Luis and I were discussing the possibility of Bruce Arena becoming the Galaxy's next coach.
Drama always makes for good copy, and I don't doubt that Bruce would bring some drama and a certain amount of swagger to the team.
On the other hand, I'd rather the club pick someone who has had more recent success in the league. Also, Bruce's ties to certain players led to choices like Reyna in NY, or John O'Brien on the national team in 2006. His objectivity is questionable because of those picks.
After that World Cup, Bruce probably had his biggest success with the signing of Juan Pablo Angel to the Red Bulls, so that was a positive choice in his factor. He also helped foster the emergence of Jozy Altidore. I think New York administration pulled the plug on his tenure too early, but for the money and power they had given him, they wanted to see success more quickly.
As a reporter, I see pros and cons to having Bruce around as a coach. He's very intelligent and has some great lines. Many of them are snide, however, even though he's a good quote. Bruce could probably be as obnoxious as he wants to be if he gets the team winning, though. People dote on winners.
It's a bit funny to think of Landon Donovan saying that he found Ruud Gullit disrespectful at times. Bruce can be hard on players, too, and he's said sharply critical things of many players before, while avoiding taking blame on himself. But LD thinks Bruce is great, so maybe it's not what one says, but the way one says it.
I thought that Bruce would be a good fit for Philly, frankly, though they don't play until 2010. If successful, he could wreck revenge on DC United (supposedly, DC didn't jettison Tom Soehn for Arena earlier this year because Kevin Payne didn't want to give up as much control as Bruce wanted).
Cobi Jones emphasized at the press conference for the SuperClasico that as far as he knows, he's the coach for that game, with nothing promised for later. Perhaps that means that AEG has a coach in mind.
The ultimate LA coach would be well-known enough to be respected internationally, bilingual in Spanish and English, with good knowledge of MLS, an advocate of solid, yet creative soccer, an excellent scout, well-spoken, charismatic and a good people manager.
Any suggestions?
I nominate Mauricio Cienfuegos as coach with Paul Mariner as technical director in charge of scouting player aquisition and player developement. Keep Cobi as lead assisitant. That would be my dream set up.
ReplyDeleteGO ACB!!!!
I was thinking Cobi and Cien would make a good coaching pair.
ReplyDeletewhoever comes in has to be able to understand MLS (salarycap, drafts, trades and the likes)
ReplyDeleteCobi should be ALLOWED any position he wants within the G's no matter if its headcoach, assistant, youth coach, gm, hotdog salesman, spokesperson...
I'm not sold on Bravo at all, the Payne guy seems decent enough.
I honestly couldn't care if they hired a donkey as long as this team gets back to its winning ways.
ReplyDeleteCien has made too many comments about the "unfortunate lack of latino players recently on the Galaxy". I'll pass on him. That's shortsided and quite ridiculous at this point in MLS.
Mariner would be a good choice but I think Cobi should be given a fair shot. Keep the "interim" tag just to basically save face if it is a failed experiment.
However, I have a feeling we'll get some big name jackass to save the day.
since developing our youth isn't high on the Galaxy's agenda, it should be moved to the front of their list. With that being said, I think Ricardo Lavolpe would be great for this job. He's a great at finding and develping youth ( he was the one who shaped Rafael Marquez while at Atlas)
ReplyDeleteThe problem with LaVolpe is that the never played or coached in MLS. He isn't familiar with all the rules on allocations, draft picks, and salary cap. I'd like to see Nowak get the job and at least 2 years to build a team. He might not speak Spanish, but he's bilingual.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd love to see Paul Mariner as the Galaxy's new coach but I don't think that will happen.
ReplyDeleteThe Galaxy has burned too many coaches w/respectable accomplishments the past four years (yes, I've mocked Sampson repeatedly but you can't disregard the fact that he won an MLS Cup and a U.S. Open Cup, and was the head coach of two national teams). You don't think American coaches have noticed?
Besides, I don't think Arena would want to come here. He's a very strong personality who won't put up w/the Galaxy's loony management -- especially if Simon Fuller and 19 Entertainment have as much imput as they seem to have.
Given what Leiweke, Hamilton (remember Schmid?) and Lalas have done to coaches, the only candidates the Galaxy will be able to get will be Europeans who don't know the Galaxy that well or Cobi.
I don't think it was Hamilton's decision to get rid of Sigi, and honestly, most Galaxy fans were sad to see him go. I mean, yeah, we always booed Sigi during the team introductions but he was a good coach, and did very well with the players he had. The soccer might have been a bit ugly, but we were winners.
ReplyDeleteI'd be very surprised if it wasn't Doug Hamilton's decision to get Steve Sampson.
ReplyDeletea.c., I'm guessing that Hamilton acted under Leiweke's orders. After all, the M.O. is the same: Fire a coach who doesn't achieve artistically pleasing results and get a "name" to replace him.
ReplyDeleteI like the Cobi/Cien pairing. I'm not sure if it would work, but it would definitely give the club some much-needed goodwill with fans.
ReplyDeleteThat said, does it really matter who coaches as long as Liewecke and AEG are running the show?
AEG is good at managing venues and making money, but doesn't seem to have a clue how to run a franchise. Thank goodness they don't have full ownership of the Lakers. Can you imagine?
I've disagreed with Joesph D'H on here a few times, but I gotta it to him: he's been right all along.
cienfuegos? are you people serious? do you actually follow his career as a coach, or is it just a case of he was a good player so he'll be a good coach.
ReplyDeletefor the record, his tenure in el salvador has been poor. his team finished 8th out 10 in the first seaso. they are currently sitting dead last with 3 losses from 3 games.
yeah sounds like exactly what the galaxy need.
Beax speax, thanks for your kind words.
ReplyDeleteBTW, where is Cien coaching in El Salvador? Is it a first-division team? One of the national youth teams? What, exactly?
He's coaching a team that was promoted from the second division. Nejapa F.C. This is his second, Half season with the club. And to be honest the PDL has better players than the ES first division. So I can't blame Cien for working with what he has. Many of you might not be familiar with the way football is poorly handled in El Salvador.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of raiding the NE coaching staff and grabbing Paul Mariner. I think they are hands down the best run team in the MLS. They play attractive soccer, they win consistantly and they find lots of diamonds in the rough. Another good name that I hear thrown around is John Spencer. The guy was a great competitor on the field and has lots of MLS as well as EPL experience. I think he would understand the limitations of the salary cap and also would be able to teach the Galaxy to manage games better. Right now, they look similar to an AYSO team that has no idea what team defense is.
ReplyDeleteI am not sold on the need for a Spanish speaking coach for the Galaxy. I don't know if it would be especially effective reaching out to Hispanic fans as they mostly have no interest in the MLS from what I can see. I would like to see the Galaxy hone their youth teams to scouting local Hispanic talent though, that is a good way to get into the Hispanic market it seems.
I think I'd lay money on a shock return for Sigi Schmidt, with either Spencer or Mariner moving to Columbus to replace him.
ReplyDeleteI say this partly because the 'family reasons' argument is popular currently, he has unfinished business in SoCal and he has proved himself able to turn the Crew around by attracting a mix of good players and getting them to gel together.
I see a move possible either immediately or at the end of the season if Columbus fail to qualify for the Concacaf CL.
He's got domestic knowledge, he's got local connections and he's credible.
Let the merry-go-round commence!