WASHINGTON ā On Saturday night, midway through the final postgame press conference of his interim stint as D.C. United head coach, Ben Olsen was asked whether the team had improved under his watch.
His answer gave a hint of the personal evolution brought on by his unscheduled stint in the lead dogās role.
āI donāt know, thatās not for me to gauge,ā Olsen said. Then he paused and reconsidered. āMaybe it is for me to gauge.ā
Showing the sort of reflection and candor that is unheard-of for many coaches, he then summed up his sideās rough season in a nutshell.
āI think in some areas, we improved,ā Olsen admitted. āBut again, overall, our deficiencies continue to haunt us. The same things that haunted us early in the season, in the middle of the season, haunted us towards the later stages. So again, I think some of it got better, but the things that made us lose games didnāt get better.ā
The longtime United midfielder retired and joined the coaching staff less than a year ago, and he soon underwent a shock introduction to his new profession as DC stumbled through the worst season in club history. His midseason appointment in place of Curt Onalfo was a franchise first, subjecting Olsen to the rigors of head coach based ā essentially ā on personality alone.
āI was asked to do something for the club, a club that means a lot to me, and I tried to do the best I could,ā he said on Saturday. āWas it good enough? I donāt know. It wasnāt necessarily fun, but Iāve grown a lot as a person in this short span, dealing with some of this stuff, and I think Iāve grown as a coach.
[inline_node:320912]āI think in a week or two, when I step back from this, Iāll be OK with how Iāve done,ā he added. āI know the results werenāt there, but again, I think the way we competed and at least took pride in what we were doing, we can be proud of that. But at the end of the day we just werenāt good enough.ā
The Black-and-Red went 3-9-1 in all competitions under Olsen, with a winning percentage roughly equivalent to Onalfoās tenure, though injuries and a range of other factors limit the value of such comparisons. But Olsen kept morale as high as could be expected and he hopes to glean something positive from the tribulations.
āThey say you learn more in these type of seasons than you do when you win,ā he said on Saturday. āIf thatās the case, I got my first college education. I've seen, hopefully, the bottom. I've seen how bad it can be throughout a season, as far as wins and losses and things not going your way, injuries, signings not working out, referees not always on my side.
āAnd probably bad coaching ā Iām sure we can throw that in there. It's been a perfect storm this year, it really has.ā
His playersā commitment left no doubt about Olsenās ability to nurture and motivate. But even now, he himself refuses to take his new line of work for granted.
āWe never know whoās going to be a good coach,ā he said. āYou can speculate ā āthis guy, heās got the right personalityā ā but thereās so many moving parts to this thing that, who knows? I donāt know if Iām going to be a good coach. Itās a very tough question.ā
One year into a three-year contract, Olsen will in all likelihood return to a junior position on the United staff and he maintains that heās comfortable deferring to his incoming successor.
āI donāt know what the situation is right now, he said. āThatās OK with me. Iāll continue doing my job as interim head coach until Iām told I'm not interim head coach. Iāll sit and wait, and if someone is hired, Iām sure Iāll have the opportunity to sit down with them or him, and see if thereās a place for me in that mix.ā