We Have A Coach!

First reported by Tom Bogert and confirmed by many the Rapids will name Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach Matt Wells as the team's 11th official head coach sometime next week.

Wells is a name out of left field, but to be fair with the lack of rumors anyone outside of the league would be out of left field.  Most Rapids fans spent the day researching what they could find on him and asking friends who were Spurs fans or Tottenham social media accounts what we're getting.

What we do know is that Wells is a 37 year old born and raised North Londoner who played in the Spurs academy before injuries derailed any hope of a senior career.  He then moved over to the coaching side at Spurs Academy, as an assistant eventually leaving to follow Academy coach Scott Parker as he took over Fulham's first-team and continued with him to Bournemouth and Clube Brugge.  He returned to Spurs under Postecoglou for the 2023-24 season and became the senior assistant to Ange last season, before stepping back down to assistant under Thomas Frank this season.

Postecoglou is known for giving his assistants a lot of responsibility and Wells is credited the game plan that Spurs used to win the Europa League final last season.  Under Postcoglou and Wells, and continuing to this season, Tottenham has been playing with a strong defense and this year in particular going with a counterpressing strategy.  Not exactly Pablo-ball boring but certainly a more defensive focus than what Armas brought the last two seasons.  Of course we don't know what Wells will use when he's the one calling all the shots.

With what little we know right now this seems like a middling hire with more potential to be an improvement from Armas than a step back IMO.  I do like that we didn't go for another unsuccessful MLS retread or elevated Bushey.  I don't like that, yet again, we're hiring somebody without successful first-team club head coaching experience.  It has been 25 years (arguably just 20) since the Rapids have done that and maybe its time to try it?

Chris Armas - took over a RBNY team and runined it, lasted less than a season in Toronto

Robin Fraser - Failed at Chivas USA

Anthony Hudson - Never had a first-team club job, only international experience

Pablo Mastroeni - First coaching job

Oscar Pareja - First head coaching job

Gary Smith - Only youth experience

Fernando Claivjo - Did take the Revs to 2nd in the East but lost in the playoffs

Tim Hankinson - Did succeed and make the semi-finals with the Charleston Battery

The reality is that with Padraig Smith still making the decisions on player recruitment its hard to get to excited about an unknown hire.  Its going to take significant upgrades in the roster to make this team competitive.  If Wells is successful he's likely back to England with a better first-team job in 2-3 years.  If Wells is unsuccessful he'll become the next in line of a list of failed hires by KSE.  I do not expect Wells to be coaching this team by the time the 2030 World Cup rolls around.

Worst. Season. Ever.

The Rapids drew Dallas on Saturday night "clinching" the record for worst season ever on PPG, regardless of what happens against FSL this weekend.  To credit the team they did look better than their average this year but really there's not much to talk about other than setting that record so like with the game preview we're going to move on to three other pieces of Rapids news.

We'll start with the Rapids 2 game last night.  I haven't covered Rapids 2 much this season here, which is my bad as they've had a really good season.  I blame the first-team being so bad that it sapped my will to blog about much.  Anyway Los Rapidos made the Western Conference Final of the MLS Next Pro playoffs and hosted Austin 2 at the Dick yesterday.  Sadly after a scoreless 120 minutes the home side lost in PKS 4-1.  Still a great season for the young guys, winning the conference and having the second best record overall. Hopefully we'll see some of them rewarded with playing time on Saturday against FSL.

Two pieces of info on the coaching search hit today.  First Arsenal correspondent Charles Watts urges Jack Wilshere  not to take the Rapids head coaching job.  He says there's lots of fan unrest at the club (true, see below) as well as a lack of support from ownership (ditto).  An article about his comments is here, while the video of him making them is on YouTube.

Secondly a rumor surfaced from TUDN tonight that Efrain Juarez is a finalist for the head coaching role.  Juarez is a 35-year old former Mexican national team player (d-mid & right back) and has spent the last 4+ seasons as an assistant coach at NYCFC (3 seasons), Standard Liege (one season), and Brugge (started this season).  I know nothing about his coaching style but combined with the Wilshere report its clear that the Front Office is looking for somebody young to lead this team.

