As the MLS world check their passports and descend upon Toronto, the league’s premier and winningest team is searching for its next manager, its third in the past three season (if you include interim Ben Olsen).  The team let go of Curt Onalfo toward the end of the season and turned the reigns over to team legend Olsen.  But even a resurrected Brian Clough could not help this team – DC United has fallen to the point where its offense can politely be described as woeful and its management described as inept.  So the next manager will have quite a task ahead of him, not only dealing with the problems on the pitch but with dysfunction off it as well.

DC over the past decade has gone with rehired coaches (Onalfo, Hudson), former players (Olsen, Nowak), and MLS assistants (Soehn), and it is interviewing people in these categories again.  The Washington Post‘s excellent soccer writer Steve Goff reported last week that DC has interviewed seven candidates, and the next head coach will come from that group.  Most of the interviewees are American, team president Kevin Payne confirmed, but refused to name names.  One interesting name leaked, however, is Swiss pro coach Lucien Favre.  Favre coached FC Zurich and Hertha BSC, the latter to a fourth place finish in the Bundesliga before he was fired in 2009.  He also led Zurich to two Swiss titles.  The international option is a new one for DC United, but a Favre hiring would look like DC is emulating New York’s hiring of Hans Backe.

The other options seem to be a a mixture of assistant coaches and current managers.  The assistants alleged to have been interviewed are RSL’s Robin Fraser, Los Angeles Dave Sarachan, and New York’s Richie Williams, but I suspect Williams will be hard to pry away from New York.  The mentioned manager is Colin Clarke, who’s claim to fame is leading the Islanders in an upset of the Galaxy in the CCL.  The club could also be looking at the collegiate level, maybe interviewing Akron coach Caleb Porter (who turned them down last year) or University of Maryland’s Sasho Cirovski, who is a longtime successful coach in College Park.

In my opinion, with DC United turning to youth to begin rebuilding the club, I think the club should hire someone with experience coaching younger players, so luring Cirovski or Porter would be a good hire for the team.  It’s also a clean break from the recent past; the last coach hired from the university level was a guy named Bruce Arena.  Assuming those two aren’t interested, and there’s a good chance they aren’t, hiring a Sarachan would be the safe move for this club.

But does DC United’s hire matter?  After this disastrous season, the team fired its manager but retained the team president and general manager.  And that’s the root of the problem – the inability to think outside the box.  The club is fortunate that Andy Najar has developed so quickly because little else has.  Players like Bill Hamid were held back by injuries, but others like Danny Allsopp and the two designated players signings have been busts.  For the club to ascend again to the league’s upper echelon, ownership needs to take a serious look at the entire franchise and come up with a good long-term plan that combines strategic thinking on and off the pitch.  A good managerial hire is a good first step.

GolTV commentator Ray Hudson was recently interviewed by Kartik Krishnaiyer of Major League Soccer Talk. The former DC United and Miami Fusion coach had much to say about the possibility of a MLS team returning to South Florida.

Hudson answered questions on several topics including:

• his thoughts on the Miami Barca deal and what Barcelona represents,
• how the fanbase in South Florida will take to a new MLS team,
• a trip down memory lane with the APSL Fort Lauderdale Strikers,
• the memories at DC United and Miami Fusion that stick out in Hudson’s mind, and
• what lessons MLS and US Soccer can take from Doug Hamilton about how to make soccer a better product.

Watch the Ray Hudson video interview now:

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If you want to watch more of Ray Hudson, visit La Liga Talk for another exclusive interview as well as behind the scenes footage of the Geordie alongside fellow GolTV commentator Phil Schoen.

In the meantime, keep on returning to Major League Soccer Talk this week for more exclusive interviews and videos.

Recently fellow colleague Kartik Krishnaiyer and I took a trip down to GolTV studios in Miami to interview three of the best football commentators in the United States: Ray Hudson, Phil Schoen and Lindsey Dean.

All this week on Major League Soccer Talk we’ll be bringing you a different exclusive video interview each day as well as a video sneak peek at the future home of Miami FCB at Florida International University. The video interviews will feature Ray Hudson and Phil Schoen.

In this interview with Dean, he discusses:

• where he sees Major League Soccer going regarding signing foreign players and over expansion,
• how the single entity structure has deterred MLS clubs from being successful in the Champions League compared to USL clubs,
• his thoughts on Bob Bradley and how he’s done thus far with the national squad,
• how the fact that less and less US players are playing in Major League Soccer affects the national team, and
• whether more Mexican players playing in the Mexican league and for the US national squad is a growing or not.

Enjoy the interview below and feel free to post your comments.

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Ray Hudson is a playing, coaching and broadcasting figure who has few equals in the United States today. As a seven year member of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL, Hudson played alongside such legends of the game as Nene Cubillias, Gerd Mueller and George Best. Later he played several for the Strikers of the APSL and went on to manage the MLS’ Miami Fusion and DC United. Living in Fort Lauderdale, Hudson now commentates on Internationals, Bundesliga, and La Liga matches for Miami based GOL TV. The interview with host Kartik Krishnaiyer discusses Hudson’s career from the time he touched down on American soil in 1977 right through today when he calls matches for GOL TV.

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