Saturday, May 5, 2007

Smooth operator

John Ellinger wasn't inclined to take the alternate position Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts offered him after Ellinger had been fired as coach. Dave talked him into it, though.

"Anyone who has been in my situation would think that you need to take a break and then start to think about your next coaching situation," Ellinger said when I asked him about it.

"That’s kind of where my head was. My initial reaction was to have an appreciation for the offer, but initially, to try to look for another type of coaching situation. But in my conversations with Dave, he kind of gave me all the positives and as much of the scope of the job as he could. As far as the job description goes, right now it’s pretty close to what a GM or on the team side, I’d say that Dave Kasper (of DC United) has a similar type of job, that I know of in the league. With that technical director/director of soccer title in charge of the youth initiatives, it’s a pretty wide spectrum of things to be working with. I certainly feel that my development as a coach has put me in a category where I can handle the scope of that job."

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