If I'm counting correctly, six MLS teams came into the new season with a different head coach than they had in 2009. Hans Backe took over in New York after Richie Williams finished out last year for the fired Juan Carlos Osorio, Carlos de los Cobos took over for Dennis Hamlett in Chicago, Toronto's revolving door stopped on Preki, whose previous team, Chivas USA, promoted Martin Vasquez, and DC United hired Curt Onalfo, who was fired by Kansas City late last season.
If you'd like to count Peter Vermes as a new head coach because he took the reigns with the Wizards late last year, I suppose we can throw him into the mix.
Of the head coaches that lost their jobs in 2009, we can say with certainty that two of them did so because of poor performance; Curt Onalfo and Juan Carlos Osorio (Osorio technically resigned, but did so under immense pressure that amounts to a firing), neither of whom did finished out the season.
Denis Hamlet was also fired, an odd decision considering that the Fire were only penalty kicks, and a Nick Rimando goalkeeping clinic, away from the MLS Cup Final.
The reason for the departure of the remaining names is slightly more difficult to ascertain; conventional wisdom says that Preki was pushed out in the name of "change" rather than for failing to live up to expectations. It's likely that Preki tired of his Chivas USA situation, wanted to leave, and was allowed to do so by the club. A parting of ways "by mutual consent" is how it was termed in the press.
In DC, the company line was the Tom Soehn removed himself from consideration after the expiration of his contract; while it's likely that he was asked nicely to do so, there's enough ambiguity cloud the issue. Either way, Soehn wasn't publicly fired.
Neither was Chris Cummins at TFC, who took over for the frustrated John Carver early in the 2009 season. Officially, Cummins resigned and left the club because his family was unable to secure Canadian visas; again, it's possible that backroom dealings pushed Cummins out and that he might not have returned for 2010 even if he had wanted to, but there's no real way to be sure. Even if Toronto failed to meet their goal of reaching the playoffs for the first time, it doesn't appear that Cummins was actively relieved of his duties by the team.
Six changes and two out-and-out firings for poor performance; though the turnover of head coaches might indicate MLS has just as much pressure as any other competitive league, there are more than a few reasons to believe otherwise.
Two factors in the MLS equation make head coaching jobs here much more stable: parity, which ensures that almost every team has a chance of at least making the playoffs year to year, and the playoffs themselves, which represent some measure of success and could be enough to let an under-performing coach keep his job.
Because financial success is not directly tied to on-field success (or is more correctly less tied to it than in other leagues around the world), owners and club management have less pressure to replace a coach for a bad run of form. Add that a last place finish is just a last place finish and relegation isn't in play, and we can hardly expect team officials to change head coaches at a clip similar to leagues abroad. In-season firings are even less common, with clubs willing to stick out disappointing seasons rather than make a change; the firing and hiring of coaches costs money, and with budgets already stretched to the limit around the league, even a few thousand dollars spent buying out a contract or giving an interim coach a raise is distasteful.
There are a few exceptions to the rule, namely the big markets of New York and LA. The Galaxy signed the most expensive player in league history, have one of the highest profiles in MLS, and therefore have a higher pressure top spot than almost anyone else. New York's big market status creates a similar pressure cooker, only ratcheted up this season by the opening of Red Bull Arena. Additionally, the New York and LA jobs are therefore more appealing than most, giving those clubs a chance to extend their searches wider than the bulk of MLS teams; this means the installed coach will feel more pressure to get the job done, lest he be dumped for a more qualified replacement. Big money ownership allows those club flexibility other clubs just don't have.
No coach ever possesses complete job security, but it would be incorrect to apply the usual standard, that the man in charge is always just one bad result way from losing his job, to Major League Soccer. Frank Yallop wouldn't have lasted this long in San Jose. Curt Onalfo wouldn't have been given three years in Kansas City. Schellas Hyndman's stay with FC Dallas might already be over. Fernando Clavijo would never have lasted so long in Colorado.
But MLS is a different animal, one with unique rules and quirks that have direct effects on things like the amount of time a head coach is able to keep his job despite losing. Next time you wonder why a coach isn't on the hot seat, or appears safe even when you're not sure he should be, keep in mind that in Major League Soccer, the winds of change are slow to blow.
For me, it's actually just a little too bad - coaching intrigue is fun.
