Hudson's dismissal was actually two years too late; it was clear early on that that this guy didn't get along with younger players, had no clue how to stage an offense, couldn't deal with an adequate defense, and continually disgraced himself with antics better left to circus clowns. If I might cite examples, his very public and profanity laden "assault" on a young player (Q2?) at RFK late in season while player was warming up shows that this 'coach' clearly was not! Further, his "plan" to bring in the Bulgarian team (both members) failed miserably. I am very surprised that DCU management gave Hudson so much rope to hang himself. It is obvious that a guy like Hudson - who routinely refused to rotate squad lineups even when such rotation was desparately needed - was never qualified to coach D.C. United. Was firing Hudson the right decision? Yes. I am just surprised it was two years too late! And similar to the situation with Coach Spurrier and the Redskins, it is painfully obvious when a person can't coach and needs to go! Good riddance Hudson! IntheNet
They should have fired him the day after the MLS Cup. What was with the waiting? Didn't want to upset the apple cart and risk alienating Adu before he signed?
No, bad decision, I will miss Ray terribly! Besides, all the Ray-bashers will find out all the semi-bizarro personnel/player decisions were heavily shaped by the beancounters in the front office & that won't change a bit. Actually, I'm a little happy for Ray the man. I think the job was tearing him apart, what with all the stress & egos & stuff. Now he can relax & enjoy Florida! Gawd, they have an awesome challenge - I hope they can find a new coach with half as much knowledge, quotability & personality!
Hell No! Failing to renew Hudson's contract does nothing whatever to even address, let alone fix, any of the major problems this team has. Wrong decision for the wrong reason.
I've got my MLS-speak dictionary right here and it says when the option years on your contract are declined it means you've been fired. Ray's a great guy. He's got passion and he loved the team and, no doubt, he'd be a great guy to have a drink with. But he was a lousy coach. Firing him - and he was fired - certainly was the right thing to do.
I don't think he's a lousy coach. I just don't think he was the right fit - but it could be said that the list of coaches who could have done any better with what he had to work with is pretty short as well.
While I feel that Ed had some valid points, especially about Payne, whose actions once again make me shudder. I also believe- and said several times this past year- that Etch's resigning was not Ray's idea. But I believe that we could have won big with Etch, if he had been used properly. Unstead we got an ongoing saga that was embarrasing to all involved. That said there are a couple of damning incitements of Hudson that Ray alone has responsibility for: - The team that was assembled this year was clearly talented- easily in the top half of the league in talent. We definitely underperformed. That's Ray's fault. - The team took on a distinctly thuggish attitude, resorting to gamesmanship and opponent baiting to secure points. Also Ray's fault. He wanted a fist of a team and he got it. It sucked. -To put blame on Kaspar because his title is GM...well we all know that there is often a difference between job titles and where the real power lay. - Obviously Hudson had control of what happened on the field including giving Trask lots of power and he failed there. - With player acquisitions, Ray obviously had a lot to do with that too with Payne however having the ultimate power over the purse strings. Yep, it's too bad that Payne can't be fired, but we have to live with that. But Ray made some poor decisions here too: not only in acquiring talent but in having a parade of strikers come in, take practice time, then leave since we can't afford them. I blame Ray entirely for the Gazza debacle. mickey Mouse stuff. - That leaves the draft and Kaspar and in no way will I say at this point that either draft was poor. Drafting Mapp was a good choice; it was Ray that gave up on him. And I want to see another coach handle esky, Stokes, and carroll before I say they are poor picks. So I can't see blaming Kaspar. Again the performance on the field is what counts and we had the talent to do more than we did. Only Ray is responsible there so to me the decision was a no-brainer.
Ray Fired I think that it was the right decision. When he was hired I was very excited, but the roller coaster ride that followed left me nauseous. There are so many little things wrong w/ the club right now that we need a fresh perspective(from the front office to personnel). Besides, as stated in other threads, Ray Hudson is a manager and we need a coach. If there was no salary cap then Ray would be great for this club, but we have to live w/ the realities of MLS.
Good for DC - they'll get someone who can work with youngsters, not Hudson's forte. Good for the rest of us if ESPN has any brains - "Please meet your new color commentator to replace Ty Keough..." It's a win-win really.
