When the Houston Dynamo hired Owen Coyle in December 2014 as the franchiseās next head coach, they didn't think they'd be looking for his replacement 12 games into his second season.
Yet, late Wednesday night, the Dynamo announced that the team and Coyle had mutually parted ways. Coyle cited the long distance between him and his family in the United Kingdom as the reason why.
āCoyle leaves with a very strong relationship with the organization,ā said Dynamo VP/General Manager Matt Jordan told reporters on a conference call on Thursday. āIt was a mutual parting of ways. Thereās a lot of factors that factored in to what took place over the last 24 hours.ā
Jordan said it will be Sunday at the earliest before the team announces who will be its interim coach for the rest of the season. With two-thirds of the season remaining, Jordan said naming an interim coach gives the organization time to find the right candidate for the long term.
Rumors surfaced midday Thursday that Wilmer Cabrera ā current head coach of the Dynamoās USL affiliate Rio Grande Valley FC ā had been given the position. But Jordan refuted them, saying the organization is solely focused on Saturdayās matchup against Vancouver (5 p.m. CT, ROOT SPORTS) for the moment.
āWe have to move forward,'' Jordan said. "The way I look at this is, right now we have 22 games yet to be played and thatās 66 points on the table. Weāre a highly competitive organization and the way we see it is we have everything to play for going forward.ā
After the decision was made Wednesday to part ways with Coyle, the team and staff were gathered later that night to announce the news.
āIt was nice to see the admiration that all the players demonstrated,ā said Jordan, who was hired in November 2014.
The season started well enough for Coyle and the Dynamo, with 11 goals scored in the first three games (a win, a draw and a loss). But a disastrous April ā one point from four games ā saw them slide to last place in the Western Conference. In 12 games this season, the Dynamo have 11 points and a record of 3-7-2, bringing Coyleās overall record in Houston to 14-21-11.
Would Coyle still be the coach if the Dynamo were winning?
āWeāre 12 games into the season and weāve had some good performances ā¦ weāve had some heartbreaking results,ā said Jordan. āIf weāre higher up in the standings ā¦ on a personal level, it probably makes it a little bit easier being away from your family.ā
Before Wednesdayās chat with Coyle, Jordan said that there hadnāt been any indication that the coach was feeling homesick.
Coyle ā who Jordan said was not living in a hotel as was rumored ā becomes another international coach who failed to conquer MLS, perhaps because of an inability to adapt to the North American soccer culture. Jordan, though, did his best to downplay that angle.
āThere have been some foreign coaches that have had success in the MLS, so that doesnāt mean that thatās not possible,ā said Jordan. āSaying that, MLS is a very unique league in the world of soccer with all the rules, regulations, the salary cap structure, the structure of the CBA, and the playerās union. So it is a unique league.ā
While the Coyle experiment didnāt pan out for Houston, Jordan learned something from the process as the Dynamo begin looking for their next head coach.
āItāll be fair to say that we would look at probably candidates with more North American [soccer] experience,ā said Jordan. āBut weāre not going limit ourselves, and if thereās a good foreign candidate there, then weāll look at that as well.ā