Article courtesy of Dan Gaichas of Windy City Soccer
With five matches remaining in the regular season, the Chicago Fire have sacked Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop along with assistants Marc Bircham and Clint Mathis. In their place, the Fire have named Nelson Rordriguez as the club’s new general manager (effective October 19th), technical director Brian Bliss as interim head coach, and Logan Pause as assistant coach for the remainder of the season.
Yallop leaves the Fire after a 13-26-24 league record in nearly two seasons. The Fire are currently mired at the bottom of MLS with just 27 points and nine points out of the playoffs.
“I share our fans’ frustration and, while we’ve enjoyed success off the pitch, I’m obviously not happy with the results on it. I felt the need to make changes now in order to better position ourselves for the off-season and beyond,” said Andrew Hauptman, Chairman of Andell Inc. and Chairman and Owner of Chicago Fire Soccer Club. “I have tremendous confidence about the future of this Club in Nelson’s hands and am beyond thrilled to bring him to Chicago.
“Nelson is a proven leader with a stellar national reputation, an exceptionally skilled soccer mind and has extensive experience working alongside players and coaches. He is uniquely qualified to build and manage our technical team and lead our Club, while more closely aligning our on field efforts with the activities of our dynamic front office led by COO Atul Khosla.”
Rodriguez comes from US Soccer where he served as Managing Director of National Team Advisory Services. His post came after 14 years of experience working in various senior roles in Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing (SUM). His last position within MLS was as Executive Vice President of Competition, Technical and Game Operations, where he was responsible for all on-field competition.
Rodriguez has held a variety of positions in MLS and SUM including President of Chivas USA during their transitional period under league ownership. At MLS, Rodríguez initiated and supervised the League’s technical committee, expanded the League’s scouting and analytics capabilities and was also instrumental in the creation of the Professional Referees Organization (“PRO”). In addition, he supervised supporter relations, safety and security, team travel and the League’s growing sports medicine initiatives.
In previous roles within MLS, Rodríguez served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Business Development where he worked closely with the Commissioner’s Office in areas such as business planning, new business development and strategic alliances and also served as Senior Vice President of SUM International.
“It is with great pride and excitement that I am joining the Chicago Fire,” said Rodríguez. “I have tremendous respect for Andrew and his vision for the future of this Club and thank him for this opportunity. I have always enjoyed Chicago and admired its great sports fans. I consider leading the Fire to be more than just a responsibility, but also a privilege. I will work hard to uphold the club’s tradition, protect its honor and help raise more championship banners. I look forward to working alongside the great club staff assembled at Toyota Park. I also wish to thank U.S. Soccer for the privilege I had to serve with them and in particular Sunil Gulati, Dan Flynn and Jurgen Klinsmann.”
It is not the first time that Bliss has taken over a club on an interim basis. While technical director as Columbus, he took over on an interim basis after Robert Warzycha was sacked in 2013. Bliss went 4-4-0 in that post. Pause will join him as an assistant. He had been serving as a club vice president after retiring as a player last season. Goalkeeper coach Aron Hyde will retain his position.
THOUGHTS: It appears that Rodriguez will essentially be head of the soccer operations while Bliss will take care of things on the pitch at least through the end of the season. This move is evidently designed with 2016 and beyond in mind as 2015 looks more and more like a lost cause. It’s not unusual to see people in league posts move to posts at their respective clubs and it happens in both baseball and hockey. Hauptman is banking that Rodriguez’s knowledge of MLS will be beneficial as the Fire try to move forward. It’s up to Hauptman to let him do his job as he’s been accused of meddling in affairs.
There will be people who will say that they should have moved on Yallop much sooner, but after the loss in the US Open Cup semifinals to Philadelphia this season, it was evident that Frank Yallop’s days as coach would be numbered, especially if the playoffs got more and more out of reach. Now, the Fire have to hire their seventh coach in what will be ten seasons in 2016.
