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| Friday, September 14, 2001 24:15 EST |
Coaching casualties a little perplexing
By Jeff Bradley
[ESPN The Magazine]
Everyone knows Major League Soccer is different than, well, your grandfather's sports league. The league office signs the players -- even assigns some of them to teams -- with one eye on parity and another on financial responsibility. Within their own bylaws, the league doesn't even refer to it's salary cap as a "cap" but a "budget." Basically, it gives the league wiggle room, to say one team's budget is different than another's.
Nothing you didn't know already in that paragraph, but I can't help but think of those things today, knowing that Colorado coach Glen Myernick will join Tampa Bay's Tim Hankinson and Dallas' Dave Dir on the unemployment line this afternoon, leaving a quarter of the MLS coaching positions vacant as we head into December.
MLS is not your grandfather's sports league, except if you're a coach. If you're a coach, all the old school rules apply. One day, you're going to get fired, fair or not.
I look at what Myernick did this season and, honestly, it would not be a stretch to say he deserved strong consideration for Coach of the Year. Did anyone see the collection of A-Leaguers and kids he had to put on the field for more than half the season because of injuries? I did. Did anyone see the Rapids as a team that underachieved? I did not.
I almost wonder if Myernick would have been better to just lose more in the early part of the season, and make a big deal of the injuries to Anders Limpar and Ross Paule and Joey DiGiamarino and Jason Bent and Adin Brown and the list goes on and on.
Really, if the Rapids had been out there losing with Paul Dougherty and Dave Vaudreuil as their best midfielders, would anyone have said a word? Doubt it.
But, during that stretch, instead of falling into oblivion, the Rapids willed their way into the playoff race in the West. That set Myernick up for his fall when many of the players returned from the injured reserve list and failed to produce results. I'm told those players were precisely the ones who went to management to complain about the coach.
So, "Mooch" joins Hankinson and Dir on the unemployment line. Three coaches who made the playoffs. Three coaches who, in my opinion, should be working in MLS.
Maybe I'm not old school enough.
Quiet time
Agents are now calling each other and asking, "Have you spoken to anyone yet?" And the resounding answer is, "No." It's so quiet around MLS, it's frightening.
Shame on me for saying the MetroStars December 5 press event in Manhattan will bring "no real news." The unveiling of a stadium design that I have not seen is certainly news. If Nick Sakiewicz' "community center" approach comes true, MLS might be on to something. MLS has never figured out a way to tap into the "youth soccer business," that is the business that keeps indoor soccer facilities booked, that has towns clearing away trees to build more soccer fields, that sends kids all over the globe to compete. A stadium that works as a form of community soccer clubhouse could be interesting.
Also, kudos to the Metros for announcing a long overdue Cosmos Reunion game. Now, let's hope the likes of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer can find it in their hearts (and schedules) to make it to the game and help some of us who grew up in New York and New Jersey relive a fun couple of years in our lives.
As for the NY expansion team, one word of advice. Get a name, a logo, a jersey out sooner rather than later. And preferably a classic name and look to appease the city's many soccer diehards. In ESPN The Magazine last year, we suggested "New York Internazionale" and came up with a killer logo. Don't go down the same road MLS went down before. Create some buzz, give people some time to get excited.
Here are a few small tid-bits. Mamadou Diallo is still waiting to see if he is going to get the maximum salary in 2001. If he doesn't, he has said he might walk away from the league ... U.S. Olympic striker Conor Casey is said to be headed to Germany ... Look for 11 clubs to clear the way for the Fusion to draft Miami high school midfielder Alberto Munoz, who has been training with the club for several months...
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