long thread, but you will quickly learn hopw FCD fans feel about him and why.

Cheers!
Sir Drinxalot