Season 10: A precarious position

or is it dishonor? -- of employing the most coaches (that's full-time coaches and we don't count interim coaches) -- seven. Actually, the carousel has slowed down a bit since the Metros had five bosses in their first four seasons. Here's the list: Eddie Firmani and Carlos Queiroz (1996), Carlos Alberto Parreira (1997), Alfonso Mondelo (1998), Bora Milutinovic (1998-99), Octavio Zambrano (2000-02) and Bob Bradley (2003-present).

The first one gone

After reading the previous item, it should not be surprising that the MetroStars were the first team to switch coaches barely a quarter of the games into the first season. Firmani left the team -- he said he stepped down, while others contended he was given the boot -- after the team had forged a 3-5 record. That mark, however, was a bit deceiving because two of the wins were via shootouts. So, Firmani's actual record was 1-5-2 and four points. Queiroz, his replacement, put a defensive-oriented system and managed a 12-12 record and a playoff spot, the best by a foreigner.

You're in the playoffs ... 'You're fired'

One MLS coach actually had qualified his team for the playoffs, but was shown the door -- Mondelo in 1998. At one time, the MetroStars enjoyed a 14-12 record -- their best ever to that point in their history. But the team lost five consecutive matches. General manager Charlie Stillitano, who felt Mondelo had lost the team and that it needed a boost, fired his coach with one game remaining in the regular season. Under Bora, the MetroStars won their final match of the regular season via shootout and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The club went 7-25 under Bora in 1999.

They left on their own

No every coach leaves because he has been fired. Three coaches have left on their own volition -- D.C. United's Bruce Arena, the Chicago Fire's Bob Bradley and San Jose Earthquakes' Frank Yallop. After leading United to three consecutive MLS Cups (capturing the first two and losing the last one to Chicago), Arena left the team to become coach of the U.S. national team in October 1998. After five seasons with the Fire, Bradley wanted to return to his roots and became MetroStars coach in October 2002. After guiding the Quakes to a pair of titles over three seasons, Yallop decided on a bigger challenge as coach of the Canadian national team.

The trade

But Bradley's transition wasn't as smooth as the MetroStars had to give up a player to the Fire -- forward Rodrigo Faria (whom, ironically, Bradley had coveted) to sign Bradley.

First place is not a safe house

That's what Schmid rudely discovered last season. Despite his team in first place in the Western Conference with a 9-6-7 record -- three of the losses were to the MetroStars from the Eastern Conference) -- Hamilton decided to give him the boot.

"We're sitting at the top of the table, and I'm saying, 'It's not good enough,'" Hamilton said at the time.

"Our mission statement clearly states that we want to compete for and win championships. We think we're capable of doing it in a very attractive way, and frankly, I think we proved that early on in the year. We went the first 13 games of this season without being shut out. It's that sort of play that enabled us to rack up some points. That's what we need to get back to."

Former U.S. and Costa Rica coach Steve Sampson was named Schmid's successor. The Galaxy went 2-3-3 the rest of the way and finished in third place and eventually were eliminated by the Kansas City Wizards in the Western Conference Final.

Through this weekend's games, the Galaxy is in third place with a .500 record. Moreover, the team hasn't won outside of Los Angeles and hasn't beaten a team other than Chivas USA or Real Salt Lake since May 23, when the Galaxy vanquished the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1.

There was at least one other

It was widely reported last year that Schmid's firing was the first time a division or conference leader was given the boot. Actually, that is inaccurate. If you include the now-defunct North American Soccer League among the top leagues, the Rochester Lancers, who had an intriguing history of replacing coaches at about an average of one per season. One of their owners, the late John Petrossi, who liked to sit on the team bench, fired Bill Hughes, after the club moved into first place after defeating the Boston Minutemen in 1974. Not surprisingly, the team fell out of first under its new coach, Ted Dumitru, and finished out of the money.

The longest tenure

No coach has directed a team longer than the Kansas City Wizards' Bob Gansler, who has been at the helm since April 28, 1999. That's 195 games with one club. Gansler, who guided the Wizards to the 2000 MLS Cup crown, has a 79-71-45 record.

The only ones

The Chicago Fire has employed only two head coaches in its history. Bradley directed the club from its roots as an expansion team from 1998-2002 before bolting for the MetroStars. And former U.S. national team assistant coach Dave Sarachan has guided the team from 2003 to the present. The Wizards have had only two head men as well -- Ron Newman (1996-1999) and Bob Gansler (1999 to present), although Ken Fogarty was a caretaker/interim coach between the two men.

Five and out

David Dir directed the Dallas Burn in its first five seasons, but hasn't coached a game since. Under Dir, the Burn was 81-75-4, reached the Western Conference Final twice, but never MLS Cup.

