Dominic Kinnear is coming back to California, but this time it’s for work, not a vacation.
Fans of the San Jose Earthquakes may be celebrating the return of Kinnear, who snagged the 2005 MLS Supporters’ Shield with the original Quakes and then won two MLS Cups with the same core of players after relocating to Houston, but the Bay Area product faces possibly the stiffest challenge of his career in taking over a last-place San Jose side that is threatening to end 2014 on a 15-match winless streak.
“This isn’t me going home and having parades and parties,” Kinnear said Wednesday in a conference call announcing his return. “I’m going home to be the coach of this team and try to make it a successful team in 2015 and beyond.”
The fast-moving nature of the deal forced the Quakes to put the pieces in place quickly. Team president David Kaval said the club had “planned to make this announcement at the end of the season, but circumstances required us to speed that up” after the Houston Chroniclebroke news last month of the Dynamo’s willingness to let Kinnear go to San Jose and the Quakes’ negotiations with their former coach.
“It was our intention to wait,” Kaval said. “We didn’t want this to cloud the season. But really the only way that we were able to move forward was by doing it within the season because we had a prescribed amount of time to work to an arrangement with Dominic. It wasn’t our ideal situation; it’s not something we wanted . ... But it really was the only way we could acquire who we feel is the best possible coach for the San Jose Earthquakes.”
Mark Watson, who took over midway through 2013 and finished on an 11-5-3 run, had the interim tag removed over the winter. But things went south in a hurry this season, with injuries hamstringing Watson’s attempts to change the Quakes’ attacking style. A franchise-record-tying 13-match winless streak has dumped San Jose (6-15-11) into last place in the Western Conference with two games left.
With Watson and assistant Nick Dasovic relieved of their duties Wednesday, longtime assistant Ian Russell will fill in for the final two matches.
“I think it’s everything about timing,” San Jose general manager John Doyle said. “There’s only so many times you have an on-ramp, and you’ve got to take those chances. With regards to performance, I think Mark Watson and the team had a terrific performance at the end of last season. We had every confidence that Mark was going to have a great season this year and worked hard towards that. As things didn’t work out, then the opportunities came. I think Dave Kaval and myself saw those opportunities, saw that we needed to make a change. ... That’s when we decided we were going to go after a new coach.”
Kinnear’s childhood friendship with Doyle and deep roots in the Bay Area made him a natural fit for San Jose – except for the year remaining on his deal with the Dynamo. Doyle acknowledged that the club had to “spend some assets” to gain Kinnear’s services, although he declined to specify the nature of those items.
“We’ve always had an eye on returning to California,” Kinnear said. “The time was right because [Dynamo president] Chris Canetti allowed it to be right by allowing San Jose to talk to me. We’ve had conversations before where the time wasn’t right, and this time it was.”
- Get the latest Earthquakes headlines from SJEarthquakes.com
Kinnear will finish out the season with Houston, which keeps him from spending 100 percent of his time getting up to speed with San Jose’s problems. But with Kaval acknowledging Tuesday that he expects significant turnover in San Jose’s roster this winter – and the addition of two new expansion clubs to the MLS fold, with the associated Expansion Draft – Kinnear will have to hit the ground running.
“It’s tough trying to be in two places at once, mentally,” Kinnear said. “The best thing to do is sit down with John and Dave, review the team when the season’s over, and what’s best going forward.
“For me, [I want a] hardworking, honest team that is out there trying to entertain the fans and win as many games as possible. It’s difficult to do, and it’s easy to talk about. It’s something that I’m going to try my best to do and to reward the faith that Dave and the ownership and John have shown in me.”
