First-year head coaches will lead four MLS teams in 2007.
Tom Soehn
Steeped deeply in soccer cultures
Soccer was a family affair for Tom Soehn growing up in Chicago.
''My parents came over from Germany on separate boats in the 50s and met at the Chicago Kickers club,'' says Soehn, named D.C. head coach in the aftermath of Bob Bradley's departure from Chivas USA and Peter Nowak signing on as his assistant with the U.S. national team. ''We were a soccer family. We really didn't grow up with other things because they came over when they knew the sport. I was fortunate in the fact that I had a lot of German coaches and my father as a role model. He taught me the German philosophies of playing and structure and organization.''
Relatives of his father split off from the Schwaben club in the 1940s to form the Kickers, who won four U.S. Amateur Cup crowns. Soehn played for the Kickers from age 5 until he left Western Illinois University and went pro.
''I had so many role models around me, good soccer players and teachers,'' he said.
Soehn, 40, has been on the top of the A-list of assistant coaches for several years after working for Chicago and D.C. United. He nearly missed out again when one of the teams he played for, Dallas, hired Morrow, and Kansas City chose Curt Onalfo.
Soehn interviewed for the vacant Chivas USA job, but when Nowak took the USA post, D.C. president Kevin Payne moved quickly.
''He understands what our club is about, which has always been very important to me,'' said Payne. ''Tommy has been a very important part of our success since Peter came here. This is a very logical step.''
Soehn ended a long playing career in MLS with Dallas and Chicago following stints in the APSL with Colorado and indoor teams in several leagues.
Melding the domestic and foreign elements is vital.
''So many leagues come and go, indoor and outdoor, it gave you a good understanding of what kind of person, as far as Europeans and foreigners, fit in, and which ones didn't,'' says Soehn. ''It also gave you a good feel of what the Americans were like and how difficult it was for them to adjust and how much you had to do to get the Americans to where they needed to be.''
Having landed his first head coaching job, Soehn has a new ownership group to please, as well as holes to fill with the departures of Alecko Eskandarian and Freddy Adu. One facet of his life, though, doesn't figure to change all that much.
''One thing I appreciate about my father is that he always supported me through everything and he's not afraid to call me and tell me what I'm doing wrong as a coach,'' said Soehn. ''To this day, my parents are still the hugest fans. That kind of relationship is fantastic, and I'm pretty fortunate.''
Curt Onalfo
Preaching Brazilian brio
Research and investigation won't uncover a background as exotic among MLS head coaches as that of Curt Onalfo.
He grew up in Connecticut and is a former disciple of Bruce Arena but far removed from traditional American pipelines en route to taking the job in Kansas City.
Onalfo was born in Sao Paulo and played professionally in Mexico, where he met his wife and visits regularly on vacation. How much brio he can infuse into his players remains to be seen, but upon his hiring that's what he professed he would do, given that he believes there's already a solid core of veterans.
''We have a lot of players with good experience,'' he said. ''Certainly, [forwards] Davy Arnaud and Eddie Johnson are key components and so is Scott Sealy. We have experienced players in the midfield with Sasha Victorine and Kerry Zavagnin, and an experienced back line with [Jose] Burciaga, Jimmy Conrad and Nick Garcia. They are all key guys.''
How the 37-year-old Onalfo deals with those key guys is at issue. He's not much older than many of the players he'll coach, and he didn't have a long professional playing career (23 MLS games) despite being co-captain of the 1992 Olympic team. While an assistant at D.C. United, Onalfo learned the ropes of dealing with players before spending the last three years as one of Arena's national team assistants.
After the 2006 World Cup, he interviewed for the Toronto FC job, whose ownership group, Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, went for a much bigger name, Mo Johnston. A few months later, another new ownership consortium — OnGoal LLC — bought the Wizards from Hunt Sports Group, and it fairly quickly decided on Onalfo. Brian Bliss had been working as interim head coach after Bob Gansler was dismissed.
''I was focused since July on getting a job in MLS, so I took the steps to make sure I was prepared,'' said Onalfo. ''We have some big ambitions. Our ownership group is working on a stadium plan, we have a comprehensive plan for our youth development [Peter Vermes has been hired as technical director], and of course we want to win.
''I think Bob Gansler did an excellent job of putting together this team. It's a good roster and for some reason they underperformed. I don't even want to get into why. I have a feeling it had a lot to do with the uncertainty that was around the team.''
