The Columbus Crew are making a head coaching change ahead of Major League Soccer’s lengthy international break.
Henrik Rydstrom was relieved of his duties as head coach, the Crew announced Sunday. Rydstrom was appointed to the position in December 2025 but struggled to have the Crew earning consistent results during the opening three months of the 2026 MLS season.
Rydstrom led the Crew to a 3-7-4 record (13 points earned) in MLS play this season, which has them sitting 13th place in the Eastern Conference.
Former Crew 2 head coach Laurent Courtois has been named as the Crew’s interim head coach, taking over for Rydstrom. Courtois led Crew 2 to an MLS NEXT Pro title before taking over at CF Montreal from January 2024-March 2025.
“We unfortunately have not capitalized on opportunities or produced the results that our Club and supporters deserve. We are confident that we have the talent on our roster to consistently compete for championships, and we believe this change best positions us to accomplish that goal with the number of matches we have left this season,” said Crew general manager Issa Tall. “We thank Henrik for his commitment to the Crew, and we expect a successful transition based on Laurent’s familiarity with our Club, players and league.”
Courtois returned to the Crew in January as a First Team Assistant Coach and has several years of familiarity with the organization. He will led the club into their final 20 league matches of the season.
The Crew will host NYCFC in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals this week before facing Atlanta United four days later in their final MLS match until July 22.
Now will Philadelphia pull the trigger. You have to think there will be more managers let go at the WC break.
It’s not all Rydstrom’s fault, but with 2 matches left before the WC break it was time for him to go.
– when he was announced it sounded like a good fit, a manager who liked possession, liked being on the front foot, seemed open to integrating some of Nancy’s tactics.
– for whatever reason Rydstrom wasn’t hired until late in the offseason, this put him behind in putting his ideas in place.
– the first couple of matches the team looked lost caught between what Nancy had taught them and Rydstrom’s ideas. 5ga in the first 2 matches led to a formation change and a pragmatic approach.
-the team found its footing somewhat until Abou Ali went down for the season. With Russell-Rowe sold at the death of the transfer window and Abou Ali out Rydstrom had no clear striker Thiare went down soon after and they had no true #9.
– The players never really seemed to buy into Rydstrom. He was thought to be this rock n roll free spirit that could relate to players as Wilfred had done so well. It didn’t work.
-the reality is the roster construction has gone down hill since Issa Tall took over for Tim Bezbechenko (who left for Bournemouth).
-Ali was supposed to be the proven striker to replace Coucho but has been hurt almost the entire time, They’ve lost Nagbe, Morris, Christian Ramirez, Russell-Rowe none of whom been replaced by new signings that have worked. Gazdag hasn’t fit in with either manager, Picard has taken a long time to adjust to MLS.
-Courtois has coached Zawadzki, Habroune, Farsi, and Schulte directly with Crew II. He wasn’t great in Montreal when he was brought in in a similar situation to try to regain the Nancy magic.
-if things don’t improve it might just be time to play the kids and see what Habroune, Tristan Brown, and Chase Adams can do.
-when asked about reaching out to Nancy, Tall said “I think he still has European aspirations.” But he didn’t say no!
(I know most of you don’t care, post is just my way of processing the news.)
Hmmmm…. maybe do a better job of scouting managers.