Can Rongen survive ‘perfect storm’?
RFK Stadium security demanded that the huge red banner with white letters reading “FIRE THE COACH” be furled during a late-season D.C. United home match.
Club president Kevin Payne said afterward that security made a mistake: The club didn’t condone the confiscation of banners.
That may be as far as Payne goes in sympathizing with the growing group of fans who blame Thomas Rongen for D.C. United’s 2000 demise. Payne keeps reiterating that nearly every person involved in United’s on-field product is culpable.
But several sources within the team, including some players, question whether Rongen still has the team’s respect and confidence.
An informal, anonymous poll of players revealed mixed sentiments. Seven of 16 players interviewed said they thought a coaching change would help the team. Four flatly stated that changing the coach would not help. Five others said they didn’t know. Almost all said that significant changes of some kind were needed to expunge the negative attitude that plagued the team at the season’s end.
“For me, personally, I have a lot of confidence in [Rongen],” defender Eddie Pope said. “Thomas is all about discipline and he knows the game. I don’t think you’ll come across too many coaches with such a good knowledge of the game.
“When things go bad, you have to trust in people and trust that they will turn around. Having won a championship under him, having had a great year with him, just because we had a bad year, I don’t lose any confidence in him at all.”
But several other players expressed complete dissatisfaction with the coaching, citing disorganized, low-intensity training sessions, arbitrary disciplining and an inability to deal with different personalities accordingly.
“I think Thomas is a good person and he does understand soccer very well, but there’s a big difference between that and being an actual good coach,” one player said. “I think a lot of the problems we had have to eventually come back to the coach. Players might be playing well, but they might not be playing together. Or, if some guys aren’t playing up to their potential, it’s the head coach’s job to get them there.”
Much of the Rongen question centers around whether a legitimate replacement is available. Not many American coaches have experience in dealing with national team players, and foreign coaches have a poor record in MLS.
Also, Rongen has another year left on his contract and, were he fired, any new operator-investor would have to be willing to pay two coaches’ salaries next season. Since United’s ownership is undetermined right now, a coaching change is unlikely to occur until that is settled.
For his part, Rongen says he did not change his overall approach from 1999 to this season and will not try to alter his style greatly.
“All coaches go through down cycles,” Rongen said. “Sure, you get frustrated, but I got frustrated last year even when we were winning – that’s the job of a coach. … We weren’t prepared as an organization or as a team for what happened this year. It was like the perfect storm, almost.
“Everything collided at the same time … We all underperformed, myself included, but we learned some hard lessons, foremost of which is a hatred toward losing. We do not want to go through this again.”
by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns