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It’s not every day that four separate coaching decisions come down. And it’s not every year we head into a new season that will feature 12 coaches heading into their first full season with a new team. We may be talking about a record there. Either way, we’re going to learn a lot in 2025.
Some quick thoughts on what’s to come…
Javier Mascherano to Inter Miami CF
No surprises here. When Tata Martino left the club, everyone immediately said “Xavi or Mascherano.” Whether he’s the right choice to get them over the hump and fix whatever they were trying to do on defense remains to be seen. But he’s definitely a choice that will keep the Barça folks happy. That’s understandably 90% of the battle in Miami. The rest will depend on what kind of moves they make this offseason to bolster a back line that needs a lot of bolstering.
Olof Mellberg to St. Louis CITY SC
We don’t know much about Mellberg other than that he looks like a Swedish movie star and that we here at The Daily Kickoff are very open to receiving detailed instructions from him on beard maintenance. But, word on the street is he’ll try to get St. Louis to be a little more comfortable on the ball while maintaining their high-pressing principles. It sounds like a shift similar to the one Sandro Schwarz made in New York this year. That’s worked out pretty well for the Red Bulls. We’ll see if that change, plus a critical offseason, pays off for St. Louis.
Rob Valentino out at Atlanta United
Valentino served admirably as Atlanta United’s interim manager. But yesterday, Atlanta officially announced he won’t be leading the club permanently. He basically needed to win MLS Cup to get the job and, in the end, came up a couple of games short. Garth Lagerwey says he wants a proven winner and Valentino is too early in his coaching career to be that. He has a bright future ahead of him though. The man-management ability is real. If I’m Vancouver, I’m giving him a call and at least checking to see if he might be a fit.
Nick Cushing out at New York City FC
Normally we talk about coach departures through a lens that values roster building heavily over the impact of a coach. That typically leads us to ask a lot more questions of the front office than the head coach. In this case though…it always seemed like this group underperformed with Cushing at the helm. High-value players didn’t come good. Players who already had success in MLS regressed. The vibes were generally bad. It just didn’t work, and it didn’t work for a long time.
NYCFC will be just fine after this move. The bigger question going forward is what kind of ripple effect this might have. I’d expect NYCFC to go outside MLS for their next hire, but what if they swoop in and pull one of the bigger MLS names off the market? Is Jim Curtin at home writing out a pros and cons list for New York and Atlanta? What if someone in a current job gets pulled away and the carousel keeps spinning?
It all seems on the table at this point. I’d personally take the field over an MLS name about 90% of the time, but you never know. Whoever ends up there will have plenty of talent to work with. NYCFC aren’t going to stop being one of the most consistently successful teams in the league anytime soon.
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