RIP Fernando Clavijo

We'll get to the recap of this weekend's friendly tomorrow, but more important news happened Friday.  Fernando Clavijo, former Rapids manager, former National team player, Hall of Famer, and general all-around all U.S. (and Haiti) soccer guy lost his battle with cancer.  My condolences go out to his friends, family, and anyone who knew him.  He was particularly close with another member of our Rapids family, Marcelo Balboa.

Balboa is a key part of probably my favorite Clavijo memory, their hall of fame induction game.  In August of 2005 Balboa, Clavijo (then head coach of the Rapids), John Harkes (working for DC), and Tab Ramos were added to the Hall of Fame and to celebrate Colorado and DC played a friendly at the HoF.  Balboa and Clavijo suited up for the Rapids while Harkes and Ramos suited up for United.  At some point in the game the Rapids got a PK and Balboa stepped up to take it, but they played the old trick of the kicker timing his kick to push the ball forward just as another player, in this case Clavijo, raced into the box to shoot on goal.  I can't even remember if the shot went in or not, I just remember everyone on the filed having a good laugh over it.

I actually started this blog back as a time when I needed to vent about the Rapids, which was at the time Clavijo was in charge.  I may have disagreed with him often, but I  never doubted his passion for the game and his team.  He may have moved to one of our rivals and stolen our coach, but he will be missed.

The End of the Clavijo Era

Well it took less than 24 hours for the Rapids to prove me wrong with my prediction that Clavijo would be here until the end of the year. Clavijo resigned this morning, reportedly to spend more time with his family and dealing with their current medical crisis. I hope everything works out for him and his family.

That said, the rumors leaking out today make it sound like Clavijo was going to be Head Coach In Name Only for the rest of the season. Supposedly player moves had already been taken out of his hands to be handled by Plush and Wright, a rumor today said that Smith would have control of lineups for the rest of the season even if Clavijo was still in charge. It seems that the Rapids didn't want to fire Clavijo, but they wanted him to leave on his own. If that's the case, goal reached, but KSE should have just pulled the trigger themselves.

In an odd coincidence Clavijo leaves after 114 games in charge, the exact name number the man he replace, Tim Hankinson, coached. Their respective lines:

Hankinson: 39-45-30, 1 Western Conference Final, Playoff Qualification 3 of 4 seasons, 2 winning seasons

Clavijo: 40-49-25, 2 Western Conference Finals, Playoff Qualification 2 of 4 seasons, 0 winning seasons

I think its safe to say that based on results, the Rapids took a step back with Clavijo.

Looking to the future, Assistant Coach Gary Smith gets the interim Head Coach tag for the rest of the season. The Rapids plan to ride it out with Smith and then make a full-time hire in the off season. This is who I think the Rapids will look at in order of most likely to least likely, as of right now.

1. Gary Smith - Interim Head Coach
Smith was given the reins for the last third of the season today. Gary Smith came to us from England after being the scout in Spain for Rapids partner club Arsenal FC, currently partly owned by Stan Kroenke owner of the Rapids. GS was brought in by Jeff Plush without input from Fernando Clavijo, so he is Plush's guy through and through. He holds a UEFA "A" coaching license and has experience as the interim coach of Wycombe Wanderers for the final 4 games of the 2004 season, as well as coach of the Watford reserve team for 2 years.

Because of his ties with Jeff Plush and Arsenal, as well as the fact that he was picked to be the interim coach for the rest of the season, I think Gary Smith is the early leader for the full-time job. The play of the team over the next 10 games will go a long way in determining his fate. If he cans how improvement in results and play style then he will make it hard for Plush to choose anyone else. If he can't get the team turned around it may be time to look elsewhere.

2.a. John Murphy - Director of Player Development
Murphy was the expected heir to Clavijo over the last couple of years, but that outlook changed after he and Fernando had some type of falling out and JM was promoted to the Director of Player Development role. John has 9 years of experience in MLS, having joined the Rapids with Fernando Clavijo who he worked for in New England. He also holds a UEFA "A" badge and has been credited with the strong drafts of good young talent that both the Revolution and the rapids had in his time at each club.

Murphy was brought in by Clavijo, not Jeff Plush. He has also been absent for long stretches as he has travelled to Scotland to earn his coaching badges, and he has said that continuing that learning experience is a priority for him. Because of these factors I think he is less likely to be offered the job over Smith. I expect that if Smith is offered the job that John Murphy's role may grow into one of a true Technical Director or he'll get added responsibilities in scouting and the expanded youth teams.

(I'd also love to get one of his Rapids jackets, since we share initials ;) )

2.b. John Spencer - Assistant Coach, Houston Dynamo
Spenny is the fans favorite for the coaching job. One of only two Rapids league MVP candidates (along with Joe Cannon) Spencer was one of the most well-liked Rapids in team history. He played for the Rapids for 3 seasons, leading thee team in goals twice and making the Pepsi Best XI team once. After retiring he has been an assistant coach with Houston for the last 3 years, helping to lead the team to 2 MLS Cups.

Spencer is one of the most loved players in Rapids history, mainly because of his attitude and passion. There's no doubt that a team he leads would leave it all out on the field. Rumors say that he is very interested in returning to Colorado, possibly even passing on the Fire job last year in order to be available for the Rapids position. He would also be a good PR move for KSE, and the only choice likely to sell tickets based on his name only. However KSE already passed on hiring him once, before he joined the Dynamo, and he would probably expect more money than KSE has been paying Clavijo. Because of that I think he ranks with Murphy in the second tier of choices.

