TORONTO – Less than 24 hours after a big derby win over the Montreal Impact on Saturday, there was a surprise announcement.
The match, it turned out, was the last at Toronto FC for assistant coach Robin Fraser, who left to take up the head coaching duties with the Colorado Rapids.
Though sudden, it was not entirely out of the blue.
“I knew that he was in contention,” said TFC defender Justin Morrow on Tuesday. “Robin is a strong coach, well-regarded, so with all the coaching changes in the league somebody was going to try to pull him away from us.”
His presence will be missed.
“It’s only been one day,” quipped Drew Moor. “Robin quietly went about his business as a very good assistant coach to Greg [Vanney]. They played off each other extremely well. Robin, as a former center back, was very good organizing defense, communicating with us.”
It was not uncommon to see Fraser jump into sessions when an extra defender was needed, but with TFC fully healthy for the first time in nearly two seasons, those chances were fewer.
“All of us will miss him, his voice and his experience,” added Moor, a former Rapids defender himself, who helped them to an MLS Cup title in 2010. “And obviously we wish him nothing but the best.”
TFC head coach Vanney and Fraser go back to their playing days and each fulfilled the assistant’s role when the other was at the helm. Fraser joined Toronto in January 2015, a few months after Vanney took the job. Back in 2011, it was Fraser in charge of Chivas USA and Vanney his assistant.
“For those of us who were with him during that time period, I don’t believe it was a fair representation of a person who is very capable,” said Vanney. “Since and before then, he’s proven to be a valuable asset to every club he’s been at as an assistant coach. But he still has the personality, the demeanor, and the feel of a head coach even in that role.
“It was time for him,” continued Vanney. “Through all these years you develop your own ideas, take a little something from all your experiences and it’s his opportunity to go and do things how he sees it. He’ll take some things that he’s picked up from here and everywhere along the way. He’s back around his family, in a club, a place that he calls home, and an opportunity to do his thing.
“Obviously, I’m happy for him,” added the TFC coach. “We’ll miss him here because he’s a close friend, a great influence, and a guy I’ve always talked the game to ... which I still will, except for September 15.”
That's when Fraser’s Rapids visit Toronto (5 pm ET | TSN in Canada, MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US).
Said Morrow with a smile: “We are looking forward to that.”
Though his departure will leave a void, Vanney feels that the rest of the coaching staff can fill the absence.
“We’re not a club that is hurting for resources on the coaching side. We have a good number of people who are capable,” he explained. “We wouldn’t have done this when we did if we felt like we were going to leave a really big hole. We’ve lost a good person, and a really good coach, but we feel like in terms of the work product we can cover ourselves during this time.”
Vanney did suggest there may be some internal movement: “We will probably do something: bring somebody who already understands what we’re trying to do into the fold so that we have the same numbers of bodies when we divide up. We won’t bring somebody from outside.”
But who will sit beside Vanney on the bench, where Fraser used to, remains unclear.
“It’s a new challenge,” summed up Moor of Fraser taking over his old club. “He’s been a head coach, since then in the league as an assistant coach: Salt Lake, very successful organization when he was there, New York Red Bulls, very successful when he was there, and here.
“He’s made an impression on clubs around the league,” he added. “He’s hungry and excited to be a head coach again. He’ll put a lot of energy into it and we’re excited to see how he does.”
