Well, talk about high expectations. This afternoon the Colorado Rapids announced that they would not be renewing the contract of head coach Gary Smith. Why, you ask? Well, I guess that might be a tough answer.
The best answer the Rapids front office is giving out is the whole "we need to go in a different direction" line. It's hard to see what different direction the Rapids front office wants them to go in. Last year, they won the MLS Cup. This year was a bit more rocky. They finished 12-9-13, which put them 5th place in the West and into the playoffs, where they beat the Columbus Crew and fell to Sporting Kansas City. The Rapids were eliminated in the group stage of CONCACAF Champions League, but aftyer falling flat early in that tournament, they played better toward the end. Plus, they dealt with injuries all season long, including a season ending injury to forward Conor Casey in July. Not the season they wanted, but a lot better than many other MLS teams, and certainly something to build on.
I'm not an expert on the Rapids, but I don't think Smith was the problem. When I did catch the Rapids it seemed like they were giving up a lot of goals, which seemed to get better as the season progressed. Then they had a hard time scoring goals, but I think a lot of that was due to their injury weakened front line. