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D.C. United has endured a nightmare 2010 season and Curt Onalfo has paid the price for the team's disappointing results. The first-year D.C. coach has been fired and has been replaced by D.C. assistant and legendary D.C. United player Ben Olsen.
D.C. has crawled to a league-worst 3-12-3 record this season, and while injuries have taken their toll, the team has looked extremely poor at times even when fielding close to full-strength teams.
Olsen takes over on an interim basis, and while he is a respected former player, he lacks head coaching experience. D.C. United could be tempted to make a run at U.S. national team head coach and former D.C. United assistant Bob Bradley, who has yet to sign a new deal with U.S. Soccer for after 2010.
Onalfo was hired in the off-season to replace Tom Soehn, who left after not being re-hired. Soehn has since moved on to become technical director of the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps.
D.C. United hired Onalfo after being turned down by Akron University head coach Caleb Porter. D.C. passed on other candidates such as Denis Hamlett and Richie Williams before settling on Onalfo, who was fired as Kansas City head coach a year ago.
So who will coach D.C. come 2011? You can expect D.C. to make a run at Bob Bradley, and another run at Caleb Porter can't be ruled out. Hamlett is a local product who is still available, but Williams is unlikely to be considered nor do I think he's that interested in being D.C. United's head coach. Olsen could gain momentum as a long-term option if he can help the club finish the 2010 season strongly.
What do you think of this development? Was it inevitable? Think Onalfo shouldn't be the only person to be sent packing?
Share your thoughts below.
A list of players Sasho Cirovski has developed while at Maryland: Danny Califf(USMNT), Ryan Burch, Seth Stammler, Clarence Goodson (USMNT), Taylor Twellman (USMNT), Jason Garey (Mac Hermann Trophy), Steven King, Maurice Edu (USMNT), Robbie Rogers (USMNT), Omar Gonzalez (US U-20 MNT, MLS Rookie of the Year), AJ Delagarza, Rodney Wallace, Anthony Hall, Chris Seitz (US U-20 MNT), Zac McMath (US U-20 MNT), Ryan White, Dennis Townsend. One of the top teams in the toughest conference in college soccer. And a National Championship in 2004.
Caleb Porter is a fine coach, but he has a way to go before he is the top coach in the contry.
Please DC hire Bradley!
Actually he took them to the playoffs their first 2 years after cleaning house(they were and still are in the Eastern Conference sport) and then it went down hill, he got fired and now his GM Vermes isn’t doing that well with everyone he brought in.
Again, the GMs and Presidents need to be held accountable.
Actually Pep coached outside Spain for a year and then took the Barcelona 2nd Division team for 2 years.
Olsen’s just keeping the seat warm until DC United can buy a year’s supply of black sweatpants for Bob Bradley.
Caleb Porter is the best college coach in the nation. And it isn’t even close …
You cannot compare winning at Maryland to turning Akron into a national power and the winningest team in the nation in the past five years.
No thanks on Klinnsman. If Bradley goes, I certainly wouldn’t want him.
DC united should have never hired onalfo in the first place. Didnt you see why KC fired him? because he was not doing good at all. When he was KC’s coach he drove that team into the bottom of the west in 2 seasons and was fired for that reason…. i never understood why DC united hired him in the first place but im glad to see he is gone! I hope they get some one soon with some pedigree behind him. I love Benny, but not all good players make good coaches (ex Diego Maradonna). Good luck to him and DC just the same for the remaining season
What could possibly be your issue with Bruce Arena taking Brian McBride to the World Cup in 2006? He had an EXCELLENT club club season and was clearly one of the best U.S. players. How can you criticize that selection?
I hadn’t really thought of those two. They were bad. I know Cristman hustles, but he won’t win a Championship. I wonder who can lay claim to (1) anointing Santino as the pre-season playmaker, (2) Keeping Jaime as a reserve, (3) Spending big for Perkins, (4) Alsopp, (5) Salvadoran winger who I’ve already forgotten, (6) Pena. All very questionable decisions.
At the same time, does Onalfo get credit for turning Julius James into a solid starting CB?
I don’t see Cirovski taking the job. He has total job security at Maryland. DCU is a mess, to be frank.
DC is heading down the same path as the cubs with the significant exception of playing in a loved, charming, profitable stadium.