Deja vu feeling all over again

Thomas Rongen has been with four teams and has been fired three times. He coached the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 1996, but quit in protest after Farrukh Quarishi was bounced as general manager. He resurfaced with the New England Revolution in 1997, but was given a pink slip the following season. He took over the reins of D.C. United in 1999, leading the club to its third MLS crown. But Rongen found himself on the unemployment line after the 2001 season. He was named the first coach of Chivas USA with plans of moving into the front office after a season or two. But those plans were put into motion prematurely as Rongen was moved up upstairs to become sporting director 10 games into the season with a 1-8-1 record.

Foreign bodies

Traditionally, foreign-born coaches without any American professional coaching experience have not fared well in the league. Several teams learned the hard way in 1996, when former Ireland international Frank Stapleton (15-17, fifth and last place in the Eastern Conference and out of the playoffs with New England) and England's Bobby Houghton (11-20, five and last place in the Western Conference and out of the playoffs with Colorado).

The most successful has been D.C. United coach and former Polish international Peter Nowak, who directed the club to the MLS Cup crown last year behind an 11-10-9 regular-season mark. United is 11-6-5 through Sunday's games.

In alphabetical order, here's how other foreign coaches have fared:

Other foreign coaches in the league included England-born Ron Newman (Kansas City), Scottish native Steve Nicol (New England), Northern Ireland international Colin Clarke (F.C. Dallas), Canadian Frank Yallop (San Jose) are not included in this group because they had coached in the United States for years before their MLS posts, or in Yallop's case, had played in the league and was familiar with the unique rules and players.

The latest foreigner to take over a team is Dutch coach Hans Westerhof, who replaced Rongen on May 30. Since then Chivas has gone 2-9-2 and it still in last place in the Western Conference at 3-17-3.

Ray Hudson was the Miami Fusion's TV color commentator when he was replaced Wortmann as coach in 2000. The Fusion went 11-12-1 under Hudson the rest of the season and hit unprecedented heights with a 16-5-5 mark in 2001 before eventually falling to MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes in the playoff semifinals. When the league contracted and the Fusion went to the great soccer league in the sky after that season, Hudson was named coach of D.C. United. But he never enjoyed the same success and after the 2003 season was not rehired.

Nicol is the only coach to come aboard midway through the season and guide his team into MLS Cup. Nicol replaced the fired Fernando Clavijo in 2002, inheriting a 2-4-1 team from Fernando Clavijo. The Revs went 10-10-1 under Nicol and reached the championship game, which, incidentally, was hosted by New England that season. The Revs, however, met their match that October day, losing to the Galaxy 1-0.

He didn't guide the Columbus Crew to the MLS Cup, but the late Tom Fitzgerald managed to direct the team into the postseason. He inherited a 6-16 side from Timo Liekoski late in the season and coached the Crew to a 9-1 mark the rest of the way.

U.S. assistant national coach Glenn (Mooch) Myernick had an incredible start in the playoffs with the Colorado Rapids. The Rapids reached the 1997 MLS Cup Final before losing to United in his first year as coach in 1997 with a 4-1 record. But the Rapids never won again in the playoffs under Myernick the next three seasons as they went 0-6.

Former Italian international Walter Zenga was the only player-coach in league history. He took over the New England coaching reigns for the final six games of the 1998 season after Rongen was bounced, going 3-3. He combined the two in 1999. It wasn't easy to balance both jobs as the Revs were 10-20 under coach Zenga and was 5-13 and had a 1.98 goals-against average with 'keeper Zenga.

Six men have been interim or caretaker coaches.

Forward Roy Wegerle, who went on to play for the U.S. in the 1998 World Cup, replaced Houghton for the Colorado Rapids' final game of the 1996 season.

The 1999 season turned out to be a banner year for interim coaches.

Ken Fogarty took over for the fired Ron Newman after an 0-4 start, going 0-3 himself. Ralph Perez won his only game as head coach after the Galaxy bounced Octavio Zambrano (2-3, both wins were shootouts), Jorge Espinoza was 2-0 after Laurie Calloway got the boot as San Jose Earthquakes coach in 1999, and Nicol, in his first stint as Revs coach, was 2-0 after Zenga (10-20) departed at the end of the regular season.

No team more than the Crew have gone within its ranks to hire a new coach. When Liekoski was bounced in 1996, Fitzgerald, then the assistant coach, was promoted to the top spot. When Fitz lost his job in 2001, assistant Greg Andrulis was named coach. When Andrulis was canned earlier this season, former Crew star midfielder Robert Warzycha was elevated into the position, at least on an interim basis for now.