Atlanta United: Trophy won’t determine Tata Martino’s greatness

Tata Martino will leave Atlanta United at the end of the season, it was announced on Tuesday morning. His greatness will not be determined by a trophy.

Atlanta United are playing their final regular season match under the guidance of Tata Martino on Sunday. By the time you read this piece, you probably know if they have or have not won the Supporters’ Shield.

To do so, they simply have to beat Toronto FC, last year’s winners. Given Toronto’s form this season, and their ostensible gazing into the distance with their campaign finished and a crucial offseason looming, that is something that this Atlanta United team are easily capable of.

If they do win the Supporters’ Shield, it will be the first trophy of Atlanta’s existence. They only entered MLS two seasons ago, and, while admittedly banked by substantial finances thanks to Arthur Blank and a brilliant new stadium that weekly hosts attendances of well over 50,000, it would be a remarkable achievement to be the best team in MLS so quickly.

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But as Martino prepares to depart in the offseason, as is his custom, — he doesn’t like to stay at the same club for more than two or three years — the reflections of his time in Atlanta tend to be ones of ‘what should have been’. Sport is about winning. Martino would be considered a relative failure if his Atlanta team do not win a trophy. It’s an understandable argument. But I do believe that it sells short the work that Martino has undertaken in Atlanta.

Yes, sport is about winning. Yes, MLS is about trophies. But there is a process that must be mastered. Winning teams do not just win things. Preparations must be made. Cultures must be built. Habits must be instilled and repeated and established. Teams don’t just win without work. And, sometimes, even, teams will put in the work and not win. But that does not mean that they shouldn’t be praised.

That is where Martino is, with or without a trophy. With one, he has instilled winning processes and succeeded. He should be praised. Without one, he has instilled winning processes and still succeeded, even if the result has failed.

There is an obsession in sports on results. And yes, eventually, the results matter. It is a results business and if the results aren’t good questions should be asked and criticism should come. But after two years of existence in an increasingly competitive, sometimes, head coaches should be praised for the processes that they have instilled and the foundations that they have built, not the results that they may or may not have achieved.

All this leads to say: Martino has been a truly great head coach with or without a trophy. He will want to win one. Atlanta United will want to win one. But his greatness is not contingent on it.