Well, when I’m wrong, I’m really wrong:
Not an internal hire. Not more small-town small-time small-ball. Instead of the business-we’ve-seen-as-usual the Bhathals reached out and hired:
An experienced general manager with national and international connections, and
Two data analysis specialists.
I’m impressed with both.
Jeff Agoos is a former Nat, a smart, tough defender with over 100 caps. He played in MLS for some time among other professional gigs. But for our purposes the important work came when he hung ’em up; New York Red Bull hired him, first as Technical Director in 2006, then “Sporting Director” in 2008. Three years later MLS poached him to be “Technical Director of Competition”….until today.
Experience in a selling league, as well as connections through the Nats with the international soccer community. Not WoSo, so we’ll see if he can run that up to speed quickly.
The data staff are Lucy Rushton and Angus McNab.
Rushton worked for Atlanta United and is well thought of. She was GM at Bay FC. McNabb has done analytical work for Canada (there’s the maple leaf mafia connection – you knew there’d be one, right?) and Motherwell in the Scottish PL.
One thing that’s bugged a stats geek like me for years is how the Peregrine organization never seemed to run analytics. I’m not a complete stathead, but c’mon. There’s a place for this stuff, and smart organizations can pick and choose how much they use.
So this is the first time since the sale that the Bhathals have really knocked my hat off.
This is good, But…(and you knew there’d be a but, right..?)…it has to be the beginning.
We still need better roster management and tactical management on the pitch. That means a better head coach.
We still need a top-flight starting centerback.
We still need a top-level forward – preferably a right winger – and some depth.
Now we have some mental throw-weight in the GM’s swivel chair?
Let’s get to work.
Update 1/11: Let’s recap.
- We have a new GM with lots of experience in a selling/buying/free agent setting. That’s good.
- We have not one but two data analysts on call. That’s good.
- We have a new young ACM/CF. Like all rookies we won’t know if or how well she makes the jump to the pros, so call that “promising, might be good, might be meh…”.
- We still have Ken in the technical box (Agoos confirmed that at his short introductory presser) and given the short time between now and the Great Carrot Festival he’ll be there then. That’s not so good.
- As of this writing we have no idea who else is here…or not. The club still lists LeBlanc as GM and AFAIK there’s been no other press releases to clarify this. So it’s possible that Mike Norris is gone – he certainly doesn’t really add anything at this point – or Mike Smith, or Carlos Martinez-Gloria is still and will be here at least into some portion of the next season. The lack of clarity is also not so good.
FWIW, the Agoos presser isn’t really worth listening to. The questions are all just vague, general “how do you see your role/what are you working in” softball kinds of things. There is one – about the roster – that Agoos responds by saying he sees a need for:
- “a strong spine” (name-checks the Hubly and Sauerbrunn losses),
- attacking help for Smith, and to
- “solidify” the keepers.
No details there. You could call the Tordin signing part of #2, but that’s a pretty big ask for a true rookie from a relatively small school. Agoos says he’s planning “a lot of listening”, so it’s going to depend on what his staff is saying.
One thing that bugged me during the Agoos presser was Phuoc Nguyen missed a huge opportunity to pin Agoos down on details on the state of the “world-class training facility”. Where is the proposed location? Has it even been decided? If so, what’s the property sale/lease status? Designer? Contractors? Contracts signed, drawn up, in process, nothing yet?
As with so much…we just don’t know.
Parsons established a January “retreat” sort of team-building getaway, which IIRC Wilkinson continued. I don’t recall one in 2023, probably because of the sale and Norris’ appointment came mid- to late-month. I know the squad didn’t do much, if anything, before camp opened in the last week of January 2024.
You’d think something like that would be in order this year.
The turmoil has been huge since early 2024. Lots of veterans gone. Lots of players like Linnehan and Spaanstra and Mackenzie and the keepers with open questions about everything from on-field roles to depth position. You’d think it’d be helpful to get the whole gang together before dumping the first ball-bag to meet and greet, talk feelings and thoughts. Gale is notoriously a “vibes” guy, well…time to start vibe-ing.
I’ll be here to talk about that if and when it happens.
