Some men bleed their team's colors and some men are just meant to be synonymous with a club. As far as the Columbus Crew go, Robert Warzycha is such a man, which made his appointment as head coach of the Crew on Monday such a perfect move.
Warzycha replaces Sigi Schmid after Schmid led the Crew to its first MLS Cup title. After seven seasons as a player for the Crew and seven seasons as an assistant coach (and one-time interim head coach), Warzycha really was the only candidate for the position and now he is entrusted with the task of trying to lead the Crew to a repeat MLS Cup title.
What do you think of the hire? Love it? Not sure about it? Who else could the Crew have hired?
Share your thoughts below.
Zenga?
Player-Coach? Will he sub himself in late in matches just to take free kicks?
Although I still can’t believe no MLS team has made Paul Mariner a head coach yet, Tom hit this squarely on the head citing Robert’s dedication to the club and the logic of choosing one of your own when available (and capable). Now we’ll see what Robert can do. Go Crew!!
Travis, never explain sarcasm. Just know that most of us were laughing…
Robert was the perfect choice, and despite McCullers saying there was serious interest over the last few weeks for this job, it was never really an open competition.
We had a guy in house who has been extremely loyal to the organization and the organization has been loyal to him and promising him he would get rewarded with this opportunity.
I have seen a few people talk about going outside of the organization and getting another top flight assistant like Paul Mariner, but why do that when you have a highly regarded, incredibly intelligent assistant in house? This makes perfect sense.
Congratulations Robert.
Dennis Hamlett Part 2!!
Man that crest is ugly
This is good. Former MLS players paying their dues and growing with the league as coaches and managers.
Good luck to him.
Warzycha was the perfect choice… I’d even advocated that if the Crew were going to dump Sigi before last year (a real possibility at the time) they should’ve only done it if they were promoting Warzycha, because quite frankly, there wasn’t anyone else better out there.
Best of luck Robert! Can’t wait to be at the season opener next year.
tough call but who else wants to coach columbus. I think I would have went with paul mariner.
Fantastic hire. This is like getting a can’t-miss prospect in the third round of the draft.
I’m psyched to see if Columbus can turn all this into a real tradition. Just another 20 years or so and it’ll be real! (heh.)
Love it, good luck to him, even though I’m a NY fan
And haha yeah I got the sarcasm Travis
1. The best move would have been retaining Schmid. But the team mishandled that (probably).
2. The two most overconfident sets of fans right now are those from Seattle and Columbus. Seattle–because they haven’t had to confront reality yet (and discover what EVERY expansion team in MLS has–including Chicago–how incredibly difficult it is to build a good team in year one). Columbus because they’re coming off a season where everything clicked, the team outperformed everyone else, a couple of players had career years–and the temptation is to assume that it just continues. That Carroll has another year like this one. That Moreno has another year like this one. That Rogers continues to get better. That Gaven doesn’t slump. That Hesmer, Schelotto and all the others stay healthy and play like they did or get better.
San Jose fans assumed that replacing Yallop with proven assistant Kinnear was just a case of reloading. Not. And Kinnear has proven himself to be a great MLS coach.
I’m not arguing that Warzycha will be a bad coach. But if Columbus ends up in the MLS Cup final again (let alone wins it), they’ll be defying immense odds. More likely, they fail to make the playoffs in a tough East or lose in the first round.
Dave – I was being very very sarcastic. You are right…MLS Cup champions = sexy! Columbus played the most stylish football in the league this year. I was happy they/you won it.
If you look at Robert’s credentials vs. Sigi’s and many other MLS coaches he comes up a little short. It’s a great opportunity and I wish him well.
ives–just seen a report on cnnsi.com that MLS has sold its overseas TV rights for 8 figures. (thats not a typo). what, if any, impact will this have as far as salary cap, player wages, and overall roster expansion?
thanks doug
Travis, please tell me that you are joking.
You know what’s sexy? Raising a Cup in victory.
I love this move and can’t wait to see The Polish Rifle take aim this spring!
I love it.
Robert’s kid became ill after he came here to play, and the community raised money for him to help pay for treatment. It really touched his heart and he has bled Black & Gold ever since.
He had a winning record with the most talent dry Crew team in history in 2005, and managed to play entertaining soccer doing it (Knox Cameron, Jamal Sutton, Marcus Storey, and Eric Vasquez).
Tactically, he’ll be more aggressive (as switching to a three man backline in overcoming a 0-2 deficit to tie the Fire at home showed this year).
Does he have the same eye for talent and player development as Sigi, probably not at this stage, but I hope he’s learned from Sigi in that regard, and he’ll have Brian Bliss and Mike Lapper (both former Nats and Crew players) to help him.
I must say, more than any other team in the league, the Crew now have THREE former players as their top coaching positions, all who have experience at the highest levels and with their current club.
Warzycha: Everton (’91-’94), 47 Poland Caps, 7 goals (1987-’93), Crew (’96-’02).
Lapper: Crew (’97-’02), USMNT: 44 Caps, 1 goal (’91-’95), 1994 US World Cup Team.
Bliss: Crew (’96-’97), USMNT: 44 Caps, 2 goals (’84-’95), 1990 US World Cup Team.
Players should listen to these guys.
I saw Ruud Gullit on Lincoln Rd in South Beach the other day…
Sexy football in Columbus will have to wait I guess.
Could be worse, you could be stuck with Bruce Arena like me.
Love it.
Not sure if he has an eye for bargain talent like Sigi, but come game time I trust him 100%.
Confidence going into 2009, but unsure about 2010.