The Houston Dynamo will have a new head coach at the helm in 2022.
Tab Ramos was relieved of his duties as head coach, ending a two-year stint with the club, the Dynamo announced Thursday. Ramos was hired in October 2019 and helped lead the team through a pandemic-impacted 2020 campaign, but the former U.S. Under-20 men’s national team head coach will be on the move for a new job.
In addition, the Dynamo did not extend the contracts for assistant coaches Omid Namazi and Martin Vazquez.
“I want to thank Tab for everything he has done for this club over the last two years,” Dynamo GM Pat Onstad said. “In the short time that I have been here, it was apparent that he has made a tremendous positive impact on the culture of our team and has helped make Houston a more appealing destination for players within MLS and abroad. There is a strong foundation here and we are grateful to Tab for that.”
Ramos’ first season as head coach was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Dynamo continued to struggle in 2021. The club finished with a 10-26-21 mark in their two seasons under Ramos, including a 9-8-10 record at PNC Stadium.
This year has been one of major change for the Dynamo, with new owner Ted Segal taking over and Onstad being hired to help rebuild a team has has been among the worst in MLS for several years.
The Dynamo will look to end a four-year playoff drought in 2022 after finishing last in the 14-team Western Conference this season.
Chicago Fire?
Ramos, to me, made the foolish choice of fast forwarding his HC career to quickly get a head job with any MLS team he could find. We aren’t any good and I don’t think he was ready either. To me they come out more fully cooked if they are long term assistants or do the full college-USL-MLS progression, learn how to win contests with game management, learn how to manage a roster for a long season. We weren’t going to win MLS but his defense was soft and we blew a lot of games late. And having taken the short cut to a MLS job of Houston, two years of last conference place and <1 ppg is now your resume. He is relatively young and would have done better to earn his way up. His career arc is probably now downwards…..if he wants a job it'll be USL or college. I say that, maybe some MLS team is desperate. But that would be repeating his mistake.
I’m going to disagree slightly with you for the simple fact that Josh Wolff exemplifies just about everything you mentioned that Tab Ramos needed to be successful with Houston.
Despite this, Josh Wolff mismanged a club in Austin FC that, while they likely weren’t going to get near a SS or MLS Cup, were more than capable of reaching the playoffs. Poor lineups, poor rotations, poor sub timing (and subs period) sank the season…
Have any of the 1990’s USMNT players become a good Manager or GM?
Tab has had some success at the youth NT level. Maybe the Dynamo have other issues, but he was not able to overcome them. Harkes and Meola were average at the USL levels. Wynalda was all over the place and may have burned too many bridges to get another job. Was Lalas ever any good as a GM – at New England. LA, others? Friedel bombed out at New England – and Arena has been able to take largely the same team and they are now the season point record holders (see ESPPN).
Who have I forgotten and were they successful?
See Peter Vermes!
Excellent – Vermes yes. I would put Vanney and Marsh in the 2000’s
Greg Vanney and Jesse Marsch are better than average coaches. Claudio Reyna and Carlos Bocanegra are very good front office manager’s, though Bocanegra played in the 2000s.
Tab was one of my favorite a;; time players and Im sorry he didnt work out here. I always felt GB was the reason he left the U20s and thats too bad. His last U20 team was amazing. More so that anything GB has done
Sounds like Tab had a lot of turmoil to deal with.
So that means he’s available if an opening should come up?
Interesting.
Oh heck no. Have you watched the Dynamo? We combine weak offense with soft Dutch soccer zone defense. Teams practically walk the ball into the box for chances. I don’t doubt Jordan handed him very little as GM, but we couldn’t even take the season series and finish ahead of an expansion team, that is an in-state rival.
I also think if you look at the rosters he had the past 3 U20 cycles accomplishing quarterfinal finishes each time at worlds comes across less impressive with the benefit of hindsight.
I haven’t watched the Dynamo and I don’t care to. It’s irrelevant. Dynamo are a club not a national team.
Many good managers have a stinker or two or even three on their CV. That won’t stop you from rising to become the manager of the USMNT , for example.
What I care about is Tab did a nice job with the Under 20’s and seems to have a good handle on the intricacies of international football management.
So if the unimaginable does happen and the current manager is terminated at some point before we’re all dead from old age, to me he would be an acceptable alternative to the most likely replacement, the other JK, Kreis.