As I was writing this another piece of news just broke, reportedly FIFA has removed SoFi Stadium from the hosting list for World Cup 2026 after KSE and FIFA had a disagreement last month over the costs and logistics of hosting.  The biggest newest stadium in the country will be dark and quiet during the world's biggest event.  Seems like KSE overplayed their hand here.

Speaking of, yesterday's Denver Post had a front page article about Victory Crossing and the lack of movement in almost 20 years in building up around DSG Park.  There's lots to digest here but the one thing that stood out to me was this:

On Monday night, Commerce City will once again try to move things forward, this time with an unconventional idea involving a contest for Colorado college students. The City Council will be asked to pay $25,000 to co-sponsor the contest organized by the national Commercial Real Estate Development Association, asking students to design plans for the site.

... 

If picked, six teams from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Denver will be paired with professional financiers, developers, architects and engineers to come up with workable plans for Victory Crossing, Aiken said. Those teams will figure out what density level is appropriate, the zoning and environmental hurdles the property faces, and what businesses could be successful at the site. 

Ideas would be presented in April, and the two sides could reach an agreement on what Victory Crossing ultimately will be, Aiken said.

To put this in context, here's what Josh Kroenke said in his response to Centennial 38's letter a month ago:

Over the next few months, we will be finalizing the master plan for our exciting Victory Crossing Project. When this is ready in early 2024, we will be hosting several open forums with supporters and members of the community to gather feedback on our plans for the club, stadium and entire project.

KSE must think we, as Rapids fans, are stupid.  Its only been a month since they had to respond to a letter from the team's biggest supporters group and their most substantial promise made in the response is to unveil plans for Victory Crossing in early 2024.  Now we find out KSE's big plan is to pay half of a $50K sponsorship to get college students to work on a design.  Does that sound like a project that's ready to be rolled out for "open forums with supporters" to gather feedback in "early 2024"?  Does KSE not think we can connect the dots between what they said on September 14th and what the Denver Post reported on October 15th and see they don't add up?

Even if they have bigger plans and this college competition is just a small part of it, their willingness to not engage with the Denver Post and allow this to be the story is almost as bad for an organization that was recently called out for their lack of communication.  Once again we see KSE is all talk and doesn't really care about the Rapids.

The badge, the fans, the players deserve better.  Make Rapids fun again.

Rapids Lose RMC, Fraser Fired, Smith Throws Him Under The Bus

Ok, buckle in, there's a lot to cover and I have no idea how long this will end up being.  We're going to go in chronological order starting with Saturday's game and ending with Padraig Smith's letter to season ticket holders.

Not that there's much to talk about with Saturday's game.  A 2-0 loss that we were once again never really in.  With that result FSL wins the Rocky Mountain Cup again with a game to play.  That is now 1 win in our last 15 league games, 1 win in our last 18 games in all competitions, and we've been shutout in 9 of our last 10 league matches.  We've been shutout in 15 of our 26 league games this season.  At least Bassett apologized for the result.

Clearly something had to change, and as expected, the ax fell on Robin Fraser this morning.  He leaves the club 3rd in regular season games managed behind Mooch and Pablo and 3rd in pts/game for his Rapids career, behind Smith and Mooch.  It was actually just the last 3 losses that knocked him down from first to third in that stat, before the Leagues Cup break he was just barely ahead of Smith for the top spot still.

Assistant Coach Chris Little will manage the team as interim coach.  Reportedly the coaching search will start immediately, not wait for the offseason.  Still I think we can assume Little will get the last 8 games of the season.

Sadly Fraser had to go.  It was apparent watching the last three games that he had lost the locker room.  There was no drive or energy from this team, and it looked more like 11 individuals on the field than 1 team.  These are things that regardless of talent a coach should be able to implement, and we've seen Robin do this in the past.  Clearly something had soured and he wasn't going to be able to lead this team any longer.

That said, those are all symptoms of the bigger problem, the absolute trash fire that this organization has turned into.  We've covered off the field issues (stadium quality, communications, etc.) before so I'm not going to get into them tonight, but keep in mind everything I am going to talk about is in the context of the rest of the club being an absolute mess, with the only thing working being Rapids 2. There is no clearer example of this than the letter Club President Padraig Smith sent to season ticket holders today:

Excuse me?  This is throwing Fraser under the bus, running him over, stopping, and backing up over him again.  Its a ridiculous abdication of any sense of responsibility for Smith's part in this fiasco of a season and really causes me to lose a lot of respect for him.  Based on the reaction on social media, I'm hardly alone in this assessment.

