FC Dallas’ 2013 season and Schellas Hyndman’s time as coach of the team both officially ended after the final whistle in Saturday evening’s 2-1 loss to the San jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium.
Hyndman was thoughtful, emotional and thankful when he spoke to reporters after the match and reflected on his time at the helm of FC Dallas.
“What I would like to say to the FC Dallas fans is that this has been a wonderful experience for me for the last five and a half years coaching their team ” Hyndman said. “Our fans should be excited about the future and I look forward to FC Dallas competing in the near future.”
The now former Dallas coach reiterated that this is definitely not the end of his days coaching, only the end of his time with FCD.
Coaching, evidently, is simply in his blood.
“The highs are fantastic, the challenges are wonderful, the negatives - you know, all the cross-country traveling, sleeping in another hotel room, eating on the road, being away from your family, the stress and the demands that comes with the job,” he said. “But the challenge and the opportunity to coach at the highest level in this country is still very, very exciting.”
Hyndman leaves FC Dallas with a career mark of 63-58-58, and his 247 points compiled as coach are the most in club history. There can be little doubt that he leaves the franchise in a much better place than they were upon his arrival.
“He took a club that was kind of just hanging around and he brought passion to the club and he brought a name to the club, a style,” said midfielder Andrew Jacobson. “I think every player here is better because of him, he gets everything out of everyone and he doesn’t let you settle for where you are. If you are playing well, he expects you to play better.
“It is [emotional]. I think a lot of people have learned a lot from him, he means a lot to a lot of these guys, so it is very emotional.”
Hyndman has spent almost 30 years coaching, running clinics and growing the game at the collegiate and professional level in the Dallas area.
“I’ve always looked at myself as an educator,” he said. “I coach like a teacher. I try to educate, I try to motivate, I try to do all of those psychological things and obviously being in the game as long as I have, I have a fair set of knowledge of the game. I think the best way for me to say what all this means is I have really been blessed to be in a sport that I love for as long as I have been in it and I hope it will continue.
“I’ll say that when I count my blessings that I have in life,” he added, “I count soccer twice.”
