Speaker 1: And you end up with everything there and so uh yeah,
Speaker 1: because John's an idiot and he didn't send the link
Speaker 1: out in time, I am. I'm gonna do a bit
Speaker 1: of a crash course with Abe this morning, because yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm adult. It's a Monday. Oh oh oh, I gotta
Speaker 1: find out what he's wearing. All right, So here we go.
Speaker 1: He's all settled in sou What are you wear, an Abe?
Speaker 2: Uh, I'm just wearing a Puma T shirt. I guess, just.
Speaker 3: Maybe soccer oriented with a little crest, but it's not
Speaker 3: anything country specific. I apologize for my my cell phone situation.
Speaker 3: I have like multiple contingencies to remind myself to bring
Speaker 3: my computer.
Speaker 2: And it's fitting.
Speaker 3: It's fitting at home right by the doorway. Uh so
Speaker 3: we're on the phone today.
Speaker 1: That's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Well, you know, if
Speaker 1: I had sent you the link at nine oh five,
Speaker 1: it would have been you know, we'd be all there.
Speaker 1: Since last time we talked, Garth lockerwly had his press
Speaker 1: conference and discuss the future, and Rob Valentino is not
Speaker 1: a part of that future with Atlanta United as the
Speaker 1: head coach coming up in the twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 1: Now we've had that we're trying to figure out. Okay,
Speaker 1: is it a technical director, then coach? Is it coach
Speaker 1: then technical director? Does everybody sit across the table? Do
Speaker 1: they break bread? Do they go to an Italian restaurant
Speaker 1: have a five course meal? Is it speed dating? Is
Speaker 1: it two minutes with this guy? You hear a ding,
Speaker 1: Garth hits a bell, and you go to the next
Speaker 1: guy at the next table. That's where we are right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, let's start with Rob Valentino. I
Speaker 3: don't think we were overly surprised that he's not going
Speaker 3: to be the choice. I think certainly the timeline and
Speaker 3: a lack of announcement sort of led towards that direction.
Speaker 2: But I do think there are a lot of people who.
Speaker 3: Are disappointed and certainly liked the late season movement of
Speaker 3: the squad.
Speaker 2: But but Garth Logerway made it very clear they're.
Speaker 3: Looking for someone with a little bit more experience and
Speaker 3: look as the essentially running the team. That's that's certainly
Speaker 3: up to him if that's what he wants. I'm not
Speaker 3: in love with the timeline he presented. I mean, he
Speaker 3: talked about hoping to have this stuff in place by Christmas.
Speaker 3: I'm I'm sitting here, like Christmas, we haven't even gotten
Speaker 3: a Thanksgiving yet at the time he made these comments,
Speaker 3: that's five weeks away, Like, like, what's the timeline?
Speaker 2: Why is it taking so long?
Speaker 3: Maybe it has something to do with teams that are
Speaker 3: still involved in MLS Cup playoffs. Certainly we're down to
Speaker 3: two now, so unless it's one of those two teams.
Speaker 3: But I wasn't in love with the timeline, especially when
Speaker 3: training camp is going to be right around the corner
Speaker 3: by the time you get things set in place.
Speaker 2: But I'm interested.
Speaker 3: I'm interested to see who they settle on in kind
Speaker 3: of what the arguments for that person over Rob Valentino
Speaker 3: ultimately is going to be. I'm hoping it's more than
Speaker 3: just experience. I think we've seen across sports. Just because
Speaker 3: you have experience doesn't mean you're the right guy for
Speaker 3: the job. Just because you don't have experience doesn't mean
Speaker 3: you're the wrong guy for the job. So I think
Speaker 3: you're coming in and there's gonna be expectations. That's the
Speaker 3: other aspect of this, whether you want to believe it
Speaker 3: or not, whether you feel like there's a rebuilding phase
Speaker 3: and a lot of movement is going on. We said
Speaker 3: goodbye to I talked with you about the future. I
Speaker 3: was like, everyone up top is up for grabs, and
Speaker 3: we've seen departures.
Speaker 2: Already up top.
Speaker 3: I mean, based on how this season ended, based on
Speaker 3: the eliminating Miami and an unfortunate end to Orlando City,
Speaker 3: there's gonna be expectations coming in. This is not gonna
Speaker 3: be viewed as a rebuild, at least not by the
Speaker 3: fan base.
Speaker 2: Whether whether the team views it that way is one thing.
Speaker 3: The fan base is not going to and so it's
Speaker 3: got to be a situation where this coach can get
Speaker 3: up and running immediately and see some results. I mean,
Speaker 3: I know it's a long time ago, but the expectations
Speaker 3: coming into this past season were top four in the East,
Speaker 3: one of the most potent all fans is in the
Speaker 3: entire MLS. I'm not saying you're necessarily going to have
Speaker 3: those expectations, but battling for a home playoff game is
Speaker 3: going to be among them, especially the way you ended
Speaker 3: the season with I think six of your last eight
Speaker 3: or five of your last seven being wins.
