September 26, 2006
The Timbers surprised the crap out of everyone today by announcing that head coach Chris Agnello has "resigned". Mind you, this is joyous news, the fans (and I'm sure the players) were hoping like mad that Agnello wouldn't be back next year, but Timbers management doesn't usually make big changes right after a season ends. They usually wait a few months, if not longer, to make major changes, so news of Agnello's exit caught everyone off guard.
I can't say that anyone is sad to see Agnello go. Euphoric is more like it. When a new coach comes in and takes a team with a winning record, a team that's always been one of the better teams in the league, and turns it into a defeated, demoralised mess, well, suffice it to say that doesn't exactly kindle a lot of love from the players or fans. Considering the kind of talent Agnello had to work with, it's downright baffling that he managed to take so many gifted players and turn them into a last place team. And the only person who didn't seem concerned about the loses and the Timbers' sinking place in the standings was Agnello.
"It's a rebuilding season," Agnello kept saying, which didn't make any sense. The definition of rebuild is "to build (something) again after it has been damaged or destroyed," and the Timbers weren't broken or destroyed when Agnello became coach. They were a fine team, full of talent and potential, and what they needed was someone who could organize and inspire an already great team. The whole rebuilding shtick was a joke, just a poor excuse for bad coaching. The only thing Agnello did was take a good team and make it crappy which, somewhat ironically, means that next year actually will be a rebuilding season.
And who will be the new coach? We already know the answer to that and Timbers management shocked fans a second time with that announcement. The Timbers' new head coach will be none other than six year Timbers veteran Gavin Wilkinson. They made one of the Timbers players the new head coach! Granted, this last year Gavin played a dual role as both a player and assistant coach, but it still shocked the bejezus out of everyone to hear that Gavin was being named the new head coach.
I'm not sure how Gavin will do, but he couldn't do any worse than Agnello and it's a huge boost to fan morale to have one of our own players take over the team. We know and love Gavin, he's been a fan favorite for years but, even more importantly, Gavin knows the Timbers. He played for them for 6 years. He knows the team, he knows the management, and he knows the fans. Gavin is very deeply comitted to the Timbers, he truly loves this team, and I that's exactly what the Timbers need. The Timbers withered under the direction of a cold and distant coach, a coach that never committed himself to the team or community, so let's see what a coach who actually cares can do. Gavin may not have a lot of experience, but he does have this strange thing called heart, and rumour has it that can make all the difference in the world.
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