- Sing, sing a song… - January 14, 2025
- Goose (updated 1/11/25) - January 7, 2025
- Now what..? - January 5, 2025
Yes, this is way better than I hoped. His experience, his homage to Clive Charles, the data experts, I am pretty well sold. Yes of course, I would like him to clean some house and maybe they already have and maybe they have a CB coming. But for now I am just going to bliss out with high hopes for this season.
The Clive thing is…okay, I get he’s a Timbers (and UP) legend. But that was twenty years ago. Not sure I get Agoos feeling he needed to name-check Clive to establish his Portland cred.
The problem with “clean house” is the short timeline. Camp opens next week? There’s no hope to get a new HC. Mike Smith seems fine, as does Martinez-Gloria. Norris? Yeah, kinda needs to take a hike. But I think we might see Ken in March and April. Need to hope for better work, then.
My “hopes” will be on pause until we see what ends up on the pitch. Goose has already signed a young midfielder (Pietra Tordin, Princeton and USWNT U-20’s attacking midfielder, Top Drawer ranked #32 nationally) so hopefully he’s working the fuck out of the phones to get those CBs and more midfield/winger support. We’ll see.
But…good beginning, after I was about ready to go Full Eeyore.
Bingo Time: Agoos? Anyone? Anyone?
Well, he certainly doesn’t scream, “Worst case scenario lowest common denominator we were only joking about restoring the Thorns as an elite club.”
My one—minor, and discardable based on performance—hesitation revolves around the USMNT leaning on the legacy of that 2002 World Cup team to fill spots for too long. And pony-tailed center back Jeff Agoos was one of them. I admit, it’s more of a superstition than an actual reservation.
On the other hand, his post-playing career path has not involved the USMNT, so I may well lower my eyebrow and explain it all away later as an errant hair that needed trimming. Color me genuinely and pleasantly surprised.
Hope I feel the same way about the incoming players.
He was generally considered a solid international defender, hairstyle and all. He was part of the DC United glory years, too. So as a player? Pretty good!
I’m REALLY ignorant of MLS in the early Oughts (I was following the Timbers in USL…) but the Drinks were decent – made the 2006 playoffs, and were runners-up in 2008. Then they were shit in 2009 and 2010 before having a decent 2011…but they also made some big name signings; Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez…so maybe Goose was doing that? If so, there’s some soccer smarts under all that hair.
What he was doing for the league for fourteen years? NO idea.
But let’s see what happens now. Like I said; this needs to be a beginning.
Yup, have to fess up about being wrong too. I took a very dim view of the foot dragging RAJ took to getting this hire done. It is a good outside the orb hire, not an in house promotion I feared was coming. Mea Culpas aside, we need to see if the Bthals will spend at least like for like to the salaries that have come off the books. They will probably need to spend more if the Thorns are to keep up with top 4. The Courage are making moves, even Utah and Houston are signing very good players. Standing pat is not an option.
Part of the problem is the players we already have but that we know too little about to really assess; people like Turner, Hirst, Mackenzie, Linnehan…damn near everyone outside of the 2024 regular starters.
Do we already have a solid squad? If so “standing pat” actually IS an option! (With the caveat that I’m reeeeeally unsold on Daiane, so a starting CB is a need…)
But that’s kind of the point; we DON’T know, and what we do – that Ken did not use these players well last season – isn’t promising.
All we can do now, tho, is hope the Agoos hire is an indication that the club is serious about 2025. The next couple of months will tell us a lot.
We do have a solid club, but with serous depth issues. Smith and Coffey are top players in the league, Sugita and Weaver are up there as well. I feel like Mueller, Obaze and Reyes have the makings of good defensive players.
The issues begin when we get to the “IF” players. If Fleming can find her comfort zone, she should be in the Sugita/Weaver area. If Moultre develops into a offensive threat as an attacking mid, it should add quality to the attack. If Linnehan can continue to make an impact when she plays, it should help the team. But none of these ifs feel close to becoming consistent quality where the “IF” tag comes off. There are just too many ifs out there to think it will all come together. Right now I think this is a mid-table team, which means they should qualify for the playoffs, but won’t really contend at this time. There is real work to be done to improve the prospects this year.