Before we get into a detailed analysis of this letter I think its time I be open with anyone reading.  Over the last 4+ years going back to the 2019 preseason I've had multiple opportunities to sit down with Padraig Smith one on one and talk to him about the state of the team, his plans, and everything else.  I was always clear with him that I wasn't going to carry water for the FO, and he was always clear with me about what was on the record and what was off the record, and I've always respected that.  I will continue to respect that, as I gave my word.  The opinion I got of Padraig during those one on ones is not the same opinion I get of somebody who would write this letter.  It makes me think that he's a great talker, but doesn't back up his talk with actions.

Let's go through this.  First of all, the idea that "this isn't a decision we took lightly".  Isn't he the club President?  Doesn't the buck stop with him?  He's also the guy who hired Fraser and was operating as the GM until just a few months ago when the promotions happened.  I have a hard time believing that the final call was anyone's but Smith's, and he should step up and say he made the call.

The next paragraph is detailing the success Robin had, which amounts to the club record season in 2021 and one (1!) Rocky Mountain Cup.  Listen, as much work as I've put into the RMC I love to see it taken seriously, but a supporter-run rivalry trophy being the second best result in a coach's tenure is somewhat damming.  Its even more so when you realize that's the only RMC we've won since Padraig Smith and Wayne Brandt took over in 2017.   That 2021 season is also the only home playoff game we've had in that time period as well.  So its a bad look when you can only come up with two things to mention about a coach's tenure, but its a disastrous look when you realize that no other coach under the current leadership can claim even those minimal successes.

Smith then goes on to detail out the current situation and how poor it is, and why that led them to make the change.  Funny thing is, we just got done with a transfer window where it was clear we needed to make changes to avoid this situation, and the best that Smith and Fran Taylor could do is a solid left back and two loan-to-buy players, and they couldn't even get the latter two here in time to help in Leagues Cup.  This after an offseason window that netted us, if we're generous, one MLS quality starter in Maxso.  Gersbach was a waste of a signing, Ronan has potential but would be a backup anywhere else in the league, Cabral was a disaster move that will hurt us for years, and we wasted transfer fees and an international slot on a goalkeeper that can't parry a free kick to keep it out of our net against our rival.

Is any of that mentioned when detailing the current problems?  No, not a peep.  Instead Smith states that this team is capable of "much, much more" than they have shown so far.  Notably both this language and the language he used in that press availability a couple of weeks ago is identical to the language he used when he fired Hudson.  In that case he was proven correct as both Casey and then Fraser came in and took those players to much higher finishes than Hudson was able to.  But now he's suggesting that Fraser is incapable of doing that again?  Is it that Fraser changed, or is it that this group of players is not that group of players?

The next paragraph goes on to flog the success in 2021 again, talking about how they had a systemic approach to build on successes each year from 2018 through to 2021.  Given that Fraser wasn't even here until late 2019 there's some sell-promotion going on there.  The next line is actually admitting that they've deviated from that path since 2021, but then taking no responsibility for that, using a royal "we".  Smith talks about how we need to be a team that plays to its strengths.  I'm not sure this team has any strengths right now.  A team that emphasizes player development.  How many chances has Yapi had this year?  What happened to Toure?  How is Vallecilla's development going?  Where exactly is Abe Rodriguez and Adam Beaudry going to play now that you've signed Ilic?  The next one is a direct quite from the Rapids Way about approaching each game with urgency, boldness, etc. and a desire to win.  Well, I'm not seeing much f a desire to win out of the current players, so I don't know how a new coach is going to change that.

Smith's last line in this section is getting back to being a team that gets results and makes our supporters proud.  First of all, this team has never been a team that's gotten results in any sort of sustained way, and the one time we did, from 2019-2021, was under the coach that was just fired.  As far as being proud, well, its hard to be proud of an organization that won't take responsibility for their decisions, that runs a substandard game day operation, and who has to be reported to the players union for not keeping the facilities in a state that professional players feel comfortable using them.

