What has happened to Ray Hudson? I remember everyone thought once he was done with his coaching stint, that he was sure to be involved with MLS broadcasts in some way.
heard rumors of involvement of bringing Miami or Lochart into A-League (very unlikely until 2006 now)
To hear the comments from Alecko Eskadarian and Brian Carroll, Hudson won't be coaching in this league any time soon.
He's out there being ruthless, that's for sure. Why he isn't the 3rd guy on MLS Wrap I will never know. He would liven up that party.
Ray Hudson...Rod Stewart...separated at birth? This vanilla league needs more Ray! He was my idol in 1980, as a 10 year old season ticket holder for the Strikers. He is still the man. If only MLS could figure that out.
Two young players who couldn't get off the bench in their rookie season are hardly the judges of coaching talent that I would be using as a benchmark. Both of them were upset. They probably weren't ready to contribute last year. Who knows?
I like Ray, but MLS is all about finding good young American players and getting as much as possible out of them. That's just not his strong suit. He doesn't like to do the leg work scouting college games and that's needed from an MLS coach. His track record with using young players is very poor. It's one of the reasons he was let go from DC. I mean, look at this year's United lineup and ask yourself if they'd be where they are if they hadn't gottne greater contributions from its youth. The talent from last year isn't much different, but the players are being used more. Again, I'm a big fan of Hudson. His personality is great for MLS and the veteran team he built in 2001 was one of the most entertaining in league history and I'd love to see him be able to do that again. But, the league has changed and it continues to skew towards youth while the salary cap remains stagnant, meaning it will be very difficult to duplicate what the Fusion had in their last year. I hope there's a role for Hudson somewhere in US Soccer. The booth, or the A-League or scouting overseas. But, I just don't see him being a good MLS coach again.
Nobody, because they never really got the chance. All we know is, the next year they both contributed big time--Carroll from the get-go, and Esky once he got his groove. Don't get me wrong, I like Hudson's personality and was even a little sad to see him go (although, after a season of Nowak, it was CLEARLY the right move). However, your post sort of answers it's own question, don't you think?
Yes, bring in the only coach in the world likely to have a worse record with SIs than you guys have had the last few years. You'll look back on the Zizi era fondly.
But they were suddenly able to be mainstays on a much better team this year??? It's more likely that Ray is crap with young players. EDIT: Other people made the same point, but it's gotta be said.
he sat Stokes as well and you will be hard pressed to find anyone to say that Stokes is ready to play and not playing the young players was only a small reason of why DC was no good under Hudson he does have an eye for talent, he did find Gomez, it was just that DC only signed him this year
He was thoroughly unsuited to managing the personalities of the players on the team. Look at Jamie Moreno then, look at Jamie Moreno now. Ask any veteren if they prefer the disorganized and incoherant system of Ray Hudson (Hristo and Etch) to the professional and organized Nowak. Now it is possible that Ray learned a bit and could give you more of a Fusion performance than a DC United performance. But I don't even think the 2001 Fusion team would work in the league today, given the wholesale improvement of team defense.
If Hudson and Hanki have anything in common, it's their desire to bring in old European re-treads to add "experience" to their squads. If I remember right, Hudson was about to sign Paul Gascoyne before he fell off the wagon again. It doesn't matter that players were great in their 20's. When they hit their mid-30's they all seem to have problems in MLS these days. I think we' Rapids fans have had enough older guys sitting on the bench with injuries. We deserve a different approach.
True, but Ray wasted a first round draft pick on Stokes. If we needed to draft a defender, we could've taken Dunivant or even Ricky Lewis. Correct. Hudson/Trask's "Put out the Best XI regardless of position" was a much bigger reason why we sucked. True, but does it really take that great an eye for talent to watch a soccer game and see that Gomez knows what he's doing?
Yeah, and Gazza was really looking forward to it. "Miami Fusion arra greet fitba cloob, wi' greet tra-de-shin. An' I hear they got gurls doon there wi' greet beg teats, like!"