Ben Olsen looks thrilled to take over as manager, but guys like Devon McTavish should be happy about the coaching change.

The hot seat in D.C. just got too hot for Curt Onalfo as he has been released from his manager duties with United. The club announced today that Ben Olsen will take over as the interim manager with D.C. United’s Technical Director, Chad Ashton, taking over as interim Assistant Coach.

“This was a difficult and painful decision,” said United President and CEO Kevin Payne. “Curt is an outstanding person and a fine coach. This has certainly been a trying season, made more so by a number of factors outside of anyone’s control. This decision is not about placing blame, but about looking forward. Recent performances have convinced us that we need to make a change at the top for the team to improve the remainder of this season, for 2011 and beyond. We wish Curt nothing but the best.”

D.C. did nothing but regress under Onalfo. The club currently stands at 3-12-3 with 12 points after 18 games. Injuries played a decent part in the lack of success for Onalfo in D.C. but overall his poor judgement on talent doubled with the bad decisions in player movement have doomed the club this season.

Seeing Olsen step in is a nice step forward to salvage a season that is definitely over for the club. Any other year the team would be staring at the number one overall pick in the SuperDraft but with two expansion clubs coming into the league next year it will be a bit harder for D.C. to land some quality young talent.

Olsen was the right pick for interim manager too as he knows the club in and out. The young talent look up to him there and the veterans respect him. It shouldn’t be that difficult of a change for the club to go to Olsen. It will be interesting to see how long he holds on to the interim tag and if he can get the full-time gig down the road too.

I said a couple months ago that I would be shocked to see Onalfo finish the year out with the club. After getting hammered 3-0 in Salt Lake City last weekend the move made sense for the club to break away from Onalfo.

Anyways we are a month into the season now with most clubs having four games under their belts (only one has two – Columbus). My list below is not just players but coaches, GMs, stadiums, fans…pretty much anything I felt was relevant here.

DC United fans are hoping for a return to playoffs in 2010. (Getty Images)

I wasn’t entirely sure I’d get to this offseason look at DC United today but extra time this afternoon came out of no where. So far these last couple weeks we’ve looked at a handfull of teams including Philadelphia, Chicago, Chivas, Colorado and Columbus.

Today is all about the Black-and-Red who have seen a pretty big change this winter. From Curt Onalfo taking over for Tom Soehn to seeing Ben Olsen retiring to not offering Christian Gomez or Luciano Emilio a new contract, this is a whole new United.

Let’s see exactly what they’ve done and what they need to work on before the season starts.

Keepers:

Who they have: Troy Perkins, Milos Kocic, Josh Wicks, Bill Hamid.

Notes: Obviously when they made the deal to get Perkins it was to sure up this area. Wicks was too on and off last year and Kocic and Hamid aren’t quite ready to take over. Perkins gives them stability in between the pipes and will help them win. No need to look elsewhere for any additional keepers right now. I am curious to see Hamid develop though, hopefully he’ll get some PT in some US Open Cup games.

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Defense:

Who they have: Julius James, Marc Burch, Dejan Jakovic, Devon McTavish, Bryan Namoff, Jordan Graye.

Notes: I like certain parts of this group like Burch, McTavish, Namoff and Jakovic but the rest not as much. Injuries are always an issue and right now Namoff is out with some sort of head injury and those can linger long depending on how bad of an injury it is.

If I were Onalfo I’d be worried about this bunch. Perkins will probably have to come up big for them more times then they’d like to admit right now. DC fans may answer this easier than I can at this point but who is the leader in the back out of this group? They have some veteran players but not one that you know right away is going to step up, maybe I am missing something here.

Right now I see them defending like Onalfo’s KC teams, solid for a game with a shutout and then give up two or three in the next.

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Midfield:

Who they have: Floribert N’Galula, John DiRaimondo, Danny Szetela, Christian Castillo, Clyde Simms, Tiyi Shipalane, Rodney Wallace, Brandon Barklage, Santino Quaranta.

Notes: This group will be fine if two things happen, Castillo lives up to the billing surrounding him and if Quaranta can help create some offense on a consistent basis. I do where they are in the back part of this group in terms of defensive midfielders.

Another interesting question will be whether or not N’Galula, the young 22-year old former Manchester United product will do anything of note. If he can be productive in the midfield for Onalfo he could end up being one of the bigger steals of the winter by any club.