The letter ends with typical meaningless niceties after that, but I think the point has been made.  As I said at the beginning it was time for Fraser to go, most of the supporters understood that even if we weren't happy about it.  But this letter was insulting in how it placed the blame on Robin, how it took no responsibility, and how it continues a pattern of this organization not understanding the fanbase.  Its more evidence that the Front Office lives in a bubble where they won't talk about bad things and they hope they can keep their heads down, celebrate the once-every-five-years successes, and keep drawing in the casual fan for their "fun night out" 2-3 times a season.  Until that attitude changes nothing else about this team will.

Rapids Extend Fraser Through 2025

Today the Rapids announced that head coach Robin Fraser has agreed to a contract extension that takes him through the 2025 season.  This is great news, and the biggest signing the team could make right now.  While we still need a DP, Fraser is worth more points than any single player signing could be.  He's taken this club from the bottom of the barrel with Anthony Hudson (not slighting Conor Casey's interim work her though) to the best PPG in the league (tied) since he took over the club.  Not only that, but he's done it in a way that is sustainable and repeatable.  That's something we've never had as Rapids fans before.

Assuming things don't go sideways (or he's not poached) and the MLS season stays at 34 games next season, Fraser will set the record for number of games* as head coach with the second game of the 2024 season.  He only needs 60 more points to set the record for most points by a head coach, which we should expect to hit sometime in the 2023 season.  Mooch Myernick is the current record holder in both categories.

I've also heard a rumor that a new contract for GM Padraig Smith may not be far behind...

Players Staying, Going, and Coaching News

A lot of news today.  First, as expected, no Rapids were taken in today's expansion draft.  Given how much interest was shown in projected drafts for Jared Watts I'm going to go with my theory that the deals on Sunday with the expansion teams included an agreement that they wouldn't take any players from Colorado.  One ex-Rapid moved, briefly.  Atlanta took Clint Irwin and then immediately traded him back to Toronto for Mark Bloom (who was born in Georgia) and general allocation money.

EDIT: In a tweet tonight the Post's Daniel Boniface has confirmed there were deals in place with Minnesota and Atlanta to bypass Raids on the expansion draft.

After the expansion draft the Rapids announced that they traded Jermaine Jones' rights to LA for their natural first round pick in next month's Superdraft and a conditional second round pick in the 2018 draft.  If you remember in March we sent our natural first round pick to New England along with general allocation money to get Jones' rights.  So essentially getting him for a season cost us nothing except his salary.  Not a bad bit of business.

News also broke today that Pablo has re-signed for 3 years.  This is technically a rumor until its confirmed (probably tomorrow) but we're going to call it confirmed unless there's something drastically different in the official announcement.  As I wrote two weeks ago I'm ok with re-signing him, I'm just concerned about getting into a long term deal without knowing which Pablo is the real Pablo, 2014-15 or 2016.  There's no news on if this contract has any option years so I'm going to assume for now that its a standard 3 year contract like his last one.  Lets hope we don't have a repeat of the 2007-08 Clavijo years.  Though I suppose KSE extended Jeff Fisher for two years to start this season and fired him yesterday, so maybe they've learned their lesson about keeping a bad coach (Go Hawks!).

The Wheels Are About To Come Off

(Those of you who think I'm too pessimistic may just want to skip this one)

Full game recap coming tomorrow as normal but after last night I think this team is in a world of hurt and its largely due to Pablo's coaching and front office mismanagement (and to be fair, some bad luck with injuries).

Five games  into the season means we've had a chance to use 15 subs.  Pablo has used 9.  Its not hard to watch the Rapids and see some gassed players at the end of the game (like Pappa and Gashi last night).  Yet players like Serna and Conor Doyle stay on the bench.

That's bad enough in a normal week.  Its a long season and there's no reason so average less than 2 subs a game just to get players rest if for no other reason.  Its a horrendous decision though going into a week like this one.  We play in Kansas City on Wednesday and host RBNY Saturday night.