Speaker 2: That's going to be the expectations. So they need to
Speaker 2: get a guy in quick.
Speaker 3: If they're going to make severe changes and adjustments to
Speaker 3: the formations and what they're asking players to do and
Speaker 3: the roles of each guy.
Speaker 2: Stuff like that.
Speaker 3: Get it in quicker, and so I'd be quite frankly
Speaker 3: disappointed if we're still sitting here, you know, mid December,
Speaker 3: late December without a name yet.
Speaker 2: So hopefully this gets done quick and we can start
Speaker 2: to move forward.
Speaker 1: What kind of an individual are you looking for in
Speaker 1: a head coach?
Speaker 3: Me specifically, I'm not going to get into the tactics
Speaker 3: and trying to bring in a head coach that maybe
Speaker 3: fits the personnel or doesn't fit the personnel. I think
Speaker 3: there's enough change over over the course of the given year.
Speaker 3: I think you also have a team that's quite young,
Speaker 3: based on who is gonna stay and who's gonna go
Speaker 3: that that you can probably mold and shape some sorts
Speaker 3: of playing styles. And I also think you're gonna have
Speaker 3: a team that that is full of player leadership, especially
Speaker 3: with Gooz coming back and congratulations to him.
Speaker 2: I know there was a little bit of question on.
Speaker 3: That, but but I think I do think you're gonna
Speaker 3: have some player leadership that's gonna help out the coach
Speaker 3: to player messaging.
Speaker 2: So I'm looking for a winner, and I know.
Speaker 3: That's that's easy to say, but I need someone that's
Speaker 3: gonna look like he makes a difference. And I don't
Speaker 3: really know how you do that necessarily. I don't think
Speaker 3: it's about motivation. Like, like one of my biggest concerns
Speaker 3: about the Rob Valentino higher if he would have been here,
Speaker 3: is you can't play the way you played like the
Speaker 3: last third of the season, or really the last eight games,
Speaker 3: Like you can't play with that mindset and mentality and
Speaker 3: desperation the whole season, like like you're just gonna burn
Speaker 3: yourself out. So you need to be able to find
Speaker 3: wins without feeling like your back is against the wall.
Speaker 3: You gotta get a coach who can get this team
Speaker 3: off to better starts. Again, they solved that issue for
Speaker 3: the most part in the last seven, eight, nine, ten games.
Speaker 2: But it was it was a serious issue early on.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3: Just looking for someone that that you can look at
Speaker 3: the team and he makes changes over the course of
Speaker 3: a game, over the course of the season that you
Speaker 3: say it feels like he had an impact on the results.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you get that.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's just his general mindset, mantra and playing style
Speaker 3: to begin games. Maybe it's in game adjustments, substitution patterns.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's just maximizing the talent that you have, finding
Speaker 3: something we didn't know was available to us. But I
Speaker 3: just want to coach that I feel like is going
Speaker 3: to essentially make a difference in results. And that's a
Speaker 3: very tough ask in the sort of sport you're not
Speaker 3: exactly diagramming play calls and scripting your first fifteen plays
Speaker 3: or stuff like that. But I just want to feel
Speaker 3: like the managers makes a difference and hopefully we can.
Speaker 2: Find that guy.
Speaker 1: All right, another couple of minutes with a before he
Speaker 1: actually goes to work for, you know, like getting paid
Speaker 1: to do things. On a reaction Monday, player announcements were
Speaker 1: made also that we're attached to this roster. Looks like
Speaker 1: it's pretty much gonna be the same. Eighteen players under
Speaker 1: contract exercised options on four in discussions with three. Brad Effort,
Speaker 1: Jay Santi had their contract options exercised with Santi Sosa,
Speaker 1: it's because there is a team that is interested in
Speaker 1: South America and picking him up, and so what you
Speaker 1: do is you pick up the option to make sure
Speaker 1: you get paid. So that one's where that is six
Speaker 1: players contract options to client Centino Formino, Ronald Hernandez, Franco,
Speaker 1: we Borro, jam and Tyler. Club remains negotiations with Ronald,
Speaker 1: Jamal and Tyler. All players eligible for the re entry
Speaker 1: draft except for Tyler Wolf, who goes on waivers. Loan
Speaker 1: for Daniel Rios expires at the end of the calendar year,
Speaker 1: Dax and Q and Quentin Westburg retire. Any surprises out
Speaker 1: of that for you, no.
Speaker 2: I really don't think.
Speaker 3: So. We'll see who they end up bringing back. I
Speaker 3: think that could lean into my surprise or not surprised.
