Well, we should have seen this coming. The Rapids Front Office, led (presumably) by President Padraig Smith and Sporting Director Fran Taylor* have hired Chris Armas as the 10th permanent head coach in team history, according to reports tonight from The Athletic, Denver Post, and Burgundy Wave (among others).
* When you click on Taylor's bio from the staff page of the website (which lists him as Sporting Director) the bio page lists him as Assistant GM still. Presumably the web team haven't gotten around to updating his bio after his recent promotion...seven months ago
The universal and immediate condemnation of this move from MLS fans across the league, seen in the last hour on Twitter/X, on the Athletic story reporting the news, and on BigSoccer should tell you what kind of hire this is. The Rapids have been immediately written in ink at the bottom of the standings for 2024, as nobody believes Armas is capable at coaching at this level. A recap of his head coaching career in MLS:
2018: Named head coach of RBNY in July 8th for the departing Jesse Marsch, he kept a Shield-leading team on top of the table in the second half of the season. Beat the Crew 3-1 in the conference semis, but a tactical change in the first leg of the conference finals cost them a 3-0 loss and an eventual 3-1 series elimination
2019: Took RBNY to a 14-14-6 (W/L/T) season, 6th in the East and 12th overall (coming off a Shield winning season). Lost to Philly 4-3 in the first round of the playoffs. Lost to New England in their first USOC game.
2020: Took RBNY to a 9-9-5 record in the COVID-impacted season. Went 1-2-0 in the MLs Is Back Tournament. Finished 6th in the East again and 13th overall. Was eliminated 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs by Columbus
EDIT: Arms was actually fired in September of 2020, going 3-3-2 in the 8 games he managed, including 1-2-0 in the MLS Is Back tournament. He gets no blame for the playoff results.
2021: After being fired by RBNY he was hired by Toronto in the offseason. Went 1-8-2 before being fired on the 4th of July. Beat Leon in the CONCACAF Champions League before being eliminated by Cruz Azul. Coached a total of 15 games.
So here's a guy who has failed at "big" spending clubs like RBNY and Toronto, and has shown a distressing lack of ability to win a knockout game (he won 2 of 6 knockout games/series in his career), something the Rapids already suffer from. In what world does this look like a resume that will succeed at one of the least supported clubs in MLS? The only thing he has going for him is that he's likely cheap and desperate.
With this, I'm done. I'm not renewing my season tickets for the first time since I signed up for them the day Fernando Clavijo stepped down in 2008.15+ seasons and I'm out. Maybe. maybe, if they have a miracle run of singings this offseason I'll come back but I find that almost impossible.
That's not to say I'll stop following the team. I'll buy MLS Season Pass and watch them from home, and I'll probably buy a few tickets through C38, but they aren't getting $325 from me up front to watch the disaster the 2024 season is going to be.
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