Looking at our roster we have one player (Jones) suspended for KC and 2-3 out for both games (St. Ledger, Doyle, probably Berner).  We have two others injured enough to not even make the bench for FSL (Hairston, Watts) so the best we can expect is their availability off the bench at some point this week.  Finally we have Williams who's stuck in visa limbo but hopefully will be in KC after not training with the team in over 3 weeks.  We also have two players (Appiah, Calvert) on loan in Charlotte.

So that's best case 7 players and worst case 9 unavailable for this whole week.  On a 28 man roster that's a big hit.  On a 25 man roster, which is what the Rapids have right now, its disastrous.  That's why the last two games Colorado has only had 5 of a possible 7 players on their bench.

There's really no excuse for this as the league allows a 28 man roster.  We're saving one spot for Howard in mid-season, but that still leaves 2 unfilled spots on our roster.  Why are we 5 weeks into the season going into a busy week with unfilled spots?  What happened to "having our team together at start of camp" as Bravo set as the goal?  Maybe we'll have our team together at the roster deadline in September?

So that's the front office mismanagement that has put us in this situation.  Now lets look at Pablo's handling of it.  He knows what the schedule is and what he'll likely have available the rest of the week.  With that he used....1 sub last night.  1.  10 of the 11 starters went 90 including both Pappa and Gashi, who played their first full games this season.

So going into KC what do we have?
GK: MacMath, who has to be questioning himself at this point, Froschauer who's never played
D: Miller, Burling, Sjoberg, and Burch, all who played 90 last night (to be fair, Pablo had no subs for them) and maybe Williams coming back after 3 weeks away.  Serna could be moved here.
DM: Azira and Cronin, both after 90 minutes last night
AM: Pappa and Gashi, both off their first 90 minute outings last night, Pwoers, who got 11 extra minutes of rest, and Pfeffer and Serna who are rested.
F; Solignac, after 90 minutes of play, Badji, almost fully rested after playing almost 11 minutes, and Conor Doyle fully rested

That's it.  Most likely we're going to line up the same 11 in KC as we did last week, maybe with Williams or Serna instead of Burch or Miller.  We will hopefully use all 3 subs.

Then on Saturday we'll get Jones back, maybe Berner, Watts, or Hairston.  But again the majority of the lineup from FSL and KC will have to start again.  How much do you think Gashi or Pappa or Burling is going to have in heir legs by the 60th minute Saturday night?

Its not like Pablo's teams have a real good track record in 3-game weeks.  7 times under Pablo we've played 3 games in 7-9 days.  In the first game we've had 5 wins and 2 draws before last night.  That's a great record.  Then it all goes downhill.  In the second game we've had 1 win, 3 draws, and 3 losses.  In the third and final game of the week we've had 1 win, 1 draw, and 5 losses.

In every case we've never had a better result later in the week than we had earlier in the week.  Last August, the lat time we had a 3 game week, we won all 3 games but other than that its been W-D-L or W-L-L, or D-L-L.

So we've got a tired team going into a series of games that historically we get worse in as we go on.  Instead of signing a full roster and using all our subs to stay fresh for these games we played most of our available players 90 minutes.

I fully expect the wheels to come off this week and for us to end it with at best 8 points after 7 games.  A far cry from the 7 points after 4 games we were at a week ago.

Time For A Change

It is time for a change in coaching in Commerce City.  Pablo isn't getting the job done.  Some numbers for you:

• MLS-tying winless streak (18 games)
• Worst single season run of form in league history (2 pts in 14 games)
• 2nd worst run of form in 28 games (2 wins)
• League-record worst home winless streak (11 games)
• Worst loss in team history, third worst in league history (6-0 @LA)
• Worst Rocky Mountain Cup loss in series history (5-1 @FSL)
• Worst scoreless streak in team history, third worst in league history (601 minutes)

That's just the "highlights" of course, there are may other numbers that could be mined out.  In the end though it comes down to this, 2 wins in 28 games.  That's just unacceptable.  So the Rapids have essentially 4 outcomes with a coaching change.

