<a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ben-oslen-e1411512656258.jpg"><div><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-117202" src="https://media.worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/2014/09/ben-oslen-600x450-600x450.webp" alt="ben oslen" width="600" height="450"></figure></div></a>
It’s commonly accepted in modern football that managers will come and go like frequency waves. A run of bad results here, a falling out there, and the man in charge is changed.
I say that because Ben Olsen was re-upped by <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/2014/08/21/dc-united-is-the-antithesis-of-mls-3-0/">DC United</a> yesterday on a contract that will keep in him the nation’s capital until 2019.
And I say that because at this time last year, DC were putting the finishing touches on the worst season in MLS history – three wins from 34 games.
It’s almost impossible to describe how bad United were in 2013. Few coaches, if any, survive that kind of year – especially considering in this case that DC is one of MLS’ proudest and most successful franchises, and Olsen is still a young coach without major bonafides to fall back on.
Of course, DC didn’t have the threat of relegation to scramble against in 2013. But still, the decision that was made swiftly and assuredly to bring back Olsen for 2014 was surprising and admirable.
They figured that the swoon wasn’t entirely, mostly, or perhaps even partially club legend Olsen’s fault. They knew that he didn’t suddenly become a worse manager in 2013 than he was in 2012.
Sticking by the boss has paid off – DC have turned things around in remarkable fashion, and now sit on top of the Eastern Conference headed into the final month of the season and the playoffs, with a new stadium deal on the horizon.
On the other side of the country and other half of the league in 2013, Sigi Schmid seemed to be a step and a half into his grave as Seattle head coach after his Sounders endured a massive and bitter collapse in the second half of the season that culminated with a first round playoff shattering at the hands of rival Portland.
Almost anywhere else in the world, Schmid would have been fired or forced to resign. In Seattle, he was given a vote of confidence.
Instead of shipping a manager who had made the playoffs every season he’d been in Seattle and won multiple MLS Cups, Seattle ditched the greedy infighting players that dragged down their 2013, retooled with character guys, and are now marching towards one of the most prolific seasons in league history and potentially the Supporters’ Shield.
Managerial stability counts for a lot. One look at the most successful franchises in MLS will tell you that.
In LA, Bruce Arena is the manager and GM and has been in charge since 2008. Real Salt Lake just made a managerial change, but it was simply sticking with the program by appointing Jason Kreis’ assistant Jeff Casar after Kreis left for expansion NYCFC.
<a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/2014/08/24/sporting-kansas-0-3-d-c-united-photos/">Sporting Kansas City</a> started to take off in 2009 when Peter Vermes took over as head coach, and Houston – by no means the most glamorous club in the league – has been a playoff stalwart with Dominic Kinnear in charge since 2004.
Big spenders like Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls, and other clubs with ambition like Vancouver and Montreal, have huge managerial turnover and very limited to no success.
The model in MLS is clear: Identify your guy. Stick with him, and watch your club grow.
Because of the salary cap in large part, managers and general managers are more important than almost all individual players.
Anthony Precourt, the new owner of the Columbus Crew, understands that, which was why he brought in Gregg Berhalter to run the soccer side of the club.
Merritt Paulson gets that in Portland too, and Caleb Porter figures to be with the Timbers for as long as he wants.
The upside to keeping coaches and technical staffs in place speaks for itself: Coaches mature and improve over time, while clubs can embark on the process of finding identities and styles and figuring out how to do things over the course of fulfilled multiyear contracts.
It also necessitates that players mature. Don’t like the coach? Get over it. You’re expendable, the coach isn’t.
If the recent Jermain Defoe drama had happened in LA and not Toronto, where manager Ryan Nelsen had just been fired, Defoe would have had to shape up or been shown the door.
That’s why NYCFC’s biggest signing in advance of their debut season was Kreis, one of the brightest young minds in the game, not Frank Lampard or David Villa.
That’s why Union owner Nick Sakowicz is giving long, hard thought to giving Jim Curtin the keys to the car full-time in Philly. It’s not that Curtin isn’t a good coach – it’s that if Curtin is going to get the job, he’s going to have be a dynamic soccer and organizational mind.
John Hackworth was promoted from an assistant position to an interim position to the full-time position, and that didn’t work.
When a managerial hire is a major, franchise-defining move, not a one-year rental solution, you know you’re doing something right.
MLS isn’t the same as Europe or South American football, nor, in many cases, will it ever be. This seems to be one of those cases. Not only is the business model different in many American clubs, so is the mindset.
To find success, get the right manager and soccer operations staff in place – and figure everything else out from there.

MLS Coaching Stability And How It Differs From Europe And South America

MLS Coaching Stability And How It Differs From Europe And South America - World Soccer Talk

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MLS Coaching Stability And How It Differs From Europe And South America