It’s been a trying season for the Montreal Impact, and two media reports suggest that a coaching change could take place for 2018.
Over the past week TSN Radio 690 Montreal’s Rick Moffat and New York City FC color analyst Glenn Crooks – who was in Montreal last week for NYCFC’s 1-0 win over the Impact – have cited inside sources in reporting that IMFC head coach Mauro Biello and his staff will not return (at least not in their current roles) next season.
Both journalists also state that former Impact defender and Italian legend Alessandro Nesta, who currently coaches top NASL side Miami FC, is a “person of interest” who could replace Biello. But Moffat notes that Nesta cannot yet be formally approached about such a move, likely due to his current duties in Miami.
A Montreal native and former Impact player, Biello has been a member of the Impact’s coaching staff since 2009 and he has led the club since Frank Klopas’ dismissal in August 2015, first on an interim basis and then as the full-time boss after leading Montreal on a playoff run that fall.
The Impact advanced to the postseason in the last two years under Biello, but they are currently in danger of missing out on the postseason after three straight losses. The Impact sit four points out of a playoff spot with two matches to play.
Biello addressed the reports regarding his future with media members after the loss to NYCFC.
"To be honest, I don't follow that stuff," Biello said. "I don't follow social media and all that stuff. For me, in the end people are always going to talk in this business and say once the team goes bad, for sure it's always the coach. And for sure, I'm responsible for the performance of the team. But in the end, yeah, it's part of it. In the same way, for me, it's important to focus on what I can control and that's trying to prepare the team the best I could."
IMFC finished in fifth place in the Eastern Conference last season but knocked off higher seeds D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls before narrowly falling to Toronto FC in a wild, highly dramatic Conference Championship series.
Biello’s all-time record in charge of the Impact is currently 37W-33L-22D, though Montreal are 1W-7L-0D since late August, a skid that has nearly eliminated them from postseason contention despite the opening created by a similar slump on the part of the sixth-place New York Red Bulls.