1. Keep Pablo, Pablo figures it out, team significantly improves, Pablo has the job in 2016
2. Keep Pablo, the play continues at the current level, team needs to make a change in the offseason
3. Remove Pablo, team significantly improves under interim coach, team has a leader in the clubhouse for the offseason coaching search
4. Remove Pablo, the play continues at the current level under interim coach, team has already removed one candidate for the offseason coaching search

So in 3 of the 4 scenarios the team is going to be doing an offseason coaching search.  The only scenario where they won't is the one all fans hope will happen but the track record so far deems most unlikely IMO, Pablo greatly improves over the next 20 games from his results from his first 48 games as coach.

Thus the reason I believe a change needs to be made.  There is no evidence that Pablo is going to get significantly better results the rest of the way.  It would be different if the team was showing a noticeable improvement in comparison to the rest of the league, but they're not.  While the 14 points is the first 14 games of this season is an improvement from the 2 in 14 to end last season its not good enough compared to the rest of the league.  As detailed before the team is already in a hole and 1 pt/game just makes it deeper.  We now need to play at 1.6 pts/game the rest of the way to even think about a playoff spot.  Its not like the team is showing that's likely.  The last four games have been a 1-0 win at home to Vancouver (a good result), a poor loss in Seattle, a horrible loss at home to Portland, and a huge missed opportunity draw in Sandy with FSL.  This is not the direction of a team about to turn things around, this is the direction of a team that's likely to stay in mired in the same results.

Based on that there's little risk in my mind in making a change.  We can't get significantly worse and maybe a new coach can make us significantly better.  Even if that coach does not make us better we at least find out if that interim coach should be a candidate for the position in 2016.  From a PR perspective it also shows that the management cares about the results and are trying to solve the problem where right now the silence on that front is deafening.

Now you'll notice I've talked about "making a change" and "removing Pablo".  I have intentionally not used the term "firing" the coach.  Pablo isn't any coach when it comes to the Rapids.  He is, by far (sorry 'Celo), the best player to ever wear the shirt and the first one to lead us to a MLS Cup.  You can't just call him into Bravo's/Hinchey's office and tell him to clear out.  He deserves more than that.

There's also the fact that this is a KSE team and, well, KSE is cheap.  They aren't going to want to pay for a second head coach (see the Fernando Clavijo debacle) for the rest of 2015 and possibly 2016, depending on Pablo's contract.  So that has to be taken into account when designing a plan.

So here's my proposal.  Give Pablo  a new role in the youth academy.  With Brian Crookham being involved with the Charlotte Independence there's probably room for anther "Director of Soccer Development" or something similar that Pablo can move into to.  Before his retirement Pablo had talked about wanting to coach youth soccer and working with kids and this would be a chance for him to do that.  It gives everyone a face-saving out and doesn't put either the Front Office or Pablo through the ignominy of firing a club legend.

With the head coaching role being open, name Claudio Lopez interim head coach for the 2015 season.  I am assuming (always dangerous) since he was the one to take charge in Dallas when Pablo was suspended that he's interested in coaching and seen as the "most ready" to take the role.  Lopez has one simple mandate, using the current roster start winning games.  I think putting any playoff pressure on him is unfair given the hole he'd be inheriting so all he would need to worry about is winning games.  The  USOC and the Rocky Mountain could (should) be goals as well depending on the importance the Front Office wants to attach to them.

Then in the 2015-16 offseason hold a real coaching search, not the farce of the 2013-14 offseason.  Due to KSE budget realities the chances of signing a big name coach are almost nil but we can't start a third season in the last five with another rookie coach.  That's asking too much from the fans and the players.  So the focus of the coaching search should be on candidates that have some coaching experience and are looking for another chance and on coaches that can work with the current set of players and won't need to spend another two years in a rebuilding project.  The type of candidates I'm thinking of are coaches like Mike Petke, Robin Fraser, and Wilmer Cabrera.  If Claudio Lopez does well he would be a leading candidate and would come into 2016 with 20 games of experience should he get the job.

In the end this plan costs the Rapids (at most) paying Pablo an elevated salary to work with the academy in 2016 and going forward.  All other costs are already in the budget for 2015 (as interim Lopez wouldn't get (much of) a raise).  The 2016 budget has a head coaching salary in it, which the new coach would get.  They risk very little as this season is already going down in flames.  They get some positive PR for making a move when its necessary instead of letting another Clavijo situation develop.  And maybe we actually start seeing better soccer at the Dick in 2015.

