Editorials

Curse of The Bruce Continues, Soehn Resigns

Might as well start to call it the Curse of the Bruce, as ever since United’s first and most successful coach, Bruce Arena, resigned after his third season, no subsequent DC coach has made it past that apparently impervious third year wall either, now that Soehn has officially washed his hands of the team today.

Soehn resigned after discussions with his family and likely the increasingly apparent fact that he would essentially have to interview for his own job in the coming weeks. So he called it quits instead, and who can blame him? As the team mentioned in their press release, no coach over the past three years has even come close to the obstacles that Soehn was expected to overcome over the past three years.

Since 2007, United has been ravaged by injuries, roster turnover, and a daunting schedule that saw the team play more games, have their season start earlier, have to travel much farther than any other team, as well as regularly pit themselves against some of the best teams in the entire region while still looking to take care of domestic concerns like the MLS playoffs and Open Cup. Only Houston even comes close to the amount of games and travel United has had to put up with. Houston played two less matches over the past three years, but no other team is within 15 games of United, and most teams in MLS have played a staggering 30-45 less games. Plus, the Dynamo have had only slightly better success, and had no where near the injuries or roster turnover to deal with in that same period.

But, unfortunately for Soehn, coaching at DC carries the expectation of being successful in multiple competitions, and Temperamental Tommy rarely showed glimpses of being able to overcome those adverse conditions that come with being the leader of a club with international as well as domestic aspirations. Worse, it became obvious towards the end of his tenure that he had no answers for the team’s glaring lack of system or consistency.

So now the Tommy Knockers will no longer have Soehn to kick around anymore as being the root of United’s two year swoon from the elite level of the league. However, Soehn does finish his tenure as arguably the third most successful coach in United history. Obviously the Bruce is far and away the most successful with 6 of United’s 12 trophies and the only coach with two MLS Cups. Then, Soehn, Nowak and Rongen have each garnered a couple trophies apiece with only Soehn failing to grab the crown jewel, an MLS Cup. So, it’s debatable where Soehn falls in that pantheon.

Still, Soehn’s tenure ends with him having lead the team to a Supporters Shield in 2007 and an Open Cup in 2008, as well as finishing with a winning record in MLS play at 36-30-24, something few MLS coaches can boast. But, he never won an MLS playoff match, and never really found the success internationally that the club has always prided itself on until recently. And even that stunning CCL run fell short, another example apparently, of too little too late for Soehn.

Ironically, the timing of his decision to quit is interesting too. For one thing, management seemed to be leaning towards him having the inside track to keep his job, and next season will certainly have none of the distractions his past three years have had. United pretty much only has to worry about the 32 match MLS season and maybe an Open Cup run if they manage to play their way in. Clearly, Soehn’s experiences to date would seem to give the team good reason to believe he would be able to handle such a relatively light work load.

But quite possibly Payne stopping well short of giving Soehn the rousing endorsement he gave Dave Kasper was the impetus for Soehn to wash his hands of the team right now. Obviously, the implication of saying the general manager is the best in the business means it’s that much more likely that the coach was going to take the blame. Plus, it tends to send the message that the roster Kasper built for the most part was not going to be the scapegoat either even though Tommy never kicked a ball on the field the entire season.

So, for Soehn to resign now sends the message right back at them that from here on out Payne, Kasper, and the players who survive until next year will have to live up to the lofty praises as Soehn will clearly have nothing to do with any of the crucial roster decisions that the club now faces. Who is protected in the coming expansion draft and whose option years will be picked up before the December deadline are now completely out of Soehn’s hands. No chance he gets any of the blame if any of those critical decisions comes up a cropper. At the same time, he can, for example, give quite valuable advice to Nowak in Philly should Soehn materialize on their payroll in the next few weeks, say.

And that may be the reason for DC’s coaching curse in a nutshell. The difficulty DC United coaches have in really controlling the most influential parts of the roster they are to coach. Since the success of the Bruce, Payne has always assumed maybe more of the credit for the top drawer results that led to that golden age than he might deserve. For certain both those guys bristle at the idea either of them was less important than the other, anyway.

Either way, since that time, Payne has kept his hands all over the high end roster decisions either directly or indirectly through his alter-ego Kasper who he hired after Rongen was fired and before Hudson was hired. If a new coach continues to have arguably very little (certainly no more than one third anyway) say in who he has to build his team around, then perhaps that new coach might be hamstrung from the get go as well. Or maybe Payne and Kasper will find the right guy to do their bidding. We shall see.

Which brings us to the tantalizing prospect of who United might find to lead the team next season and beyond (well, for no more than three years apparently). Obviously, Richie Williams springs to mind as he’s showed success in NY (no small feat) and is a DC alumni, and one of the winningest players in US Soccer history with stunning success at almost every level of the sport since he was in short pants. Well, even shorter pants than he wears now anyway.

Still, whoever takes over the reigns will have some truly stunning decisions to make about some legendary players. Now, considering the stunning parallels of this season to 2001 (Hmm… might be a good article in that comparison given the time on my hands now that United is in hibernation), it will be interesting to see if Payne and Kasper bring in another outsider like they did in 2002 to do their dirty work, or if the decisions are made before a new coach is found, or if the new coach is to be given a much greater say in major player acquisitions, or in how young players are brought along, etc.

But a big difference this time around will be the Chang looming in the background. He controls the team and no doubt is standing there with a sickle ready to make the merciless decisions if he senses Payne and Kasper are as much to blame as Soehn and some sacred cows. For sure, the likes of Moreno, Gomez, Olsen, and Emilio, as well as Fred all face a very uncertain future. Plus, who DC protects in the expansion draft just after MLS Cup will be very interesting insights into where United expects to be this time next year.

Anyway, all tantalizing thoughts of the future aside, farewell to Tommy. As someone who became very much a critic of him lately, I say sincerely, thank you for a couple more trophies in the case and good luck to you in the future, except when you’re coaching against DC of course. You weren’t the right man for the job the past two years, but then again few would have been.

Soehn’s career highlights and lowlights for 134 games at the helm of United in all competitions:
54-48-32 record overall.
A 36-30-24 regular season record in MLS, including 16-7-7 and a Supporter’s Shield in 2007, but 0-1-1 in DC’s lone playoff appearance also in 2007.
A 9-2 record in the Open Cup including winning the Cup in 2008, but 0-1 in away matches and the only Cup final loss in RFK in United history, this year.
9-15-7 overall in international play. Twice made CONCACAF semi-finals and once made SuperLiga semifinals, finished with 7th best record in Champions League this year and was the highest ranked team unable to advance to the knockout round. Signature wins over Pachuca, Chivas de Guadalajara, and Club America, as well as the first MLS coach to tie in Saprissa, and only second MLS coach to tie in Mexico in Toluca.

© 2009 UnitedMania.com.