Hankinson is only preferrable to a swollen, syphilis infested left nut sack. But Dir would be a 10x improvement. At the worst, your forwards and midfielders would learn how to work together. But, in general, you're right. I hope you guys get some young, ambitious assistant who's ready for the bigs. Onalfo, maybe?
I'm surprised Bliss is almost never mentioned. As original Crew player, and I'm gonna get hammered by someone who actually bothers to look things up but I think he was our first All Star. Used to list Ohio as his home, although he was really from around Rochester someplace. He had a house near Cleveland from when he played with the Force/Crunch/Force/Crunch. I guess he really wasn't around all that long though.
I remember reading that Bliss was really geeked about the Colorado job, and he seemed like a far more inspired choice than Clavijo. So I think he's definitely interested in being the man somewhere. The other assistants (Onalfo, Soehn, Hamlett) seem like they'd be pretty good choices as well. IIRC, Rochester actually offered their job to Harkes, but he decided it wasn't the right fit for him. I could even live with recycling Sigi. Dir I think has been out the MLS loop for a while now, so he might need a bit of time to get up to speed again. I know the danger is the Crew go on a run and Bobby Rifle gets the gig on a permanent basis. But I think I'd rather just leave him as the caretaker for the rest of the season and bring in our new guy the day after the season ends and with a full off-season to prepare.
Dir has been doing TV so he probably is still in touch with the league and its intricacies. That said, I think there are others out there that may be a better fit, particularly from a PR standpoint (Harkes, Bliss)
Isn't Dir also one of Arena's assistants right now? I could swear I've seen at least one ESPN2 national team broadcasts where he was alongside Arena.
Along with Crew assistant Mike Lapper, Peter Vermes, and John Harkes. How about Dir as head coach... And Lapper and Harkes as his assistants?
For shits and giggles place a call to Johan Cruyff. I mean what is he doing these days? The worst he could say would be no. Hell Jordi Cruyff is looking for a team too.. bring him along.
Just for info reasons... When Dallas hired Colin Clarke they had a short list of 6 names. And since Cbus is another HSG team it might have some interest for you all. 1. Clarke obviously. 2. Schellus Hyndman (SMU) Dan Hunt was a captain on one of his teams, but Schellus has twice pulled his name out due to low money. still... 3. Brian Bliss 4. Mo Johnston 5. Ralph Perez (former LAG ast) and 6 I can't recall this second.
I'll weigh in with some possibilities... 1. Marcelo Carrera 2. John Harkes 3. Thomas Dooley 4. Curt Onalfo 5. Cacho Cordoba 6. Jerry Yeagley 7. George Tarantini 8. Oscar Ruggeri And if we were a little more of a metropolitan mecca, we might be able to attract Claudio Ranieri... I think one thing to keep in mind is that we are still in middle America... it's going to take a person who is willing to live in this part of the world to come to middle-Ohio... i wouldn't have thought Harkes and Dooley would have wanted to be here, but they were "forced" to be here in their playing days and they know it's a cool city... those who have never been may not be willing to give it a shot... so i would question whether Osorio would want to leave Manchester City for Columbus, OH... choices 7 & 8 may also be huge question marks for the same reasons (among other reasons)...
I heard some behind the scenes rumbles from crew insiders that tell me this would never happen. Not that I am an expert but it was strong opinions I heard. isn't he retired?
It's not going to be Harkes either. Not sure what occured, Crew PR guy Jeff Wuerth has stated in no uncertain terms on MN that it's more likely Harkes will win President of the Universe before he becomes Crew boss. I forecast that a new boss will not be in place until around the draft.
That's terrible, because they should have a new boss decided on the last day of the season, if not sooner, so they have a good amount of time to prepare for off-season moves and such.
But that's what Crew and MLS have scouts for, up to that McCullers can play landlord. If we have a new boss 30 prior to the draft that's plenty of time.
While, Jeff may very well be being honest here, if he wasn't, it would not be the first time he talked out of his ass to fans.