With Christian Gomez gone you have to wonder where the offense will come from this group though. I think defensively in the midfield they will be fine and even on the wings they should be good with Castillo and Quaranta. They still however need that go-to guy in the midfield that will help with the attack, a playmaker if you will. Right now I just don’t see that. Maybe one of these young guys will surprise me.

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Forwards:

Who the have: Danny Allsopp, Chris Pontius, Boyzzz Khumalo, Jaime Moreno, and Adam Cristman.

Notes: An interesting group to say the least. One hand they are fairly young with Pontius and Cristman but on the other they aren’t with two 30+ year olds in Moreno and Allsopp.

I like the Cristman move for Onalfo and United though. You know he is familiar with Onalfo and his style of play. Moreno we know is going to get his normal amount of goals, mostly from the penalty spot.

I think the big thing to see is whether or not Pontius continues to develop into a goal scorer and if Allsopp can come in and produce at least six to eight goals. I think if those two things happen DC should be fine in the goal scoring department.

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Overall:

This will be an interesting season for the Black-and-Red. For one they are very young in respect to other teams in the league. Just like Philadelphia they only have three guys right now on their roster over 30 years of age. Finding a leader other than Moreno will be interesting to see. Hopefully someone steps up and leads this team because there will likely be a big drop off in leadership with Ben Olsen retired now.

With Gomez and Emilio out it looks like United aren’t looking for a big name product from South American to step in like they normally do. Its a risky move not to bring in a bunch of signings but as we’ve seen in recent years out of DC it doesn’t always work out. Instead they are now focusing on talent here and adding one or two pieces from outside MLS. I like the move on their part but it may take a while to produce well.

But we’ll see, this is a club that is bound to make a move or two more before the season starts so it will be interesting if they add depth in the back, find a playmaker and most importantly someone to be a leader.

Curt Onalfo is set to become DC's next manager. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

In a way one could say DC United is settling for Curt Onalfo as their next head coach. They’ve looked high and low but in the end it seems like Onalfo is their guy.

A couple reports suggest that DC will make the change as early as today. This decision comes just a couple weeks shy of Akron head coach Caleb Porter turning down the job to stay with the Zips on the college level. (EDIT: DC announces the hiring of Onalfo as their head coach.)

This should be the first of a lot of changes this offseason for DC. Onalfo will be set to guide a DC club that has underachieved for two seasons in a row, or four if you count the disappointing Supporter’s Shield winning seasons that didn’t yield a MLS Cup birth. The club is also going to have to make some big decisions on players too this winter. Ben Olsen just retired and forward Luciano Emilio could be set to leave MLS as well.

But thankfully for the Black-and-Red the talent is there with young stars like Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace. If they have yet another solid draft next month they could be set to contend once again in the eastern conference.

Is Onalfo the right man for the job after getting canned in KC after two and a half seasons? Even with his ties to DC from the late late 90s I do question the move. I do see it as a settling move since there were no other coaches out there that wanted this position. DC does have a long way to return to it’s glory days if you ask me and I’m not sure if Onalfo is the right guy for that task. His KC clubs for some reason never progressed into anything special and typically stayed around .500% each year.

With Onalfo off the market and DC out of the coaching search race it now leaves both New York and Chicago left to find a manager here.

What do you all make of this hire by DC? Good move or are they just settling for someone here?

Why isn't Colin Clarke back on some club's radar? (USLSoccer)

Its hard to believe that three clubs are still without a head coach this evening. Well one has an interim head coach but two big time clubs in Major League Soccer end the day without a lead boss, which could be setting them back a bit for the upcoming month with the transfer window opening up and the SuperDraft.

Yes I am talking about you DC United and Chicago Fire. Both still lack a manager after parting ways with Tom Soehn and Denis Hamlett respectively.

Last night we heard news that DC would not be able to get Akron head coach Caleb Porter which put their coaching search into a big spin. SBI broke news earlier that DC even went as far to try and get San Jose manager Frank Yallop and Houston assistant John Spencer for the job. San Jose said they couldn’t approach Yallop and Spencer said he wasn’t interested.

Yikes.

Are things that bad that no one wants to coach in DC? Second of all it says a lot about what DC thinks of former Kansas City manager Curt Onalfo who seemed to be the next guy in line after Porter. But with Porter out of the picture it just sounds like Onalfo was not good enough (which he isn’t by the way) to get the job. Now DC could still go that route if they end up with no other options but it sounds like they will continue to drag their feet in this search until they get someone better than Onalfo.