All the more reason for us to love Ben. 🙂
Vamos United!
Vamos Olsen!
This was always going to happen. Onalfo has been an excellent assistant, but he just can’t handle the top job. He showed that in KC. This is yet another example of poor decision-making by the DC United front office. Kevin payne has lost the script; he needs to find another job. In my view, they really don’t see how desperately bad this team has become. We need a coach who is spot-on in evaluating talent, something we haven’t had since Bruce Arena. We need to rebuild the team down the center of the pitch, and we need to improve the overall quality of the team at all positions. This will not be a quick fix. Sasho Cirovski has done a brilliant job at Maryland; he is the best college coach in the country, in my view. I think he would be an excellent choice as the next head man at DC United.
pep had experience coaching in spain 2nd and 3rd division with barcelonas B team
Good. I’m glad they’re not making him any more excuses. Onalfo would be a decent coach for a mid-level side, but this is no mid-level team. He was completely out of his element, and I feel bad for him because he has to put this on his resume.
Let’s get Bob Bradley, who’s a great MLS coach and will bring a lot of pride and fortitude to this side, and then the Nats will be free to sign Klinnsman. Best case scenario for DCU/USMNT fans.
This (firing Onalfo now) makes sense for DCU given two possibilities:
–Chang told Payne “I’ve been here 3 years and we haven’t made the playoffs the past two and aren’t making it this year–heads need to roll!” so Onalfo was fired and probably more changes in the offseason. Or…
–DCU is going to make a run at Bob Bradley (who of course started in MLS as an assistant at DCU). Steve Davis wrote a month ago that he thinks Bradley won’t be retained. I’m not a Bradley hater, I think he did a lot of good things. But I think he made some poor choices in the WC and his statement about how “this group” can do more in 2014 makes me think of Bruce Arena showing up in 2006 with Eddie Lewis and Brian McBride and Claudia Reyna. Plus, Gulati has man-love for Klinsman. So I think after the August friendly with Brasil, Bradley will be told “thanks a bunch Bob–it’s been swell!”.
I say this b/c Payne’s MO, even in terrible seasons has always been to let the coach finish the season. He did that with Rongen, with Hudson and with Soehn. He’s never fired a coach mid-season. And I think he’s looking at LAG and thinking “if I’d fired Soehn when Arena became available, we’d be a different team now.”
As for the argument that RedBull’s parent club is going to buy-up talent and loan it to NYRB or that contracts will be for $1,000 with lots of perks (all the red bull you can drink, a couple of jaguars, private jet, etc.), the league limits that. That’s exactly why there was the prohibition about some teams having private jets vs. going commercial (to avoid one club with real largese having a huge competitive advantage) a couple of years ago. The league has to approve all contracts and technically speaking, all contracts are with the league, not a specific club.
Huzzah. Hope Ben didn’t take many of Onalfo’s lessons to heart.
Also, our FO has BO.
Everything boils down to not hiring Papa Bruce Arena when they had the chance. They were reluctant to fire Tom Soehn (maybe because they thought he could get them into the playoffs) when Bruce Arena became available. Papa Bruce would have jumped at the chance to re-join the club he made into the cornerstone of the MLS. That one wrong decision will haunt DC United for years to come! I say bring in Cobi Jones to coach DC United. He is ready to take on a club of his own, and he did an excellent job when he was interim coach of LA.
Pep Guardiola also had no coaching experience… give him a chance before taking a swipe at the guy
All I can say is HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! DC….HAHAHAHAHA!!
why do you say this? They would get a stadium in downtown baltimore that would be placed next to ravens stadium and be near bars, restaurants, parking, and multiple access points to the city. Baltimore has posted strong turnouts the past two summers for international club games. this is still all contingent on the building of a new stadium – but the report came out favorably.
Onalfo brought in Morsink and Cristman. The rest are decisions that Kasper and Payne have made. They have a laundry list of poor personnel decisions.
+1 to that…..
Caleb Porter was a GENIUS for not taking D.C. United’s offer. No reason to ruin a promising young coaching career by coaching this loser of a team – no matter how much money they offered him.
I wonder if Boskovic regrets signing at DC…
how do Payne & Casper explain their role in the player acquisition decisions they were part of? are they too involved in player acquisition or are the current players brought in Onalfo’s decision?
