This promises to be a very busy week for FC Dallas president and general manager Michael Hitchcock. In a conference call Tuesday, he announced that the club would not be renewing the contract of head coach Colin Clarke for the 2007 season. This all comes in the same week that the Hoops will be hosting MLS Cup at Pizza Hut Park.
During the announcement, Hitchcock did say that current FCD assistant coaches Steve Morrow and Oscar Pareja would be candidates for the position should they want to be considered. Hitchcock was in attendance for FCD's final training session of the year on Wednesday and answered a few questions about the coaching search.
"There are no other candidates at this point," he said. "We've met as a coaching team and talked about what's in store and what the process will look like so that there is no miscommunication or misinformation and they respect the process and understand the process.
"I stressed with them (our coaches) in that meeting that if they're interested in the position, they will be considered for the position. They have that right and I think they deserve it. We're then going to follow up with one-on-one meetings with each of the assistant coaches and find out if they're interested."
Hitchcock has a specific list of criteria he will utilize in the search. "I think there are certain characteristics (we are looking for)," he said. "Everyone has their own style and varying philosophies. You look at the great coaches and they are great man managers. They're effective communicators. They understand the American athlete. They have a true understanding of MLS because it is different and unique compared to other leagues in the world."
With the announcement of the coaching change only coming 24 hours earlier, Hitchcock emphasized that the search is still in the very early stages and that Wednesday afternoon, he would be making preliminary phone calls to prospective candidates to gauge their interest.
"Right now, it's truly a preliminary search," Hitchcock said. "By the middle of next week, I would like to have a list of 10 candidates. Then I would like to narrow that down to three finalists. Then we'll make our decision based on them. I would like to meet with them early next week to see if they're interested in one of those 10 candidate spots."
He, Morrow, Pareja and the rest of the coaching staff do have a somewhat pressing matter to attend to -- deciding which 11 FCD players to protect for the expansion draft for Toronto FC on Nov. 17. As a group, they will be evaluating the current players and then making decisions on them accordingly. Hitchcock said in Tuesday's phone call that he hoped to have a new head coach in place before the end of the calendar year.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
