The Coach needs to get a hold of the Technical Director to discuss this biz. of a Brazilian forward beign signed. Maybe the striker had more than one name thus rendering him totally useless.

Buzz, not just college level improving but every age group a little bit each year. I see young kids do stuff every year that no one did at the age a few years ago. The trickle up affect. Each coach gets better prepeared players to work with so they can do higher level work etc.

I think our roster is solid. We had one of the hottest teams at the end of last year. I think we will keep that up through this year.

I think you also have to factor in that the limited roster size guarantees no draft picks a place… so every draft pick knows they have to come in and work hard to even make the team.

Balonpie: “Maybe the striker had more than one name” This made me laugh, it woudn’t be the first time transfer rumors were mixed up due all the names Brazilians have.

Good stuff Buzz, love the practice observations. Paulo can def ball on a full field and would offer tons more than Dane ever would. Also, your comparisons of Avi’s game and Paulo’s are accurate . . Paulo is just more stout with those horse legs

It is early, early, early in the season. Now is the time for the new guys to show and the veterans to work their way back into the flow. I am more concenred about how the team looks 7 weeks from now. That is when the worry or excitement (or both) can really start.

When does the roster get finalized?

Usually March 1st.

I have no faith in SH without a TD or GM keeping him in check. He couldn’t win at the NCAA level, who believes he can do it here? Not me.

CHAD – please understand that SH calls all shots now and in the futrue regardless if a figure-head is over him, it will be in name only.

Chad – ” He couldn’t win at the NCAA level”

That is not true. He was not able to win a NCAA Championship at SMU, but he certainly won a lot at SMU.

Jonesing – SMU is in the center of one of the top youth soccer hotbeds in the country . . . With the talent that consistently fell into his lap, he didn’t really accomplish much.

I know some people seem to be infatuated that a guy can take a swift kick to the nuts . . But I thought this was a result-oriented business?

Chase -NO infatuation, but I am willing to give him a chance to suceed here. I am not sure why so many so called FCD fans want him to fail. He has built a nice roster and if the team can continue down the path they started the 2nd half of the season then the future is bright. Concerning the statement that he “didn’t really accomplish much” the fact remains the SH won a LOT of games as a college coach.
From his BIO:
Hyndman ranks fourth all-time in victories among Division 1 coaches, posting an all-time college record of 466-122-49, which includes a record of 368-98-38 at SMU and 98-24-11 at Eastern Illinois University.

Those are some pretty good results. Yes I know there is not a NCAA championship, not many coaches have.. And Dallas is NOT the only place in the US with quality soccer or as you say “hotbed” there are many “Hotbeds” throughout the USA. Exactly how many US Nats come from Dallas?

What about Dabao? I asked once, but nobody answered: Is the chinese population in DFW big? Could him atract some supporters?

Could he*

Chase are you Wileman?

I don’t know specifically about the Chinese population here, but there is a fairly large Asian population throughout DFW. Not sure if he would attract any supporters though..

US Nats from Dallas. off the top of my head would be Dempsey, Deering, Agoos. Start adding youth nats over the years and the numbers are large. Did Hyndman not get the best ones because they didn’t want to play for him or because other conferences were better?

Jonesing — I am not Chase Wileman, but I played with him growing up and am good friends with their family. Chase actually has a ton of respect for Schellas. And regarding the Dallas-area youth soccer – it has been one of the top 3 regions for club soccer in the country for the past 15-20 years

Jonesing = relative of Schellas?

So much negativity! Preseason is the time of hope and fantasy. Wait until they start something like 1-6-1 again before you start bashing.

I don’t believe they will start badly. I still predict 50+ points this year.

If you disagree with me, you’re probably a Houston fan hanging out here because Houston doesn’t have a quality site like this.

It’s sad the lows Dynamo fans will go to enhance their self-image. Sad.

Jeg blir enig komplett, Ragnar, Houston er dritt.

Thank you Barefoot, my Norwegian was a little rusty but I figured it out!

You can bet I’m not a Dynamo fan, as I wore my FCD shirt proudly to a game at Robertson 2 years ago and taunted their fans behind the goal, as I was sitting 1 section over. Almost got mauled by 500 of the Texian Army, so unless you have that cred, don’t call me out.

Shellas is nothing to get excited about. He has had 1.5 seasons and gotten nothing accomplished. And yes, he had NO COMPETITION for players here, as he had the only Div. 1 program in the state!!!!! Still couldn’t win the big one, even when it was held here. Only 1 Final 4 finish. Who cares about his percentage??? He couldn’t win when it counted.

