By FRANCO PANIZO
Dominic Kinnear has spent nearly an entire decade coaching the Houston Dynamo, but this season could be his last at the club.
The Dynamo front office have granted Kinnear permission to leave Houston at the end of the season if the San Jose Earthquakes offer him a deal, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle. Kinnear was formerly the head coach of the Earthquakes from 2004-2005, and he was raised in the San Jose area after arriving from his native Scotland at the age of three.
Kinnear shot down the notion that he could leave for San Jose in the report because the club currently has a manager in Mark Watson, but the Earthquakes sit at 6-12-10 this season and are only above lowly Chivas USA in the Western Conference.
That could leave the Earthquakes in a position to try and bring the 47-year-old Kinnear back to San Jose, where he still has family. The two-time MLS Cup champion currently has a contract with the Dynamo that runs through 2015, however.
Kinnear is in his ninth season as head coach of the Dynamo, and is already one of the more successful coaches in MLS history. He not only won successive MLS Cup titles with Houston in 2006 and 2007, but led the club back to the MLS Cup Final in both 2011 and 2012 before losing away to the David Beckham-led LA Galaxy each time.
Currently, Kinnear is focused on trying to get Houston into the playoffs, but the Dynamo’s postseason hopes look bleak given their 9-13-6 record.
The Dynamo return to action on Sunday with a home game against the Chicago Fire.
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What do you make of this report? Think Kinnear is San Jose-bound at season’s end? Who would you like to see the Dynamo replace him with if he does leave?
Share your thoughts below.