The Colorado Rapids are set to hire FC Dallas assistant and Academy Director Oscar Pareja has
the team's new head coach, the Denver Post reported on Tuesday evening.
Pareja has beaten out a group of candidates that included Denis Hamlett, Tom Soehn and Richie
Williams. The Rapids are expected to make the announcement this week.
Now that we're through the holidays its time to get back to business. Hopefully KSE will make a
coaching choice this week, as this debacle of an off-season can't go on much longer. More on that
in a moment.
The last remaining head coaching vacancy in Major League Soccer sits in Colorado, where the
Rapids are expected to make a decision on their replacement for Gary Smith this week.
Four candidates have emerged as Colorado's leading contenders. Denis Hamlett, Oscar Pareja, Tom
Soehn and Richie Williams are the four men sources have told SBi are the finalists for the job.
Sorry I went AWOL on everyone (which I'm guessing is about 5 readers at this point in the offseason
;)) for a few days, stomach flu sucks. A couple of interesting news items came out this week.
- Colorado declined the options on Miguel Comminges, Danny Earls, Steven Emory, and Michael
Holody.
Holody's 3 years of service means he's eligible to be selected by other MLS teams in next week's
re-entry drafts.
First of all, Colin Clarke's name has been floated in some circles as a possible candidate, but he
just accepted the Carolina Railhawks job, so we can rule him out.
Today Jeff Plush did an interview with ColoradoRapids.com that lays out what they're looking for in
a coaching search, and a bit about what happened with Gary Smith.
Well, that time off was a grand total of 3 days. Within the last hour the Rapids have announced
that Gary Smith will not be returning as head coach in 2011.
Smith was out of contract and it had been reported a month or so ago that Colorado and Gary had
agreed on financial terms for a new contract.
When a story surfaced almost a month ago detailing issues between Colorado head coach Gary Smith
and technical director Paul Bravo, it was clear one of them wouldn't be back for 2012.
As it turns out, Smith will be the one not returning.
The Colorado Rapids parted ways with Smith on Monday, announcing that they would not renew the
contract of the coach who led the Rapids to the 2010 MLS Cup title.
The Vancouver Whitecaps have parted ways with assistant coaches Denis Hamlett and Colin Miller,
the team announced on Wednesday.
With incoming head coach Martin Rennie taking the reins and acting head coach Tom Soehn moving
back to the front office, it's not a big surprise that Rennie would want to bring in his own staff,
but the move leaves two experienced assistants available for other positions.
Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
With Steve Nicol's tenure on the New England Revolution sideline coming to an end, the search
begins to replace a coach who was a fixture with the organization for the last decade.
Former longtime Nicol assistant Paul Mariner has to be on the radar, even though he took a
position with Toronto FC as director of player development prior to this season.
Today's Reserve Game has so many different storylines. There's O'Brian White's probable return
to the lineup. There's the attempt by Seattle to remain perfect in this lower level competition, as
they are currently 7-0-0 with a +8 Goal Differential. Is the game open to the public or not? Which
seems like it should have a simple answer, but there were conflicting reports yesterday, and the
Vancouver Whitecaps statement on the subject provides little clarity.
It is almost never a mistake for a team to fire a coach. It's like a relationship - once it gets to
the point where you're seriously asking whether you should break up, you should probably break
up.
The mistake almost always ends up being the choice of replacement. In many cases, the choice could
end up being so poor that it calls into question the original decision to can the previous coach.
New Chicago Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas went right to work on Tuesday conducting his
first training session and his first media sessions. The sports press was out in full press with
cameras galore. You might have even noticed the coverage on the local news stations yesterday. I
think this was in part due to Klopas' history in Chicago as a player and a famous soccer
figure.
Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
By ANTHONY ZILIS
Chicago Fire interim head coach Frank Klopas said Tuesday that the evaluation process of Carlos
de los Cobos, who was fired on Monday, began at the end of the 2010 season, when the Fire failed to
make the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history.
In any league, and in any sport,there's always going to have to be a handful of teams that
aren't doing to well. It's just the facts, and it will periodically happen to just about every
franchise.
Of course, most teams won't look at this as a chance to serve the greater good and accept the
position, and all will eventually make moves to fix whatever ails them.
The Chicago Fire never did get going under head coach Carlos De Los Cobos, and the lack of
results ultimately led to De Los Cobos departure.
The Fire fired De Los Cobos on Monday (though the team's press release said the sides have
"parted ways") and former Chicago Fire standout and front office exec Frank Klopas has been chosen
to take over as head coach.
The Vancouver Whitecaps began their inagural season in MLS with so much promise, delivering a
season-opening thrashing of Toronto FC making many wonder if this expansion team might be more
successful than most past expansion teams.
The Whitecaps haven't won a game since, and head coach Teitur Thordarson paid the price for that
on Monday by being fired by the club on Saturday night, after the team's 1-1 draw vs.
The Chicago Fire look to end their 5-game winless streak tonight. The Vancouver Whitecaps look
to pick up their first road victory in MLS history. Something's gotta give although it could end up
being a tie. Denis Hamlett returns to Chicago as an assitant coach with Vancouver. The next Chicago
Fire player to score the next goal will score the 100th Fire goal at Toyota Park.
Daryl Shore
The Strikers announced today that Daryl Shore, 41, will return as head coach of the south
Florida club previously branded as Miami FC. Shore took over the Miami FC head coaching reins
last July and guided them to a five-game unbeaten streak to end the 2010 season.
Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney writes of the Vancouver Whitecaps' hiring of Denis Hamlett to add
some MLS experience to their coaching staff.
During its job search the Vancouver Whitecaps made it clear to potential candidates that it needed
someone with MLS experience to join the staff as an assistant.
There are a couple of good stories on the Chicago Fire, Section 8, and everything Chicago soccer
that should not be missed. Let's start with Guillermo Rivera of Fire Confidential with some quotes
from Frank Klopas. On the players taking part in the MLS SuperDraft Combine right now, Klopas had
this to say:
These players have been off for a few months so it's tough to judge guys on these games, we've
seen most of them before now so we're looking for the best fit based on who's available when we
pick.
Chivas USA will announce Robin Fraser as its new head coach on Tuesday, according to the
Salt
Lake Tribune and
ESPN Deportes. The 44-year-old has spent the last four years as an
assistant with Real Salt Lake, where he has helped Jason Kreis build one of the more dominant sides
in Major League Soccer.
