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.

Juan Carlos Osorio didn't help matters in New York. (Getty Images)

Not much was good in 2009 for the New York Red Bulls. Fresh off a trip to the MLS Cup in 2008 many thought this could be a break out season for the club. Instead the season got started with a bang in a bad way by losing to an expansion club on opening day 3-0 in Seattle. The Red Bulls failed to get a win until the middle of April and by the time summer had rolled around the club had already lost seven games out of 12 regular season matches.

The times the Red Bulls did win was at home, all five wins came at home against clubs that had terrible road records on the year like Dallas, Real Salt Lake, San Jose and Toronto. Their only good win of the year came at home against the Columbus Crew on a day that saw the club reach it’s only winning streak of the season.

You could blame a lot of the season on poor coaching by Juan Carlos Osorio early on. Osorio changed the line-ups with this club more than most of us change clothes in a week. It seemed as though every time we turned around there was a different person in the starting lineup for Osorio. Throw that in with the fact that Osorio and Jeff Agoos made terrible calls on player pickups and the Red Bulls got to where they are at today.

When Osorio stepped down Richie Williams stepped in for the interim role. Not much changed but the club did win more games under Williams than Osorio. Still the club never won a road game all season and their winless streak on the road is growing still to this date.

So with the theme that I plan on using with all MLS clubs this year when I review their season I plan on asking a couple questions to sum things up. What went right? What went wrong? And what is next?

What Went Right In 2009?
Not much went right in 2009 but the five games that were won were done in mostly big ways when the offense actually came alive and was mostly healthy. Big results like 5-0 over Toronto on the season finale, 4-1 over San Jose, or even the 2-0 win over RSL. One could say the Red Bulls did draw six games on the year and while that isn’t bad it isn’t great either. Four of their draws did come before the All-Star break and only one was a shutout.

What Went Wrong In 2009?
Just about everything. Moves that were made never panned out to anything. Key players were hurt nearly all season like Juan Pablo Angel. The defense was by far the worst the league has seen in a couple years. You can’t have a -20 goal differential on the season and consider it good. It was certainly a season that Red Bull fans will want to forget and forget quickly.

What’s Next?
For starters finding a coach that actually understands the league setup. New York has had an issue with stability in coaching over the years and that has caused them to be the mess that they are today. Is Richie Williams the right guy for the club? Possibly but I see him going to DC instead. After finding a coach they need to gut this team. If anything this club needs to be a bit more like LA by getting the right mix of young and old on this roster. They’ve signed too many old guys that basically come here and contribute nothing. And they get too many young guys that are overrated and produce nothing. Rebuilding is going to be rough for a club that will want to do a lot for their move to Red Bull Arena. I have no doubt we will see plenty of money spent this winter by this club but it is only a matter of time before we see how well that money was actually spent.

Chester Stadium currently under construction. (Photo via Philadelphia Union)

Lots of attention lately has been given to the start of next season for each club. It mainly seems to boil down to two clubs that are causing the league to redo the start of the season schedule every other day.

Both Toronto and 2010 expansion club Philadelphia seem to have their own issues going on. Philly is trying to figure out where to play their first game (or two) while their new stadium is finished getting built. Toronto on the other hand is looking at the very likely chance of finally getting a grass field at BMO Field.

Yes grass. Something nearly every fan, player, writer, etc. has called for since BMO Field opened in 2007.

According to Soccer America, the new grass field is set to be voted on by the city of Toronto very soon which is causing the league to hold off plans of announcing their First Kick schedule for next year.

Back to Philly though and their opening slate for their first season. It could end up being a thing just like Toronto a couple years ago where they begin their season (reportedly in Seattle) on the road for a couple games until their new stadium in Chester is complete. That should also help the club to not have to play in a NFL stadium for a game or two.

Putting Philly on the road for a game or three wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if you ask me. Remember nearly all previous SSS owners had to begin their first seasons in their new stadiums on the road. Columbus was on the road for seven straight in 1999, LA was on the road for eight in 2003 and I believe Chicago saw nine road games in a row while Toyota Park was getting its final touches done a couple seasons ago.

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Sometimes we get caught up in things and forget about a few important others out there that are right in front of us. For the New York Red Bulls, getting Juan Carlos Osorio out of the picture meant we could remember someone who can actually coach in this league. Of course I am talking about Richie Williams.

Now I’m not saying Richie Williams should be the next New York coach, because let’s face it the Red Bulls front office brass aren’t smart enough to hire him for the full-time gig anyways. They didn’t do it before when they took over a few years ago and they won’t do it now.

Sad too since Williams should be a head coach in this league and will eventually get his chance to someday soon.

But you want some fun perspective about Williams? He is the club’s best coach in the history of the club. I’m not even kidding. Brad Lewis wrote this yesterday about William’s return to the main seat and the proof is how they say in the pudding:

Williams coached the team to a 4-3-2 record in all competitions after Mo Johnston got sacked in 2006, including 3-3-2 in eight league games. It’s a sad indictment of this woebegone club that now, with 14 points in his nine league games, that’s statistically the most successful tenure ever as coach. No, seriously.

Only Carlos Queiroz (34 in 24 for 1.42 ppg) and go-for-broke Octavio Zambrano (who eschewed ties and amassed 131 points in 85 games for 1.54 ppg) come close. With today’s win, Williams jumped up to 1.55 ppg and leapfrogged both of them by getting this dysfunctional and dispirited team to band together and work for each other for 90 minutes.

I love when things are like that for a club that just can’t seem to figure it out. The answer is right in front of them and yet they still will screw the next coaching hire up.

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