Speaker 3: But but you know, the obvious is the obvious with
Speaker 3: respector Rios and Wolf and Tira, you need someone more
Speaker 3: potent up top, someone that you can really just have
Speaker 3: a little bit more faith in. So so if those
Speaker 3: guys are back, I don't really expect it to be
Speaker 3: with the same expectations and necessarily the same.
Speaker 2: Role as we saw them in this year.
Speaker 3: Uh, at least not for Tierray And I know he's
Speaker 3: getting up there at age I don't know, you know,
Speaker 3: you know, levels of fitness at that age in this sport,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, when they're prime is probably the
Speaker 3: youngest prime that you're gonna have across any major sport.
Speaker 3: It might be in soccer unless you're a running back
Speaker 3: in the NFL, but.
Speaker 2: But outside of that, So no, I don't think any surprises.
Speaker 2: I really was.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say nervous is not the right word, but
Speaker 3: but full of wonder. If they were gonna bring Guzan back,
Speaker 3: I think certainly there would be an understanding of the
Speaker 3: timeline for him, and more specifically a timeline for Josh Cohen.
Speaker 3: I think Gouz, to his credit, made that an incredibly
Speaker 3: difficult decision and maybe a decision that was easy in
Speaker 3: the other direction, to bring him back and give him
Speaker 3: one more year. I don't think they necessarily planned on it.
Speaker 3: I think they saw the form last year they bring
Speaker 3: in Cohen, they set this timeline. We're gonna let Gooz
Speaker 3: right out into the sun, and he's got a complete
Speaker 3: throwback season, and so I think they had an original plan.
Speaker 2: And this is just me. I have no idea what
Speaker 2: the team's mindset is, but I think the original.
Speaker 3: Plan was a line of secession and this was gonna
Speaker 3: be Goose's last year and Josh comb was gonna come
Speaker 3: in and take over the starting role and we move forward.
Speaker 3: I think Gooz played so well he made it an
Speaker 3: easy decision the other direction to say.
Speaker 2: Hey, we're gonna scrap that plan. This guy still got it.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go with him one more year.
Speaker 3: I think he's important to a team that that's full
Speaker 3: of young guys that are still trying to build together.
Speaker 3: Probably also again if if it were a different situation
Speaker 3: with your manager. But I think Gooz's experience can go
Speaker 3: bey on the field and be very important integral in
Speaker 3: communication between the manager and the rest of the team.
Speaker 3: I think that's an important aspect that I don't want
Speaker 3: to overlook as well. So the biggest surprise, which really
Speaker 3: isn't that big of a surprise based on how he performed,
Speaker 3: especially down the stretch, would be Gooz coming back. Yeah,
Speaker 3: if you had told me at mid season, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: they're they're probably gonna let him right off sunset and
Speaker 3: and it's it's coinctern. But that's not the case. I'm
Speaker 3: very happy to see that be the case. But of
Speaker 3: all the ones that were kind of minor surprises, maybe
Speaker 3: that one and then Ronald Hernandez I think it's been
Speaker 3: so incredibly valuable for this team because of the variety
Speaker 3: of roles he can play. He's so flexible as a
Speaker 3: player that obviously, contract wise, they had to do what
Speaker 3: they had to do. But I would be a little
Speaker 3: surprised if they don't find a way to get him
Speaker 3: back in the organization.
Speaker 1: All Right, the fourth held up the light board and
Speaker 1: they added some minutes here we went past that fourth.
Speaker 1: What the fourth was doing? What's your week like? So
Speaker 1: you can get out of here and go get paid
Speaker 1: to work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, relatively normal this week, to be honest. We got
Speaker 3: through the post Thanksgiving nonsense and so and so we're
Speaker 3: just driving forward. Really enjoyed I know it was a
Speaker 3: day full of college football Saturday, but really did enjoy
Speaker 3: the MLS Cup playoffs, the conference semi finals here, so
Speaker 3: looking forward two MLS Cup when when we get there.
Speaker 3: But it was actually a pretty good week of competitive
Speaker 3: soccer there in the MLS.
Speaker 2: So so, I know a lot of people missed it.
Speaker 2: I I was.
Speaker 3: I was on the computer with the four TVs turned
Speaker 3: up to college football, but I was tuned in ready
Speaker 3: to roll, and it paid off with some quality soccer.
Speaker 1: All Right, My friend get out of here. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next Monday.
Speaker 2: You got it, appreciate it. There we go.
Speaker 1: That's Abe, and Abe's gonna go and work at ninety
Speaker 1: two in the game and actually get paid for a living.
Speaker 1: And he's done talking with us, all right, So there
Speaker 1: you go.
Speaker 2: Abby.
Speaker 1: Abby's asking about Liam Welch and all the assistants. They
Speaker 1: are much like rob under contract. I want to say,
Speaker 1: till the end of the calendar year. Then we may
Speaker 1: have some answers as to what their futures are. But
Speaker 1: I do not know about the futures of the assistant coaches.