I no longer have time for anything but ruthless pursuit of an MLS Cup, and neither does the franchise.

A sample of some of the more specific things directly related to SH (didn’t get into player personnel decisions, which are terrible also, but not completely attributable to him) that get me:
*Playing players in positions they either haven’t played in before, or aren’t suited for technically, physically, or tactically–McCarty on the wing, Cunningham outside mid, Torres anywhere on the field, Saragosa at outside mid or outside back.
*The Bruno Guarda fiasco
*The Saragosa fiasco
*Letting his 12 year old grandson train with the team
*How he handles players, in the media and elsewhere. Completely unprofessional
*Making excuses for losing, blaming his team
*Not tweaking the system to the personnel; not every coach has every perfect player, good coaches deal with it, he blames it for his failures
*In game decision making–so many choices here, but in general just not good. Untimely subs, either late or early; playing Rocha even though he was worthless and clearly didn’t care
*Treatment of the young players. You’ve got Saragosa et al, who has no potential and is terrible taking minutes from a young guy (Shea, Avila) who could be developing into a very good player
*Calling players out for being injured. this goes under treatment of players, but WTF, if the guy is injured he’s injured. Even if he’s being “soft” you don’t call him out, there are doctors that sign off on playing or not.

Never been rubbed the wrong way by him, don’t know him at all. These are my observations and this is why I think he’s a bad coach.

As far as a pro coach, at best, all you can say is that SH gets an “I” for incomplete. One and a half seasons as coach, an almost complete turnover of players during this season, and only one game out of the playoffs. One game.

Most of the criticism seems to be from people who have gotten “rubbed” the wrong way by something SH did or said. Or they claim something equally meaningless and generic like SH doesn’t know how to win big games (bc he won four in a row instead of 5). I think all the naysayers should put there body where their mouth and challenge SH to a bout of ju-jutsu, so SH can deliver a swift kick to the you-know-what. But that would probably rub their sensitive soccer-selves the wrong way too.

Give the man 2010… he deserves it for what has occurred late season. My conversation with him dicovered the opposite of smugness. He was very humble yet determined and talked about his support of his players with a genuine compassion and enthusiasm. Time will tell whether it ends up in Champioships or playoffs, but to write him and this team off is disrepecting the effort the guys on field have been showing in part 2 of the season.

I like the way this team is working now. I don’t care if the guys are having fun. I DO CARE that they are taking the game seriously and fighting for every bloody point. That is what they are doing now, and I am proud of them!

I don’t think he’s a good coach. I’ve got a laundry list, but I don’t feel like typing it out. I’m afraid we will be sitting here next year saying the same things as this year, and he will be continuing to make excuses one way or the other about why he didn’t succeed. It’s a pattern of behavior, they are character traits; he’s been doing this for a long time, and he’s been very average for a long time. What makes us think things will get better? A good run of form late in the season? JC going on a freakish goal scoring run? Guys, wake up, until the organization hires first class people, it’s not going to be a first class team.

I hated to be right about Saturday’s game, but my fears were realized. SH cannot win the big game. Didn’t do it in college, and hasn’t done it in the pros thus far. I have no faith in him. Why others do boggles the mind.

I guess what is great about this site is it allows everyone to air their opinion on FCD but you know what they say about opinions, Opinions are like Schellas, everyone has one”

But now that he’s getting his team in place, that excuse will go away and yes we will all be watching that carefully.