Thursday, August 14, 2008

Fernando Clavijo's coaching peers

Goff reported that he was given the vote of confidence for the rest of the season yesterday, though now it's edited to quote a Rapids official saying that actually didn't happen. I'm not surprised that there's no move to fire him. If they didn't do it after last year, why do it now? His contract is up after this season, and hopefully then the Rapids will make a better decision. Because this is a man who absolutely does not deserve to stay in the job he has. Winning two playoff series on penalty shootouts does not make you a good coach. Making to MLS' final four twice is not a big accomplishment, especially since even then no one expected the Rapids to win it all.

The fact is, Fernando Clavijo is now in his 7th season as an MLS coach and he has yet to have a winning record (more wins than losses). Just look:




W L D
2000 NE Clavijo, Fernando 13 13 6
2001 NE Clavijo, Fernando 7 14 6
2002 NE Clavijo, Fernando 2 4 1
2005 COL Clavijo, Fernando 13 13 6
2006 COL Clavijo, Fernando 11 13 8
2007 COL Clavijo, Fernando 9 13 8
2008 COL Clavijo, Fernando 6 10 3

Overall record: 61-80-38 (1.23 PPG)
All Competitions: 71-90-41 (1.26 PPG)

I was thinking about this earlier: How many coaches in the four major sports here in the US have coached for 7 seasons without a winning record? I used the Reference family of sites to figure it out. The answer? Only 12 men can say they also were that bad, and the overall record is 9 seasons. It includes non-full seasons, such as interim stints. If the Rapids don't start winning, at the end of this year only 4 men will be ahead of Clavijo.

Sports Coaches with most years as head coach without a winning record:

MLB

9-Rene Lachemann (1981-84, 1993-96, 2002)
9-Jimmie Wilson (1934-38, 1941-44)
7-Harry Craft (1957-59, 1961-64)
7-Preston Gomez (1969-72, 1974-75, 1980)

Amusingly enough, all four MLB guys managed the Chicago Cubs at one point.

NBA

7-Dick McGuire (1959-63, 1965-68)

NFL

9-Marion Campbell (1974-76, 1983-85, 1987-89)
7-Dan Henning (1983-86, 1989-91)
7-Harland Svare (1962-65, 1971-73)

NHL

8-Paul Holmgren (1988-96)
7-Ron Low (1994-02)
7-Red Sullivan (1962-69, 1974-75)
7-Tom Watt (1981-87, 1990-92)

Comments on "Fernando Clavijo's coaching peers"

 

Blogger Allen said ... (2:18 PM, August 14, 2008) : 

Great numbers. Thanks!

 

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