4. Paul Mariner - Assistant Head Coach, New England Revolution
Mariner has been the Revolution Assistant Coach for the last 5 seasons, helping to lead the team to 3 straight MLS Cup appearances. He is expected to be the next MLS assistant to make the jump to a head coaching position.

Mariner is a long shot who's mainly on the list because of the feeling he will be a head coach somewhere soon. He has no real ties to Colorado or the Rapids, and its unlikely that he would want to leave the Revs for a organization that is in a bit of a rebuilding mode. Also, like Spencer he would probably expect a higher salary than some other options. If the Rapids don't find their guy in the first three choices though, he would be the next logical candidate.

Clavijo gone!

More later, but the Denver Post is reporting that Clavijo resigned today.

The dreaded Vote of Confidence - UPDATE

Since my post last night I've heard from other sources that the Vote of Confidence never actually happened, something Steven Goff also reported after his initial report. Its somewhat surprising for Goff to miss on a story that badly, obviously he's getting bad information from somewhere. I don't think the lack of a Vote of Confidence really changes the likelihood of Clavijo keeping his job after this season though. The team has not performed anywhere near its potential over the last two seasons, and there's still the talk that he and Plush don't see eye to eye.

The dreaded Vote of Confidence

Anyone who's played the addictive Football Manager (Worldwide Soccer Manager here in the U.S.) sports sim game knows that when you get the "Vote of Confidence" from your board, unemployment isn't far away. Last week Steven Goff reported that Fernando Clavijo got the real-life version from the Colorado Rapids Front Office.

What does this mean? Well for one it almost certainly means that we're stuck with Clavijo at least until we're eliminated from playoff contention or the end of the season, whichever comes first. KSE has obviously decided that making a change at this point doesn't get them much benefit, which probably means they're writing this season off. I can't blame them given how the team is playing lately (Though they did look good against Kansas City).

Long-term this is probably as close as we'll get to confirmation that Clavijo's contract won't be renewed until he's actually let go. There were already rumors that he and GM Jeff Plush didn't see eye to eye. Now with this news I think its safe to say that Plush is ready to part ways. Who takes his place? The fan's short list consists of current Rapids assistant coach Gary Smith, current Rapids Director of Player Development John Murphy, current Houston Assistant Coach and former league MVP candidate as a Rapid John Spencer and current New England Assistant Coach Paul Mariner. The fact that they didn't replace Clavijo mid-season with either Smith or Murphy leads me to believe that they may be looking outside the organization for the next coach. Spencer has been linked with the job for over a year now, so I'd consider him the leading candidate.

Today I'm embarrassed to be a Rapids fan

A full game review will be up later today or tomorrow. Below is a copy of an email I sent Rapids GM Jeff Plush this morning about the embarrassing comments Fernando Clavijo made last night in his post-game interview on FOX Soccer Channel.

Mr. Plush,

I have been a Rapids fan for over 10 years. For most of that time I have been a long distance fan, following the Rapids while living in Seattle and Phoenix via Direct Kick, match trackers, streaming video, and even at times text updates from other fans at the game. I regularly travelled to Denver for home games as well as going to Salt Lake City and LA for road games. Earlier this year I moved to the Denver area and have been able to see more games live this season than in any other season. I've been a member of the River Ratz and Class VI, helped organize the Rocky Mountain Cup, been a writer for Rapidsfan.com, and currently run the View From the Couch Rapids blog. Until last night though, regardless of the team's highs and lows, I have never been embarrassed to be a Rapids fan.

Fernando Clavijo's comments in the Fox Soccer Channel post game interview were classless and misdirected. He openly questioned the coaching staffs of every African and European National Team when he stated that he didn't know what kind of training players get when they leave MLS for those teams, and he felt that the players needed to stay in contact with the coaches in MLS to make sure of their training. He said this in reaction to Bouna Coundoul returning to the team from his time with the Senegal National Team. I have no direct knowledge of their training methods, but I find it hard to question what kind of experience Coundoul got while backing up Tony Sylva, a player who has more Champion's League experience than the four best American keepers (Keller, Friedel, Howard, Hahnemann) combined. In the pregame interview with Coundoul FSC host Mark Rogandio talked about how everything "goes up a notch" when training with National Teams, and I'm sure that's true when training with one of the best African teams. It appears, however, that Clavijo feels that Coundoul might have done better by staying with Colorado and working with what appears to be his third goalkeeping coach in 9 months, as David Kramer takes over for John Murphy, who filled the hole left when Leo Percovich was let go. It was embarrassing for me as a Rapids fan to see our coach be so clueless as to actually think that the training and playing for the 13th placed MLS team would be better for Coundoul than the honor of training with his National Team and being ready to come off the bench at a moment's notice in a World Cup Qualifier.

I don't claim to understand all the factors that go into the decision to keep or remove a coach at a high level like MLS. I do see comments like these, along with his comments last year question "how true fans" the die hard fans of the Rapids are, along with the poor performance on the field and I have to wonder what he is contributing to the success of the organization. From the perspective of a fan he is making it almost impossible to continue to support this team. With my hometown of Seattle getting a team next season I will have to seriously consider switching allegiances if the team and the organization continues this downwards trend.

Respectfully,
Jason Maxwell