Why isn’t DC going after someone like RSL assistant Robin Fraser? Or former Dallas manager Colin Clark who’s now in the USL with Puerto Rico.

Chicago isn’t much better here with their search. According to ESPNChicago.com the Fire aren’t completely sold on their two final choices that were reported in former DC boss Tom Soehn or Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch.

Honestly if I were the Fire I’d go for Soehn. I know things didn’t pan out in DC with him but honestly the guy can coach in my opinion. DC just had a loaded schedule with some injury issues the years he was there. Chicago won’t have as loaded of a schedule in 2010, just possibly SuperLiga again.

The ESPNChicago article also mentions some other possible candidates for the gig like Thomas Rongen (not a bad pick), Spencer (who won’t take a job until 2011 with Portland), and Clarke.

What do I think each club will do? Honestly I wouldn’t be shocked to start hearing John Harkes name for the DC gig here soon. I know he’s comfortable with his job at ESPN but he did do some assistant coaching under Bruce Arena in New York. In the end I do kind of see United settling for Onalfo. As for the Fire I think they’ll end up with a surprise pick like Clarke or even Rongen if they can get him away from his U-20 national team post.

The 34-year old has been regarded as one of the top coaches in the college game today. He’s lead Akron over the last couple seasons to some amazing records including this years near perfect run where they fell in PKs in the College Cup final to Virginia.

Now it seems like DC will have to turn their attention elsewhere to possibly former Kansas City manager Curt Onalfo who is said to be the other leading candidate for the opening. I can’t say I’d be overly excited if I were a United fan about the possibility of hiring Onalfo here.

DC's Kevin Payne is looking high and low for a new coach.

Some more news has come out today about DC United’s on-going coaching search to replace Tom Soehn. Yesterday we mentioned that Richie Williams is out of the running but a few more names have emerged thanks to Steve Goff’s latest report this afternoon. One name isn’t shocking at all if you follow the college game here in the States.

Akron head coach Caleb Porter is said to be one of the top candidates for DC’s head coach spot. Porter is a very good coach that has taken his Zips on an impressive run over the last few years going 68-11-7 record in four seasons, including 23-0 and a College Cup berth this year. As good as Porter has been in Akron one has to wonder will a 34-year old college coach that has very little MLS experience (played for both San Jose and Tampa) be a good fit for a big time club like DC?

Other names may make a little more sense though right now. Goff also mentions former KC front man Curt Onalfo as one of the candidates still left on the table along with current RSL assistant Robin Fraser, and DC assistant Chad Aston. The report also mentions DC will be looking at some foreign based coaches as well.

Honestly the club does need some sort of new direction here going into 2010. I like the idea of giving a guy like Fraser a shot over someone like Porter who has done well with a college team but will veteran players really respect someone younger than them? Hiring Onalfo doesn’t make a lot of sense to me since his teams in KC really never progressed over the years that he was in charge there. He just seems to be a better number 2 than a number one at this point. Thing is he does have knowledge of the DCU system which is always good to have.

Who DC goes for is really up in the air from here if you ask me. Either way the club will need to make a choice sooner rather than later. Goff said it would probably be in the next ten days so maybe United fans will get someone they want for Christmas here.

DCU fans who do you want here?

[polldaddy poll=2353179]

This may come to be a bit of a surprise to most that follow DC United. According to Steve Goff the club has removed interim New York manager Richie Williams from their shortlist of coaches that they are looking to hire.

Goff says the club is looking to make a hire this week and is looking currently at former Kansas City manager Curt Onalfo, some college coaches and some from overseas.

If you ask me this is quite a shocking development. For months I’ve been under the impression that Williams was the guy for DC. I wonder what changed along the way or if Williams himself decided not to head to DC. My guy feeling is if Onalfo isn’t the guy then DC turns to a college coach here.

Jimmy Conrad and Josh Wolff lead the way in 2009 for Kansas City. (WVH Photo Correspondent Brian Stevens)

The bandwagon was getting bigger for this club going into 2009. Many folks had hoped this was the year the Kansas City Wizards would get over the hump and make a big splash in the eastern conference.

But 2009 didn’t go as planned like some in Kansas City had hoped. The team stumbled out of the gate losing their first two games and some already had questions on the offense that was lacking. Then a funny thing happened in April things looked like they were headed in the right direction when former coach Curt Onalfo started using Josh Wolff at striker instead of on the wings. The club won three games out of the five in the month and looked good.