Hank, I agree. That’s what makes me saddest of all. SH will have no oversight except from the accountant. I have very low expectations for this season.

“Are you going to sign another player?

Probably one. Working on either a wide left player, a second striker, of a high striker.”

Lee Nguyen is a quality left winger that would have fit very well. According to 3rd degree training reports, he was the best player on the field when he was training with the team earlier this winter. Why would the league only offer him 30K per year for 5 years?

MLS robbed Dallas fans on this one.

Dingbat – no sorry I don’t no him at all.

Chase – I was not the one who asked if you were Wileman, I know better as Wileman I do know and he has a far better opinion of SH than you.

Chad – you are clueless about college soccer and recruiting. SMU is a fine school, but many Texas players don’t want to go there for various reasons not related to soccer. For one some may prefer NOT to go to a Methodist school (or any religious school). Some may find better fits for their desired majors at other schools.
Finally look around and find out exactly how many coaches HAVE won NCAA championships – I bet you find it is very few. You can also find good basketball and football coaches that have never won a NCAA championship. It is not the end all be all of determining the quality of a coach.

Jonesing, you’re clueless about soccer, and your self righteous commentary is cumbersome at best, please give it a rest

It is an interesting point that surely was brought up this time last year. I didn’t follow the league for the first 7 or 8 years. Were there any college coaches that received an MLS head coaching job without winning a NCAA title? The closest I can think of is Bradley, who was however an assistant under the Bruce at both Virginia and DC United before Chicago.

How about in basketball or football?

Dingbat – that is completely uncalled for. Jonesing posts his opinions and because you disagree is no reason to get personal. I have NEVER seen a soccer related post from you, just posts about other posters – you should “give it a rest”

85 – I don’t know the answer on pro soccer coaches, but it seems most pro football coaches have previously been head college coaches at some point and most have never won a NC.
I do believe Hyndman gets an unfair rap for not winning a championship, first, as Jones said, it ain’t that easy and second, it really is not relevant. A NCAA championship coach is not necessarily going to be a better pro coach than a non NCAA championship coach.
As far as Hyndman goes the jury is still out. The last half of last season was promising, Previous to that was discouraging. I prefer to be optimistic going into this season and hope for continued improvement. The roster does look stronger. I wish they would trade VDB for something so we can move ahead and finish that chapter as it is obvious he won’t be playing for FCD again.

“Shellas is nothing to get excited about. He has had 1.5 seasons and gotten nothing accomplished.”

Chad – that alone is proof positive that you have no clue about MLS. Starting in late July, Hyndman was doing *everything* that teams that win in MLS do – get athletic, competitive players who play for each other and play in an organized system. The resulting winning streak should have been no surprise to anyone paying attention.

Jonesing-Listen closely. I’m very versed in college soccer. I’m also very versed in SMU. It’s not a religious school. It has a seminary there, but no one outside of the seminary is required to take any type of religious studies, so that argument doesn’t fly. Yes, it does matter what he did or didn’t do in college, because that’s where you build your credentials. I’m not impressed by a coach who has a good winning percentage but no championships, and neither should you be, as he has proven time and again that he can’t pick the right players in the right games and/or motivate them to play in them. And since he had no pro coaching experience, he has proven over and over that he cannot relate to those players. At least Steve Morrow had that.

Doug-I was there every week. I saw that while there was a good streak of 8 games, so what? The results from the first 2/3 of the season doomed this club last year. Who was the coach then? And who was a main cog of that streak? DVB, who SH has now been unceremoniously dumped by Mr. Genius. So he’s going to be replaced by who? More speed? Maybe. More soccer smarts? Doubt it. How organized and athletic was that back line last year? I seem to remember too many soft goals to count. But what would I know, I wasn’t paying attention. BTW, I’m a Day 1, Season 1 Season ticket holder. Don’t tell me that I don’t know the league, as I’ve been there from the beginning.

And how did that game in Seattle go last year to end the season? That was FCD’s playoff game, as it had to win to have a chance, and how did that go for the club? Like I said, SH has NEVER been able to win the big one, and that’s one more bit of proof to add to the verdict: Not now, and will never be, a winner.

Chad – SMU is a Methodist educational institution and we are proud of it!

Founded in 1911 by what is now The United Methodist Church, SMU opened in 1915 with support from Dallas leaders.
SMU affirms its historical commitment to academic freedom and open inquiry, to moral and ethical values, and to its United Methodist heritage.

