The LA Galaxy will introduce former US National team coach Bruce Arena as the team’s new head coach at a press conference scheduled for 1pm CT today.

Arena and assistant coach Dave Sarachan will take over for the Galaxy and have their first game against Chicago this Thursday in Primetime action. Cobi Jones is expected to remain on the Galaxy coaching staff.

The move comes a week after previous coach Ruud Gullit resigned and president and general manager Alexi Lalas was fired.

It will be the third coaching stop in MLS for Arena, who resigned as coach of the New York Red Bulls in November after they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

The 56-year-old led DC United to back-to-back MLS titles in 1996 and in 1997 before leaving to become the US national coach in two World Cups.

Its been asked before, what do you make of this coaching change? And do you like the coaching staff of Jones and Sarachan with Arena. I think those three are a solid staff of coaches here.

We had reported and discussed how the next coach of FC Dallas would be both the head coach and the club’s technical director. It appears that won’t be the case…meaning say SMU coach Schellas Hyndman is indeed hired next week by FC Dallas, he won’t be the club’s technical director. That coming from Tobias Lopez earlier today who talked to Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock.

Hitchcock said the candidate will be hired only as a coach and not in a dual role as a coach and technical director. Several Major League Soccer clubs — including Columbus, which is also owned by the Hunt family — utilize a technical director to work with the GM on such things as scouting and player personnel decisions.

“We’ll hire a technical director at some point,” Hitchcock said. “I believe the coach and technical director need to be different. You need a different perspective, different set of eyes, different skill set or otherwise it would be no different that what we’ve done in the past.”

Hmm…not that I am doubting my sources or anyone else out there that is reporting on Hyndman being the next FC Dallas coach. I am just a bit surprised its not a duel hire.

Lopez did report that the other two finalists in the coaching search are indeed former player Oscar Pareja and former Chicago Fire coach Dave Sarachan.

Some fans around Dallas are still hoping for better news than Hyndman and while I doubt it will happen it could be possible that we see Sarachan or Pareja end up as the head coach after all.

To me it just makes more sense that if Dallas is going to hire Hyndman, hire him as both head coach and technical director. Then again the same would go for Sarachan or Pareja at this point too. This news is also interesting with the report earlier in the day about John Ellinger being linked to Hyndman’s staff. I just couldn’t see Ellinger being on Hyndman’s staff without the possibility of Ellinger becoming the head coach if Hyndman were to decide to step down from the head coaching spot and just be the technical director of the club.

Or maybe this is just Hitchcock blowing smoke up people’s butts again. Who really knows at this point where FC Dallas is heading. Fans are mixed but mostly are hoping for something they can cheer about. The GM seems to want something different than the owners. And the owner Colin Clark just seems to want his old ball coach to lead the way.

Sunday can’t come soon enough to get some of these answers out of the way.

Oh, the things in this world that will make you rack your brain around with.

I know that headline has been written once before, or maybe in another form but it appears that this time it is for real. Some of my sources say FC Dallas is set to name SMU head coach Schellas Hyndman as its new head coach and will announce the signing later this week.

I wasn’t told if he would hired as the head coach and as the technical director as previously reported. My bet is that double hiring is still going to happen. I’d honestly be shocked to see it does not happen as a duel hire.

My opinion really hasn’t changed on this matter. Its nothing against Hyndman but I honestly believe he isn’t the right hire for this club at the moment. He comes into a mess of a club for the most part from the front office down to the reserve roster. He isn’t likely to bring that much of an impact and is really just a personal hire of the owners.

I doubt a better hire would have been done by GM Michael Hitchcock either though. So it makes sense for the owners to get someone they want and not someone the GM wants. They’ve seen the GM doesn’t deal well with the coaches at this club. And its pretty apparent that whoever the GM wanted would have been a lame duck anyways.

Dave Sarachan and Oscar Pareja were probably two better choices, I still wanted to see Pareja get the nod but it still looks like Colin Clark wanted his old SMU coach at the helm of his club. My mind may change once I am around Hyndman more but for the most part its not the best of moves for this club.

Also, I still think with this hire, especially if its the duel-role hire like I think it is, Hyndman will coach the rest of this season and then find another coach for the club. I seriously believe he will then take on just the role of technical director (Hitchcock will more than likely be out of the picture by then as well). Sort of like Mo Johnston in Toronto. He can find talent, I will say that, and that is why I am feeling this way.

No word yet on what this means for current interim coach Marco Ferruzzi. I honestly think he should have just been given the keys to the car for the rest of the year here. But I suppose not.

Then again you just never know. What do you all make of this hire? Wrong move or right?

UPDATE: Just noticed this news over on Ives’ site as well (though I think he beat me to the punch). Lots of interesting comments on his post about this matter.

Nothing like an afternoon update here. The wonderful Tobias Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram has given us all a little insight into the Dallas coaching search.

Former FC Dallas player/assistant coach Oscar Pareja and former Chicago Fire coach Dave Sarachan have both received permission from the U.S. Soccer Federation to interview for FC Dallas’ vacant coaching position, according to USSF spokesman Neil Buethe.

Pareja is an assistant with the U.S. under-17 national team while Sarachan is the Director of Scouting for the USSF Development Academy.

The first name (Pareja) makes total sense as I’ve said before. Most people in Dallas would love to see him return to the Big D to coach the Hoops. Though there are some that wonder if he is too connected to the current club as he was just an assistant a couple years ago. Take that for what it is worth.

The second name (Sarachan) is a bit of a surprise. The former Chicago Fire coach was pretty one of the main reasons as to why the Fire are built the way they are today with the exceptions of Blanco and Wilman Conde. Seriously, for the most part that club was Sarachan’s even though his era as coach in Chicago ended on a sour note.

My take on these two names is pretty much what it has already been. Pareja would be a natural fit and Sarachan has a good eye for talent though I question if he is the right fit for such a young club.

No word yet on what the other potential third name is on that apparent shortlist of three names. Most still believe it is Hugo Sanchez. And there are some out there who have been calling for Dallas to go after RSL’s Jason Kreis for the position, though I highly doubt they will.