Ranking MLS head coaches from the top to the bottom
The merciful exit a couple of weeks ago of former Fire coach Juan Carlos Osorio from New York after one of the worst seasons in MLS history made me wonder just how to rank the league's coaches.
To be honest, I'm a little disappointed I didn't think of this sooner. It would have been fun to rank the Vancouver and Portland coaches ahead of Osorio, even though they have yet to be named and their teams don't start play until 2011.
Fire fans no longer lament the Professor's departure. Cuauhtémoc Blanco gets a lot more credit for the club's second-half surge in 2007 now that they've seen what Osorio did to New York. And that deal the two clubs made to let Osorio bring his family to the East Coast sure looks good for the Fire now. It brought speedy forward Patrick Nyarko to the Midwest.
Anyway, let's go with the flow and see what happens:
1. Sigi Schmid, Seattle Sounders FC: He won the MLS Cup in 2008, now he has an expansion team at fifth on the overall league table. Kudos, Sigi.
2. Dominic Kinnear, Houston Dynamo: He just keeps winning. It's real tempting to move him up.
3. Bruce Arena, Los Angeles Galaxy: The Bruce has to be among the best, despite what happened in New York. If this were a Coach of the Year award, he would win it. It's not, but he could easily be No. 1 on this list too.
4. Frank Yallop, San Jose Earthquakes: Yes, his current team is the second worst in MLS, but he already has proved himself. Be patient, San Jose.
5. Steve Nicol, New England Revolution: It's a down year for the Revs, but they're still in playoff position.
6. Denis Hamlett, Chicago Fire: It hasn't always been a smooth ride, and there's room for second-guessing, but Hamlett has done a good job.
7. Robert Warzycha, Columbus Crew: The defending champion is on a roll under its new coach.
8. Peter Nowak, Philadelphia Union: The expansion team will start play next year with a cool customer as coach.
9. Preki, Chivas USA: He would have been higher earlier in the season, but the other L.A. team is slumping.
10. Jason Kreis, Real Salt Lake: He too slipped as the season went on.
11. Chris Cummins, Toronto FC: Not a bad season for an interim coach.
12. Tom Soehn, D.C. United: The local guy (he's a Forest View High School grad from Arlington Heights) has been on the hot seat for a couple of years now. Missing the playoffs could cost him his job.
13. Gary Smith, Colorado Rapids: Not much tradition to build on.
14. Schellas Hyndman, FC Dallas: Will SMU success translate to MLS?
15. Richie Williams, New York Red Bulls: Two straight wins since Juan Carlos Osorio resigned makes Williams look like an innocent bystander at a train wreck.
16. Peter Vermes, Kansas City Wizards: Finishing the season for the fired Curt Onalfo.