2009 was supposed to be another year of learning for Chris Cummins. The Watford, England native was entering his second season as Toronto FC's lead assistant head coach under John Carver, but Cummins' learning curve was suddenly accelerated after being named TFC's interim head coach following Carver's resignation on April 25.
After 15 games (a half-season's worth of matches) into his career as the head boss, Cummins has already been through his full share of winning streaks, winless streaks, cup victories and international disappointments. But what hasn't changed is that no matter what the title on his office door might read, Cummins is still looking to better his coaching abilities.
"I'm still learning as a young coach," Cummins said. "There will be games where we make mistakes and I'm big and brave enough to come out and say I didn't get it right. That's the only way I'm going to learn. I'm not afraid to go upstairs and ask questions and I always ask my coaching staff's opinions.
"Have I improved? Of course I have. Have I got a long way to go? Definitely. But I'm going to keep working, keep learning and I think the only way to do it is to jump in there and get on with it."
Given that Carver's departure surprised many within the organization, Cummins' promotion was made in part because hiring a new coach with a new system could have thrown TFC's season into disarray after just six games. But Cummins has shown that he is capable of coaching at this level; the Reds are 6-5-4 under his leadership and currently sit third place in the Eastern Conference.
Most importantly, TFC is still in position to make its first trip to the MLS Cup Playoffs. Cummins was well aware of the pressure on the third-year club to make the postseason leap, and knew that he wouldn't get much leeway to adjust to being a new coach.
"I think the honeymoon period is over as soon as you stepped into the job," Cummins said. "One thing you're guaranteed as soon as you step into a job is the next time you go and meet [ownership] you'll be getting fired. It's part and parcel of it. ... The key thing now is to make the playoffs. The squad we have here is more than capable of getting into it. Nobody goes into the league thinking they'll be happy if they don't make the playoffs. That's what it's all about. I'll always put pressure on myself in every game and I want to win every game.
"I'm aware it'll be my neck on the block at the end of the day. I can cope with that."
The Reds are preparing to head to California for Saturday's match against Chivas USA, who are also in the thick of the playoff race and tied with TFC at 30 points. Toronto are ahead of Chivas in the standings due to the head-to-head tiebreaker gained by TFC's 1-0 win over the Red-and-White on April 22.
That match was particularly notable for Cummins given that it was his unofficial audition for the TFC coaching job. Through Carver was the coach of record and phoned instructions to the sidelines from a BMO Field luxury box, Cummins was the lead man on the sidelines as Toronto dealt then-league leaders Chivas their first loss of the season.
Cummins was in charge of the team the following Sunday against Kansas City following Carver's resignation, and the Reds picked up another 1-0 win. Those two results were the first of a six-game unbeaten stretch for Toronto, but it also signaled the inconsistency that has thus far marked TFC's season. The six-game unbeaten streak was soon followed by three consecutive losses, then three wins in a row, and TFC's win last Saturday against D.C. United just ended a five-game winless drought in all competitions.
Through these differing results, however, Cummins' even keel has been appreciated by his players.
"Chris stepped into the managerial side of things a lot quicker than expected, and the position was offered to him at a time when he couldn't really decline it," said veteran forward Danny Dichio. "We started out well and we've hit a bit of a sticky patch now and then but that's where managers earn their money -- making tactical decisions, doing things right for the team and winning those important games."
The most important win of all came on June 18, when Toronto captured the Canadian Championship after its now-legendary 6-1 demolition of the Montreal Impact at Saputo Stadium. The Reds needed a four-goal margin of victory to pip Vancouver for the title following a disappointing 2-0 loss to the Whitecaps on June 2, and their stirring comeback was the best example of Cummins' coaching mantra of making something from adversity.
"The highlight was the Canadian Championship in Montreal," Cummins said. "We did nowhere near well enough in Vancouver, we left ourselves in a bit of a hole and we dealt with it.
"There's been lots of ups and lots of downs. I'm one of those who looks at both the positives and negatives and take a lot more out of the negatives and think I could've or should've done things better."
Cummins said that he has tried to keep his personality the same as when he was an assistant, but admitted that he has had to use a firmer hand in some situations. The fact that Cummins had already been working with the team for a year certainly played a role in his gaining the respect that he said is critical to a coach's success.
"I don't expect the players to like me ... but what they must have is respect and I think I've got that," Cummins said. "I don't mind if all 21 of them hate me. It doesn't bug me, I'm not here to go out and have a beer with them. But, they need to respect me when I come in to work and when I make decisions to change things. The respect is the key thing and I think I worked hard to get that in the first few months I was here."
Striker Chad Barrett said that the Reds have benefited from Cummins' overall calmer demeanor both on the field and in the locker room.
"[John and Chris] are two different personalities. John is a much more intense character, Chris is more laid-back," Barrett said. "Obviously he's had to become a bit more strict since he's been the head coach ... but we have a Canadian Championship under our belt and hopefully we can get into the playoffs and go from there. I'm not saying things were bad under John Carver at all, but Chris has been behind a lot of good things that have happened this season."
One particular way that Cummins has put his signature on TFC has come at practice. The Reds were already using some modern methods such as ProZone technology and Paul Winsper's fitness training during Carver's regime, but according to Dichio, Cummins has taken these methods and used them to take TFC's training sessions to another level.
"Chris's methods on the training field are second to none. He's very advanced and not from the old school," Dichio said. "He focuses on movement off the ball, movement with the ball, passing and things that we can then take from the training pitch into the game. J.C. was more of a tactician and he wanted things done exactly the way he wanted it, and he was very vocal about it. Chris is more relaxed in that sense."
Dichio himself wants to get into coaching once his playing career is finished, and said that he had learned some things from Cummins that he would one day hope to impart upon his own team. The fact that a veteran player like Dichio has such respect for Cummins represents an important step in the coach's development, as Cummins' only previous head coaching experience before TFC was as a youth coach and academy director with Watford and Luton Town of the English Football League.
Cummins said that the biggest difference between coaching a youth team and a senior team is making tactical adjustments to constantly look for results, and then massaging some of the bruised egos that can come in the wake of these adjustments.
"The key thing is that now I have a bigger, better squad to pick from and now I have to think more about making changes or keeping players happy," Cummins said. "If you take experienced players out then you have to deal with them and manage them. They're going to be disappointed but you don't want them becoming bad apples. You say to them listen, it's a long season, you're going to be involved in some stage, so take it the right way and take your chances when you do come back in."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