That was exactly my point in a previous response. If Ray did have Marco shoved down his throat like many here on BS, Ed included think. And Hristo is all but good as gone too, why not give Ray that third year to mold the type of team he's envisioned. He had an idea to put together a type of team like his Fusion team that arguably ran over and thru most teams his last year. With a faster midfield, Reyes coming back, the addition of Freddy and some money to play with, I think by getting rid of Ray we broke the continuity the team (especially the younger guys) were starting to achieve. As far as bringing players in, I would venture to guess it was all the head honchos putting their heads together to try and find someone to put it in the net. Ray and Trask would identify a player, go to Kasper and either have him flown in or fly out themselves to see if it was viable. Ray did some serious travelling during the season to try and improve his club. No doubt he knew what was broken, he was trying to fix it within the constraints of the cap.
I voted yes. He got a couple of very tough breaks with the injuries to Olsen and Reyes. With Olsen, we were playing some great ball, and looked set to be the #2 seed in the East, with a bullet. But the reason I voted yes is that Ray was unwilling or unable to control the players. Crap like Hristo shoving Convey in the Fire match, that made it no fun to be a fan of the team. That's why I wouldn't have given him another shot at it, minus the Old Lefties.
I voted yes. Forget the team's style. Forget the personality clashes. Forget the lack of youth. Just consider the first DCU-Fire game. At minute 85 we're down only one goal, we're looking dangerous. Suddenly, Petke is told to go forward and add to the attack. It took only three Chicago advances to put one in the net and we're effectively out of the playoffs. All over the world, in all sports, coaches are fired for making just one boneheaded move like that. Even if that was Trask's decision, Ray was the boss and deserved to take the consequences. And of course there were more tactical errors like that all season long. On the other hand, a cynical part of me wants to think Ray knew he would not be back. What better way to punish Etch and Stoichkov for their subpar and disruptive play this year than to start them both in that game and make sure everyone got a chance to see their weaknesses. Bye-bye to MLS for both and probably hold off on that coaching career Hristo.
My head voted "Yes, probably." My heart voted "No--he deserves a year w/out Etch and with Reyes and Olsen back" I think it will work out for the best, and will, in retrospect, appear to be the right decision. Although, I also honestly believe we would have had more success next year with Hudson--I still feel like the team would have gone in the right direction. So it could have gone either way. I'm far too sentimental to make these type of decisions.
I never liked Hudson as a coach. He's way too loud on the sidelines. Practically the first thing you learn in coaching clinics is to be quiet on the sidelines. With 20/20 hindsight it seems obvious that Prekki, not Hudson, deserves credit for Miami's one good season.
You mean Q1, who needed to get his head out of his ass and pay attention to the game at hand rather than laughing it up on the sidelines. I voted yes, simply because it's time for a different coach. I'm really indifferent to Ray. He did okay, but was never going to be coach of the year. He made a lot of good player moves and had this team headed in the right direction up until Olsen's injury. However, it's now time for a new coach to step in and shape the team into a team, rather than a collection of individuals. And that means everybody, rookies included.
I vote yes because, on balance, I think it's time to bring in someone who can coach the youngsters. In the end, though, only time will tell. United management haven't had much success in selecting coaches in the post-Arena era, so the past doesn't augur well for the future. It would be nice to think that management already has a candidate or two in mind. If not, or if the replacement process bogs down, we might come to pine for the stability of one more year of Hudson. Regardless, I'm sad to see Hudson go. I strongly supported his hiring, as I suspect many of us did. Sheer entertainment value aside, he cared passionately about soccer and United. We may not see someone like him again for a long time to come. I wish him well. perc
Because this leads to a character question to me. It's easy for me to say this looking in form the outside with nothing really at stake, but if Ray did have Marco forced on him and he didn't want it, he should have resigned then and there. Sure it's a little extreme, but those kind of working conditions are unworkable. A coach cannot have someone else dictate to him (or her) who should be on a team or who should play. If this happened, then I have lost some respect for him for not walking away. Like I said, it's easy to say from the outside, but to me that would ne an unacceptable working condition and I would like to think I would be able to walk away should I be confronted with an equivalent problem in my job.
I was sad to hear about this. Ray was terribly unlucky at utd. Those people who claim he doesn't know how to handle kids are talking a load of crap. I'll tip Mo to be the next coach. He's hungry, has loads of enthusiasm and is greatly admired by KP (I don't believe this wasn't his idea). Cheers.