List of Columbus Crew head coaches
Columbus Crew SC is a professional soccer team in the United States. The team is a member of the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top professional soccer league of the United States and Canada. Crew SC has had five different head coaches since joining the league in 1996. Timo Liekoski, the only Finnish head coach in MLS history, was the first head coach in 1996, but started 6-16 and was fired midseason to be replaced by Tom Fitzgerald.[1] Fitzgerald is currently the all-time leader in regular season wins (70), playoff appearances (four) and playoff wins (nine).[2]
Greg Andrulis, Fitzgerald's replacement, was the first head coach to lead Columbus to a major tournament victory in 2002 by winning the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.[3] In 2004, Columbus won the Supporters' Shield for having the best record during the regular season,[4] but Andrulis, who had been with the team since 1997 as an assistant, was fired during the 2005 season.[5][6] When Sigi Schmid began the 2006 season, it was the first time since the team's founding that a new coach took over in the off-season. He coached the team from 2006 through 2008 and led Crew SC to its first (and only) MLS Cup Championship in 2008, a season in which he also won MLS Coach of the Year.[7] After that season, Schmid left to coach the newly-formed Seattle Sounders FC, and former player and assistant coach Robert Warzycha replaced him. This would be Warzycha's second tenure as head coach after coaching 16 games as interim head coach in 2005.[8] Warzycha was the Crew's head coach from 2008-13, and his overall record of 70-59-41 leaves him tied with Tom Fitzgerald (1996-2001) for the most regular-season wins (70) as head coach of Columbus.
On November 6th, 2013 Gregg Berhalter was named the head coach.[9]
Key
# | Number of coaches[lower-alpha 1] |
Seasons | Full or partial seasons coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
D | Draws |
App | Playoff appearances |
Honors | Individual or team awards won during tenure |
Coaches
- As of May 6, 2017
# | Head Coach | Seasons | W | L | D | App | W | L | D | W | D | Honors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MLS Regular Season | MLS Cup Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup | ||||||||||
1[2] | Timo Liekoski | 1996[lower-alpha 2] | 6 | 16 | –[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | |
2 | Tom Fitzgerald | 1996–2001[lower-alpha 4] | 70 | 67 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |
3 | Greg Andrulis | 17 May 2001–12 July 05[lower-alpha 5] | 49 | 43 | 32 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 3 | U.S. Open Cup – 2002 Supporters' Shield – 2004 MLS Coach of the Year – 2004 |
4 | Robert Warzycha | 12 July 2005–20 Oct 05 [lower-alpha 6] | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 1 | |
5 | Sigi Schmid | 20 Oct 2005–16 Dec 08 | 34 | 33 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | MLS Cup Champion – 2008 Supporters' Shield – 2008 MLS Coach of the Year – 2008 |
— | Robert Warzycha | 23 Dec 2008–02 Sep 13 | 63 | 53 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 | Supporters' Shield – 2009 |
6 | Brian Bliss | 2 Sep 2013–6 Nov 2013[lower-alpha 7] | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
7 | Gregg Berhalter | 6 Nov 2013–present | 42 | 39 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Eastern Conference Champions – 2015 |
Notes
- ↑ A running total of the number of coaches of the Crew. Thus any coach who has two separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
- ↑ Liekoski was fired on August 2, 1996
- ↑ MLS games could not end in a tie until the 2000 season.
- ↑ Fitzgerald was fired on May 17, 2001.
- ↑ Andrulis was fired on July 16, 2005.
- ↑ Warzycha was named interim head coach on July 16, 2005.
- ↑ Bliss was named interim head coach on Sept 2, 2013.
References
- ↑ Timmerman, Tom (September 1, 1996). "New Coach, Goalkeeper Spark Crew's Push Toward Playoffs". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- 1 2 "2011 Columbus Crew Media Guide" (PDF). Columbus Crew. pp. 89–95. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ↑ Dillman, Lisa (October 25, 2002). "Galaxy is Cut Down by Crew". Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ "Crew runs unbeaten streak to 18 and wins Supporters' Shield after 1-1 tie at Colorado". OurSports Central. October 17, 2004.
- ↑ Danborn, Joe (July 12, 2005). "Crew fire Andrulis as Coach". USA Today.
- ↑ "Former WSU soccer coach to lead Crew". Dayton Daily News. May 18, 2001.
- ↑ "Crew caps historic dream season with storybook ending in MLS Cup 2008". OurSports Central. November 26, 2008.
- ↑ Mitchell, Shawn (December 23, 2008). "Crew promotes Warzycha to head coach". Columbus Dispatch.
- ↑ Jardy, Adam (November 7, 2013). "Gregg Berhalter named coach". Columbus Dispatch.