Onalfo believes his national team experience with Johnson can bring him back to his sharp form of two years ago. Johnson scored just two goals in 19 games last season, and talk of moving to Europe has quieted.
''He's been plagued with injuries and has had distractions here and there,'' said Onalfo. ''It's an important year for him.''
Steve Morrow
Heading makeover in Dallas
More than being more of the same, FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow believes he isn't cut from the same cloth as predecessor Colin Clarke. FCD president Michael Hitchcock believes it, too, and is gambling the difference is significant enough to propel Dallas to where it has yet to reach: the MLS Cup final.
Both Morrow and Clarke played in the top division in England, and both are from Northern Ireland. The 36-year-old Morrow, a product of the Arsenal system, played two seasons in MLS and has only two seasons of experience (2005-06) as an assistant coach in MLS. He emerged from a pool of four candidates in December as head coach.
''I believe that if there's one bad attitude and one wrong attitude within your team, it affects everything,'' says Morrow, in reference to the team's postseason collapses the past two seasons. ''You can't afford to have one weak link because it will affect you in the playoffs.''
Poor attitudes tainted FC Dallas last season and for the second straight year it fell to Colorado in two games and missed a chance to play in MLS Cup as host. Offensive catalyst Ronnie O'Brien, despite his Best XI status, disrupted the team so severely with his outbursts and insistence to play centrally that he was traded to Toronto FC before Morrow was officially hired. Late in the season, Clarke had to bench fiery midfielder Ramon Nunez for spouting off.
''I think he's a tremendous talent,'' says Morrow of Nunez. ''He knows there's one or two things he needs to get better at. I'll make things very, very clear to Ramon of what I expect of him going forward, as I will with all of our players. If we get Ramon more on the ball in the middle of the field he can be more effective for us.''
Last season, Kenny Cooper moved from forward to left mid to take Nunez's place. Morrow is looking to add a left-sided midfielder so Nunez can play centrally and Cooper can play up front with Carlos Ruiz. Cooper and Ruiz combined for 23 goals in 2006.
Morrow also has a gap in the back left from the trade of Greg Vanney to Colorado that could be plugged by Adrian Serioux, a defensive midfielder who also shored up the back last season for champion Houston.
''He's a good option for both positions,'' said Morrow of Serioux. ''I like the physical element he brings to the back four and if you ask forwards what it was like playing against him, Carlos doesn't like playing against him. That's what I want to have in my back four: nasty defenders who are physical and strong and concentrate number one on defending.''
And what he wants in the locker room and on the training field is solidarity.
Preki
Finding his serious side
The whirlwind of MLS coaching changes nearly drove Chivas USA south of the border to find a replacement for Bob Bradley after Tom Soehn joined D.C. United, but eventually team management elected to stay the course.
Under Bradley, the team more than doubled its win total from a disastrous inaugural season (from four to nine), and players lauded credit on both men responsible.
''Preki was here last year, he knows us, and we know him,'' said midfielder Sacha Kljestan. ''He also encourages creativity and attacking soccer. We'll play attractive soccer, so it will be good for the fans, but he also demands a lot of discipline.''
With just one year of assistant coaching experience, Preki is even less grounded than his debutant counterparts, despite being the oldest of them at 43.
As a player, his effervescent smile, daring cutbacks and curling shots exuded an air of anti-authority, yet at his core has always been a zealous seriousness to not only how the game should be played, but also how it must be approached. Late in his playing career, Preki turned to yoga as a method to maintain physical and psychological strength. Poor soccer as well as poor results grate on him.
''To the fans, I promise to bring the same approach as head coach as I did as a player and assistant: hard-working, determined, technical, willing to take risks,'' he said upon his hiring.
Having lost Francisco Palencia and Juan Pablo Garcia but gained Amado Guevara, Preki used the SuperDraft to pick Englishman John Cunliffe, a left-footed mix of creator and finisher not unlike Preki, who lit up MLS for 79 goals and 112 assists prior to his retirement in 2005.
Preki had been ranked third behind former Mexican international Fernando Quirarte and Francisco Ramirez, both of whom coach in Mexico, during the selection process, but he may have boosted his cause by confronting CEO Javier Leon during the team's Christmas party. He also has the backing of one of the league's most respected players.
''He's very studious as far as tactics are concerned, and he likes for the team to control the ball,'' said Claudio Suarez, Chivas USA's Mexican star. ''He is very participative, because he always joins in training sessions. He's competitive, his mentality is good and he demands of all players that they bring a winning mentality.''
(This article originally appeared in the February 2007 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)