Arace: Columbus Crew swoon continues; and would the Blue Jackets really hire Mike Babcock?
The Crew spent most of April in fourth place in MLS’s Eastern Conference. They had a 3-0-1 string in there with 13 goals for and two against. They had people thinking that new coach Wilfried Nancy was ahead of schedule in molding his personnel into his high-pressing, 3-4-2-1 system.
The Crew hasn’t won the Open Cup since 2002. This was one of those years to have a good go, and maybe stick a trophy in the case. Instead, the Crew got the boot in the round of 16. It’s disappointing. Sure, the schedule is busy, the Crew are dealing with a couple of key injuries and, at this point in the U.S. Open Cup tournament, MLS teams are saving their A-Teams for the weekend. It’s still disappointing.
The Crew are 1-1-3 in their past five league games, with seven goals for and eight against. Saturday, they lost a helluva “Hell is Real” game 3-2 in Cincinnati and slid down to eighth place in the East, just above the playoff bar. If Caleb Porter were still the coach, it’d be time to begin planning on missing the playoffs.
The month of May went from “meh” to “yeesh” on Wednesday, when the Crew dropped a 1-0 decision to the USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds on the banks of the Monongahela River. With that, the Crew were knocked out of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup by a minor-league team for the second year in a row.
But one has to admire the way Nancy has managed his roster, stuck to his system and kept his message on point. The Crew are not going to win the Supporters’ Shield this year, but they’re capable of giving the Shield leaders — FC Cincinnati ― all that they can handle right now. And they’re capable of getting hot and having a run at the CONCACAF Leagues Cup and/or the MLS Cup.
President/GM Tim Bezbatchenko should find some help during the summer transfer window, if not sooner. In the meantime, Nancy is neither whining nor lowering his expectations, and Cucho Hernandez isn’t even warmed up yet.
Informal poll yields, 'Please, no Mike Babcock' for Columbus Blue Jackets
It has been just about six weeks since the Blue Jackets fired coach Brad Larsen. Oh, how time drags.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen began winding down his search for a new coach last week, before he left to scout the IIHF World Championship in Finland and Latvia. He said he planned to meet with one more candidate while he was traversing the Baltic. Might that be Sergei Fedorov, who has won two KHL playoff titles in two years as coach of CSKA Moscow? Fedorov’s name has popped up in various reports.
Blue Jackets: Arace: Mike Babcock, Joel Quenneville must wait for redemption. How long?
Kekalainen has kept a tight lid on his process. Our man Brian Hedger is sure that veteran coaches Peter Laviolette (whose last team was the Washington Capitals) and Mike Babcock (Toronto Maple Leafs) have been among those who have interviewed. Jackets associate coach Pascal Vincent has also interviewed.
Throughout the process, I’ve been canvassing hardcore Jackets fans I know and respect. I’ve been asking: “Who do you want?” with the J. Geils Band wailing in the background. (If you saw J. Geils in the 1970s, you saw the best live band of the decade — E Street Band included. There, I said it.)
The results of my informal polling:
Please, no Babcock.
He has a record of using his power like a truncheon and alienating his players. Also, he has built his record with stacked teams, and the Jackets aren’t there yet.
Joel Quenneville would be a dream hire if he didn’t have a dark cloud hanging over him. Quenneville didn’t play a major role in covering up a sex-abuse scandal in Chicago, but he kept his mouth shut for 10 years, and, for most fans, that is disqualifying.
Laviolette might be nice fit, but he’s going to take more money from someone else, probably the New York Rangers.
Fedorov, an all-time great player who spent a few seasons in Columbus, might be interesting given the talented, young Russians on the Jackets’ roster.
Is Vincent starting to look pretty good? Please, no Babcock.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Crew swoon continues; and would Blue Jackets really hire Mike Babcock?