I’ve read though your posts on this site and don’t know why you waste everyone’s time with your rants. It is clear you don’t like the coach, but you don’t have to post the spew the same junk in multiple posts on every article.

Also consider this, how many NCAA championships has SMU won since Schellas left? How many had they won before he came? …..

I thought so…

Also note if it is so easy for SMU to win a NCAA championship why did McClement’s team not even make the tournament this year?? He’s had two full recruiting years to grab all that Dallas area talent that, in your opinion, should be able to waltz into the NCAA championships..

Chad – just because you were there doesn’t mean you were paying attention.

I get your point that they haven’t accomplished anything. But to dismiss out of hand the positive steps that were taken last year is a bit silly.

Ragnar, my Norwegian is limited to one semester back in 1987, and an old English-Norwegian dictionary. I just took a chance given your handle…

Besides, I just like saying Houston er dritt.

Barefoot,

So say we all!

SH is shit!!!! He wouldve never won anything at SMU, and he will never win in Dallas!!! FYI- The only reason why SH took the FC Dallas job is because all his SMU players signed a petition to get him fired so before he got fired, he basically got “promoted” from NCAA 1 to MLS…. He’s crooked and he is the scum of the earth. Get to know him.

Go ahead. Kick me. I love it.

It’s interesting that HDS (Hyndman Derangement Syndrome) is already infecting some people.

Is it a disease or simple stupidity? I vote stupidity.

Dear Indestructible Sack,
Best wishes on a good start to the season…and watch your back, er, sack.

Anyone who thinks that winning an NCAA soccer championship necessarily means the coach is better suited for MLS than those who do not have won such distinction is totally clueless.

Instead, I definitely look at career winning record, knowledge of the game, and ability to lead, and the latter is especially important given the skill required to manage professional egos.

The last item is also a question mark for SH. He is a proven winner despite what some people believe, and his knowledge of the game is beyond reproach IMO, so really it comes down to other facets of management and people leadership, and the verdict is still out on SH. The incredible winning streak and turn-around performance in the second half of the year is something that SH is directly responsible for, and anyone who says otherwise is biased and incapable of a non-emotional, balanced assessment.

I suppose we should find the winners of NCAA championships filling the ranks of the MLS, yes? The answer is a big fat NO! This does not mean SH will be successful. However, what it does mean is that people who make the logical fallacy error of correlating the lack of an NCAA ring to his success chances at the professional level are fools. You are committing the common fallacy of “post hoc ergo propter hoc.”

Recent NCAA College Champion Coaches.

2000 Ray Reid
2001 Elmar Bolowich
2002 Tom Fitzgerald
2003 Jerry Yeagley
2004 Mike Freitag
2005 Sasho Cirovski
2006 Tim Vom Steeg
2007 Jay Vidovich
2008 Sasho Cirovski
2009 Mike McGinty

If we go back to the ENTIRE HISTORY of NCAA champions over the last 30 years, we find only FOUR coaches in MLS History! Steve Sampson, Sigi Schmid, Tom Fitzgerald, and Bruce Arena. That is four people out 30 who made a name for themselves at the professional level in MLS between 1996-2009, and only two of them were good MLS coaches. Sampson flopped completely at LA despite having strong players and the World Cup history. Sampson….OH THE NCAA CHAMP THAT HE WAS, had a miserable record far worse at the time he was fired than Shellas did, and Sampson inherited stronger players and a winning system, unlike what Shellas inherited from Morrow.

What I might suggest then, is that the “haters” take a deep breath, and allow this process to work out. This upcoming year, we are clearly dealing with “Shellas Hyndman’s team”. Gone are the slacker attitudes and “mail it in” efforts of the Steve Morrow era. We now have a team of solid players who are (or at least should be) physically fit and mentally hungry to fight and win for the shirt.

However, if FC Dallas does not get 48-50 points, I will consider it a mediocre year. Yeah…that seems like a big target, but my expectations are high for this club, and anything less than 45 points is outright failure. I am all about accountability, but only when the coach has had a full chance to win or lose according to their vision. I respect people having concerns and doubt about SH, I just don’t care for illogical people who demonstrate a closed mind.

I’ll be happy with a winning record and at least one playoff win. With up to 4 players heading off to the world cup (chavez is with honduras), depth will be very important.

Sigi one MLS Cup I believe.
Arena 3 MLS Cups I believe.
Sampson won the US Open Cup and the MLS Cup the year prior to being fired by Aleci ‘let me ruin your franchise’ Lalas who hated his guts.

