The Houston Dynamo are closing in on a fifth-consecutive season without reaching the MLS Cup Playoffs and changes were made to the coaching staff on Monday following a 16th league loss of 2022.
Paulo Nagamura was fired as head coach on Monday only eight months after being appointed as the club’s newest head coach. Dynamo 2 boss Kenny Bundy will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the MLS season, while goalkeeper coach Zack Thornton will also remain on the Dynamo first team staff.
“This is a difficult decision because Paulo is a top individual who has earned the respect of the players and staff for his tireless work ethic and commitment to the club. We wish Paulo and his staff well moving forward in their careers,” said Dynamo General Manager Pat Onstad. “Moving forward, we are excited about this opportunity for Kenny. He is a talented up-and-coming coach who worked his way up through our coaching system and he will lead the team for the remainder of the season.”
Nagamura previously served as head coach of then-USL side Sporting KC II for the past four years before taking over with the Dynamo. A former 11-year professional as a player, Nagamura posted a 8-16-5 record as Dynamo head coach, with the club sitting last in the Western Conference.
The Dynamo are 13 points out of the final playoff spot with five matches left to play in 2022.
They have fired their last two coaches pretty quickly and have been poor for at least 5 seasons. Perhaps the problems exist in the front office instead of with the coaches.
the lineups grew increasingly bizarre, the team got worse as the season progressed, and i think the total including preseason is like 8 or 9 times we have lost after scoring first. personally i would have fired the lousy GM as well — the personnel are not only poor but they don’t seem to fit together in any system (eg, the expensive striker can finish but is lazy and needs service we have never bothered to provide, despite signing 2 wings) — but sacking the HC was obvious. for most of the season i struggled to figure out what the attacking plan was other than take it to the flag and low percentage cross. the defense seemed to play a soft zone and give up endless backdoor goals on kicks and crosses because it was too short and too narrow. we would work very very hard to score then give up incredibly cheap goals. non-HD fans also don’t get we have given like 3 coaches in a row 2-3 years each and it never improves the second year.
we have been poor since 2014 when kinnear got canned and the GM and HC jobs divided up. the only exception was 2017 when they did a dramatic full rebuild eg elis that they have resisted ever since, instead pursuing incremental tweaks even when this finishes last in conference.
the pretense is we are being harsh when in reality our previous 3 former coaches and 2 caretakers are currently MLS assistants (1), in USL (2), scottish championship (1), or out of the profession (1). no first division coaches anywhere and 9 total games of subsequent MLS coaching (when cabrera was montreal caretaker, then got canned). the reality is we hire cheap “value” coaches to match the cheap “value” roster who are generally out of their depth. most come over from something like coaching US U20 or U19. i think between them they had a grand total of 1 year of MLS coaching before here, and that was cabrera lame ducking chivas to the end of the franchise its last season.
this is the first year in half a decade they even tried spending on players, the GM blew that, and they need to spend the money to hire name brand staff (HC, GM) as well.