Then May and June rolled around and the Wizards won only two of their next seven league games while losing one and drawing two in SuperLiga play. From there on things turned sour for good on the season. The Wizards went through July and August winless and saw Onalfo get canned after a 6-0 beating in Dallas. Peter Vermes stepped in after that but he never was able to get the team back over the hump as the club failed to reach the post season.

What Went Right In 2009?
The club did have some success in tough stadiums like in Seattle and in Salt Lake. When guys like Josh Wolff and Claudio Lopez were healthy and playing in the right spots on the field things would click offensively. Defensively things went well when Jimmy Conrad was leading the way in the back. It seemed that when they won games it was by a shutout too. There are a few decent pieces in defense with this club that they can build on for sure.

What Went Wrong In 2009?
A lot went wrong as the writing was on the wall for Onalfo’s head for a long while. Most people didn’t want to admit to it in KC but it certainly was there for all to see. Secondly they had one of the worst home records in the league which usually means you don’t go very far. Lastly I just never felt Vermes and the owners put enough into this team this season. Their lack of movement with their roster was rather pathetic. Now I know the economy could have had something to do with that but they were one of the few teams that rarely made a move this year. Things were broke and they just failed to fix it.

What’s Next?
First of all they have to figure out their coaching issue, is Vermes going to stay or is he going to move back into the technical director/general manager role. Finding a coach that can get the most out of this group will be key. I think next in line for this bunch is really fixing a midfield that is so damaged. I know injuries played a part in their issues but for the most part it was a lack of consistency with this group that caused a lot of things in 2009. Secondly they need a go-to scorer with Wolff. I know Claudio Lopez is a good setup man but even he needs more help. Lastly it may be time to move on from Kevin Hartman in goal. This club has a good fan base and they definitely deserve some attention to their roster by this ownership.

Geoff Reid believes it was a bit too soon to let Curt Onalfo go. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Editor’s note: Geoff Reid appears on WVHooligan each week. Today he returns to defend the firing of Curt Onalfo. Feel free to leave him your thoughts below.

To say that I was surprised that Curt Onalfo was fired from the Kansas City Wizards wouldn�t necessarily be true. After FC Dallas knocked them for six we can�t honestly say this was shocking news. But it did raise a few eyebrows because the Wizards said it was in closed door discussions because they felt the club hasn�t progressed since he took over.

One can argue his overall record as manager was 27-29-22 which is very average over two and a half seasons and that�s an easy assumption to make. However, we all forget, he took over a team that was the worst in Major League Soccer after the 2006 season and replacing a US Soccer legend in Bob Gansler. Curt also took the Wizards to the playoffs in both his full seasons in charge and although the club didn�t make the MLS Cup, they certainly made the eventual cup winners work extremely hard to get to the final: In 2007, Houston Dynamo beat the Wizards in the semifinals at Robertson Stadium and then the Columbus Crew knocked the Wizards out in 2008 in the home and away aggregate first round.

We must also not forget that in 2007, Curt was a big reason to Eddie Johnson�s strike rate turning around and scoring goals again. Onalfo promised he would get EJ scoring again, and he delivered. To be perfectly honest and blunt, has Johnson even hit the same form since him and Onalfo parted ways when Johnson made his move to Fulham? No he hasn�t and it must be classed as a major achievement for a coach to get someone like Eddie Johnson scoring goals on a regular basis because the technical side of the game is not his strong point, while pace always has been his most dangerous weapon.

This season�s record is a small summary of what his overall record is like being 5-6-7 but it doesn�t necessarily explain the whole picture. The amazing thing with MLS which makes it different from every other league in the world is it�s such a streaky league because of the salary cap making every team on an even playing field. If the Wizards put together a five, six or even seven game unbeaten run and even put together a winning run they will be right back in this playoff hunt and if that happens, Peter Vermes will get the credit for installing belief in the squad of players. If that doesn�t happen, Curt Onalfo will take the blame for it, that�s just the way modern day football works. Look at Newcastle United�s relegation from the Premiership last season. Alan Shearer is a hero in the area no matter what happened and in the end he couldn�t keep them up in what was his first managerial position at any level. In the eyes of their fans, he can�t do any wrong.

I don�t believe it was totally fair for Onalfo to go. He loses one match, pretty badly though at that, and loses his job. Compare that to Juan Carlos Osorio in New York who has lost 16 matches this season in league play and more in other competitions and yet he still has a job currently. Something just doesn�t add up…