If Bob takes the DC job, I’d be very disappointed…in BOB. Bob, you’re better than MLS, let alone DC Disjointed. Finish your contract, then take an EPL mid season sack job.
Montero owns Onolfo
What coaching experience does Olsen have? This looks a lot like Alan Shearer coaching Newcastle… emotionally it seemed like a good idea but not when you really think about it.
Absolutley agree. Onalfo never really had a chance between the roster he was given and the injuries that have crippled the team. DCU doesn’t have players of the caliber that other teams have to start with and those players have been consistently injured.
The decisions of the front office over the past few years in terms of who they let go and how was hired are the reason DCU is where it is at today.
Time for Benny to lace up and once again lead the team : )
As much as I hate Bob for the national team, if our front office doesn’t jump on this they’re idiots. No one better at the moment for us to grab.
Benny isn’t ready, he has the passion and man management but no tactics and experience. Robo Bob shows no emotion but know his tactics (bar the national stage).
He’ll bring in the man-management and passion during games Curt never brought, which are the two qualities we need now to raise the moral of the troops.
The article fails to say that he had a guaranteed contract which I’ve read means he’ll get $300k a year for the next two years from this.
Another massive blunder in a series of blunders from our executives. We’ve officially hit rock bottom.
Come on, everyone. All Olsen is is an interim. He’ll hold down the fort for a few months at most. Cobi Jones did the same thing while the Galaxy were a mess a few yrs ago.
The entire franchise has gone to hell unfortunately. I’m not sure why they continue to play in such a run-down stadium like RFK. They should take the same approach that KC and SJ have and find a smaller home until the new stadium (if ever built) is completed. Move to the Naval Academy or some college that has the proper field and that can accomodate the 14-20k that show up to the games. I think its time to move on from Moreno, he might have been an All-Star this year, but that was more to say thanks for all the years in the league. I don’t think Curt should take the fall when the players are the ones who are responsible for what goes on the field. Also, can DC find more unknown players to be DP’s? Geez, I’ve never heard of any super-star coming from the Swiss-league! This is unfortunate because DC is one of the better franchises or at least was. Shame
Fredy Montero is a punk!
Either an established coach like Bradley is on their way to DC or the team is saying hey, we stink anyway, let’s give Benny some experience at the helm. The timing makes sense for Bob. Could Tuesday be his farewell from the USMNT?
There is nothing Onalfo could have done to prevent this. He was not given the time or the resources to build a winning team. He’ll land on his feet somewhere. D.C. United’s problems won’t be solved due to Onalfo leaving.
no reason why olsen would have different results. The team is built terribly and it seems like every game there’s another injury. Its unfortunate the coach always has to be the sacrificial lamb before the FO finally has to go
I hope Olsen doesn’t stop the bleeding and ruin DC’s chances of being the worst team in MLS history. C’mon guys! You can do it! You can go straight down the pooper!
Agreed. Onalfo didn’t build the team, so these guys need to look in the mirror.
Not surprised but a bit saddened by the decision. Onalfo seems like a good guy but he was stuck with a roster decimated by years of bad decisions upstairs and that was further ravaged by injury this season. I wish Benny the best but I’m not sure what he can really do here. DCU has by far the weakest roster in the league, especially in the backline, and the years of instability that really took root when the team couldn’t get the stadium deal approved back around 2007 have taken their toll. The team, who was once considered the “flagship” franchise of MLS, is now flirting with moving to Baltimore and is hemorrhaging money and fans along the way. Such a sad statement given that United was the first dominant MLS franchise and the team and its fans really carried and even saved the league in the early years.
Bring in Richie Williams!
What are they going to do? Lose?
If Bob Bradley came to DC I would single-handedly build him a shrine in Lot 8.
I thought management would wait until the end of the year. This season has been terrible for sure but DCU needs more than a new coach, we need new players. To look at our players and some movements by other teams its apparent that several new players need to be brought in. Ben Olsen is okay in the interim but I believe he still needs time as an assistant before he’s ready to lead a team.
Bob Bradley coming to D.C.? I love Ben Olsen, but they can’t be handing the team over to him already, could they?
Kevin Payne and Dave Kasper should be the ones packing their bags. They have run this team in the ground. Curt Onalfo is just a scapegoat.
You got to think he can do the job. Good luck to him