By Ridge Mahoney
in Frisco, Texas
Droplets of champagne glistened on his cheeks as all around him delirium reigned.
The jubilant Houston locker room was jammed with players, coaches, family members and friends. A large plastic sheet, pooled by melting ice and liquids of a more potent nature, covered the floor as journalists, reporters and camera operators tried to slosh their way through the crush of laughing, cheering, singing bodies.
As Coach Dominic Kinnear spoke of his teamÆs triumphant end to a tumultuous season, a grey ice chest stealthily crossed the roaring, roiling room toward its quarry. Two players raised it over his head to send a shower of ice cubes and chilling water raining down on his head and neck and shoulders.
He yelped and recoiled, his face a mirror of shock and surprise yet strangely gleeful. ''You b******s!'' he shouted, laughing. A few minutes later, somebody poured champagne on him, and with another defiant growl, he shook up his own bottle of bubbly and sprayed back.
HeÆs worked three years as a head coach following three years as an assistant to Frank Yallop in San Jose, and has won a third MLS Cup, his first as the top guy.
''They're all very special,'' he said. ''I think the 2001 one was an eye-opener because it was my first year in coaching and just the way the team played was impressive. It went by so fast. The one in 2003 was one where I thought we would win it the whole year because we were the best team.
''This one was a little more special because I had more responsibility.''
He also had a personal crisis to deal with before ever arriving in Houston to set up shop in a new city: Leaving home.
''It must have been hard for him,'' says Kelly Gray, a San Jose native drafted by Chicago in 2002 and traded to the Quakes a few months before the move was announced. ''For me, 25, a single guy, sure, IÆll go anywhere. But his familyÆs in California and he has to deal with all the players and their problems moving, too.''
Born in Glasgow, Kinnear moved with his family to Northern California at a young age and was soon befriended by a tall, blond defender named John Doyle. They played together for Fremont Celtic, a team founded and coached by KinnearÆs father Hughie, whose passionate zeal for the game inspired his son.
''Growing up in a house where soccer is a constant topic of conversation, an experience of the day, or it's on television, it gets you to dream a little bit,'' says Kinnear. ''We went to Scotland in 1978 for a summer vacation, I was about 11, and all we did was sit around watching the World Cup on television even though it wasn't a great World Cup for Scotland.
''I remember thinking, æThat's what I want to do.Æ''
After playing for local teams, as well as Mexican club Necaxa, he earned 56 caps for the national team but wasnÆt picked for the 1994 World Cup team. He played in the first five seasons of MLS, from 1996 to 2000, for Colorado, San Jose and Tampa Bay, and was pondering his next move, at age 33, when a former Mutiny teammate called.
''When he asked me, I was in preseason with Tampa but I didn't really know what my future was there,'' says Kinnear when contacted by Yallop. ''Actually, at first I thought he was asking me to play in San Jose.
''Then when he told me he wanted me to coach, to be his assistant, my first thought was I didn't want to stop playing and I didn't have any coaching experience so it was going to be kind of an odd transition.''
Yet the coaching gene had been instilled by Hughie Kinnear at some point. By the time Yallop called, Dominic had already acquired his U.S. Soccer 'A' coaching license. The pair hit it off. One of the celebrants in the Houston locker room, wearing a big smile and clutching a bottle of beer, was Yallop, who last June took over coaching the Galaxy, formerly San Jose's bitterest rival.
''I remember saying to him, two months in the season, 'Where were you when I was playing?''' says Kinnear. ''I learned so much from him that first year. On the field stuff, training sessions, and off the field, just the way he carried himself and dealt with his players. I think the most I learned was just the way he was open and honest. I think that's why the players enjoyed him so much.''
The Houston players feel much the same way, especially those who know how deep are KinnearÆs Northern California roots. His extended family is a large one even though his parents died in 2004. Doyle, his assistant coach in 2004 and 2005, elected not to leave. Kinnear came up with a good replacement and another Glasgow product, ex-Rapid John Spencer.
''I didn't really know what to expect,'' says Spencer, who retired after the 2004 season. ''I didn't know Dominic that well before I came here. But it's worked out well, obviously. He's a good man, and a great coach.''
''At this level, although everybody can learn more, there's not a lot to teach guys,'' says defender Eddie Robinson. ''It's more about player management and keeping guys happy. Dominic is so good at that.
''Whatever the other guys went through, it was tougher for the Dom. With the team he's built and the relationship he's built with a lot of the guys, I'm sure he felt it was something special. But it was definitely very hard for him.''
Kinnear, wife Colleen, and their three children have settled in Missouri City, about 30 miles from Houston. Having survived a stifling, sweltering summer, heÆs not anxious to face another one but is better prepared.
''It wasnÆt like we moved to another city, it was almost like we moved to a different country,'' Kinnear says. ''None of us wanted to leave San Jose, what a great area.
''You look at what the team went through, and the weather is the most difficult thing to deal with. The team still played entertaining soccer the whole way through and was competitive. Next year, having been through it, weÆll be able to handle it better, I think.''