3 Weeks Until Opening Day

Even before the events of this week I was planning to make this post if it still applied.  I see no reason to change my plan after this week.

So we are now less than 3 weeks until the opening kick of the Rapids season (2pm MT March 15th in NY) and the Rapids still don't have a head coach.  Am I the only one concerned by this fact?

Meanwhile Colorado's Desert Diamond Cup match is scoreless at half, currently being streamed here.

Comments From The Front Office

I was going to keep these private, but somebody has already shared them from the Rapids end and had them posted on BigSoccer, so I can share them here.

Yesterday I received the following email directly from Rapids President Tim Hinchey in response to my post on Saturday:

Jason,

Perhaps it might be worth your energy to at some point actually investigate your “concerns or claims”  with our club prior to your blogging.  Or perhaps not, clearly you’re call.  Every “fan” has their right to criticize their home club even if completely unsubstantiated or inaccurate.

However, we are not “killing time” on our coach search nor do you have any clue how to run a professional sports organization and any such complications when hire a head coach.  Therefore, if you value actually learning more, give me call as like I did with SI last week, I’m happy to fully and honestly explain our efforts.  If not, I find your blog completely ridiculous and nothing more than your own personal venting tool.

Respectfully,

Tim

This morning I sent the following response:

Tim, I appreciate the interest in my blog.  My writing is from the point of view of a dedicated Rapids fan, its not meant as reporting.  My points in the article about our coaching situation were based on conversations Rapids fans are having this off-season.  While I'm sure you have valid reasons for the decisions you are making you must realize that a major professional sports team not having a head coach a month after training camp opened and less than 4 weeks until the start of the season is highly unusual.  Particularly since this isn't a new situation, Pareja left the team at the beginning of January.  The fans are wondering what's going on and are understandably concerned about the effect the missing role will have on our season and on the players.

I appreciate the offer to talk, but honestly I'm not interested in being a reporter.  That type of media requires more work and focus than I can give it, and I wouldn't want to do a halfway job.  If it helps you to look at my blog as "ridiculous" and "my own personal venting tool" then so be it, though I would hope that having fans interested enough in the team to go through the trouble of setting up a blog would be something welcomed by the Front Office, not belittled.  I want nothing more than the Rapids to succeed and win another MLS Cup along with their first Supporters Shield and U.S. Open Cup as well as retain the Rocky Mountain Cup.  

If I can answer any more questions for you I'd be happy to, otherwise thank you for the feedback and good luck to the team in 2014.  Please keep reading View From the Couch if you want the fans view from outside the organization.

I then received the following from Tim Hinchey:

If you make personal attacks and criticize me or staff in an ignorant fashion than simply expect my direct response.  I choose not to do this to embarrass you publicly.  Whereas that's how you chose to communicate your points, which is your right.  As evidenced over my entire tenure, I rarely feel compelled to seek out our fan bloggers in any challenging way.  However your comments where totally ridicuolus.  Your email response asking and suggesting whether "I realize" we need a coach is offensive.  I have worked in professional sports for over 20 years and I doubt I would be in my current position if I was so clueless. 

Bottom line is that blogs are public.  If I feel any public comments about our club or my staff are offensive I will respond directly to the author.  If the author or fan would like to have a true better understanding of how professional teams actually operate, then as always, I offer my accessibility to educate.  

As for what the fans think, I actively engage and respectfully respond daily.  I also feel the majority of our growing fan base, including C38, feel more supportive and less critical of our current status. In fact, we've set a club renewal record for season tickets and have sold more than a 1000 new full season tickets thus far.  These business metrics clearly indicate our fans are supporting the club and our efforts to find the absolute right coach for this club.  Simply appointing any candidate to satisfy any minority outside pressure would be foolish. 

I have always read and supported all our fan blogs.  We work hard to provide all of our bloggers as much access to this club as they need or want.  I would match our front office against any in any sport for this access and interest. 

Sorry for my rant but like you, I have tremendous passion for this club and when I feel it has been unfairly harmed, I will fight for it. 

Respectfully,

Tim

90 minutes after my email to Tim, excerpts of it were posted on BigSoccer.

Comments welcome