That’s 5 MLS Cups out of 14 by former NCAA champs.

I’m just saying.

Ragnar, you are completely missing the point.

That’s 26 out of 30 NCAA Champion coaches that didn’t do squat at the pro level.

My point is that the people who are making a big deal out of the fact that Shellas Hyndman cannot be a good MLS coach because he did not win an NCAA championship are committing a logical fallacy. If you cannot see the statistical probability, then there really isn’t much else I can say to you.

Sampson was a bust, just ask any long time LA Galaxy fan. Also, remember how people at NY all wanted Bruce Arena’s head on a pike. There are many reasons why a coach succeeds or fails with a given system or team.

“just saying.”

Robert,

You’re confusing me. If your point is that 26 NCAA champ coaches aren’t in MLS, so what – maybe they don’t want to be.

I have never made a big deal about SH production in college affecting/indicating his production in MLS for or against. I’m open to judge him on his results.

What I was trying to demonstrate is that NCAA success certainly can lead to MLS success. The record speaks for itself. You do need the right coach in the right job.

As far as Sampson goes, I’m not going to waste time defending him or running him down. But I wouldn’t mind having his ‘lack of success’ here in the next year or two!

Ragnar, I will try to remove the confusion. I am not suggesting that it would be a bad thing for SH to have an NCAA championship on his resume. Of course not. What I am suggesting here is VERY simple…namely that having such a distinction in one’s past has little to no statistical bearing on whether a coach will succeed in MLS. Thus, my suggestion to people who continue to ride SH “because he never won in NCAA” is to stop allowing illogical assumptions to guide their assessment.

SH might fail, or he might succeed, but his lack of an NCAA title is not a valid predictor either way.

You’re wasting your time complaining/defending SH. The proof will be in the pudding. Let’s see what he can do and then judge him. The current smu coach has the same talent that SH had but is doing far worse so maybe SH had a little something. Not saying he will win the MLS cup but let’s wait and see…

Dabao Yu used to be a very promising player in China before he went to Benfica.But later he suffer from injury and other issues and can not play well. He definitely would attract a lot of supporters from HUGE population in DFW-Houston-Austin Area.

Amazing. Some people just gripe, whine, and B*&?T about everything. Last time I checked, when a new coach takes over, it takes a couple seasons to get the team where they want it to be. Brining in new players and getting rid of the previous ones takes time. CLEARLY, at the end of last season, things were turning around… This season looks very promising, yet there are already ignorant people complaining about a coach and we haven’t even played a game this season. It’s obvious, some of you know very little about team athletics and coaching.

Good dialogue guys. Yeesh.

Amen Dallas Soccer….Amen.

I will be rooting for Shellas with every cell in my body because I am an FCD fan. That being said, it is always a challenge for new coaches, and it usually takes time to build a system according to that coaches vision. This even includes the most exceptional people regardless of the sport, people like Bill Walsh or John Wooden.

Yes, Shellas just might fail–it certainly is a possibility. If for no other reason, he might not succeed because it is difficult to move from college to the pro ranks no matter how talented a coach happens to be! Another factor here is the Hunt Sports Group, who have not historically demonstrated the tenacity to open their wallet and do whatever it takes to win championships. How many since 1996? ZERO. Yet is it so easy to toss stones at SH.

All I can say is that I am MUCH more excited about the team we have today then the team Shellas took over day one. MUCH more excited. The entire second half of the 2009 season we outplayed every other MLS team in terms of overall winning percentage…and often we flat out smoked the other side. Late in the season at home we schooled Real Salt Lake, we beat Columbus during one of their hot streaks, and remember the LA Galaxy game on the road where Ferriera and Cunningham made Beckham and the boys look downright silly?

Like many, I also have some specific concerns and armchair criticisms of SH (like how long it took to remove Rocha, Wagner, and “Kaka’s best man” from our lineup), but I keep these concerns muted behind the reality that it is far easier to criticize from afar and pretend to be the expert than it is to first seek to understand and give a coach an actual chance to win. Plus, it is just a lot more FUN to root for Shellas Hyndman’s success. I expect great things in 2010. It might not happen of course…but let’s stay positive and allow some hope and suspense to launch our campaign this spring.

Oh…allow me to announce that I meant zero championships for FCD since 1996. Naturally, the Columbus Crew won in 2008, which means that with a good team and talented coach, it is even possible to win under the tight-fisted grip of the Hunts.