FC Cincinnati took just 11 games to change their head coach and redirect their course on their maiden MLS voyage. This culture of change is driving them forwards.
After just 11 games, FC Cincinnati changed head coaches, a five-game losing streak the final straw for Alan Koch. They then won the first game with interim chief Yoann Damet. But this wHe instituted and manned a new formation for the team and it worked pretty well.
FC Cincinnati President and general manager Jeff Berding said the deterioration of team culture forced the change. But that’s not all. Berding, the standard-bearer of Cincinnati’s fight to win an MLS expansion slot, seeks a standalone general manager for the club. That sporting director/general manager will take over that part of Berding’s role. Koch did not really fit the new managerial structure that Berding wanted to put in place.
So well before the All-Star break, MLS expansion club FC Cincinnati will become an all-grown-up organization. To see just how courageous this rocket-speed growth is, consider the culture of change in a well-established U.S. sport. You can test this description in just a few months after NFL season starts.
Wait until NFL Week 6 if you can. Pick any team that looks completely lost, in their record and performance. Watch as no significant changes are made in personnel and absolutely no changes get made in staff. It will usually not be until Week 14 that the head coach gets fired. Yet, for all the remaining games, the team continues using a playbook that must have been left on a park bench after a really bad Pop Warner youth football game.
And no other significant changes get made, primarily because the culture there is little-to-no change, even in a disastrous season. If the season’s bad, just let the ship sink. Let the fans witness gameplay ranging from boring to unwatchable. You already banked money from the season tickets. There’s all that time during the offseason to figure something out, not during the regular season.
But that’s not the culture of change at FC Cincinnati. Berding said the locker room stays committed to earning a post-season MLS bid. He said the organization couldn’t maintain that focus with a poor culture. He didn’t say how much of that culture at FC Cincinnati was the responsibility of former head coach Koch. However, Koch left a couple of great clues.
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Koch hammered the 4-4-2 double diamond formation in all but two of his 11 games. This resulted in two wins and two draws for FC Cincinnati. The first game he tried a 4-2-3-1 and in the next-to-last match a 4-1-4-1. Both losses. Then Koch said he didn’t have enough quality players in an interview.
Then Damet took the same players that Koch was using, gave them a 4-3-3 offensive scheme as their go-to formation, and won his first match. Coincidence? Probably not.
The questions rained down: Is Damet right for the job and isn’t he too young? At age 29, he’s the youngest head coach in MLS history, interim or otherwise, let alone youngest to win his first game. And really, he has an easy way to make himself right for the job if he follows Berding’s direction.
But the early signs are positive, and they all stem from Cincinnati’s willingness to change. With a bit of luck, it could yet lead them into the MLS postseason.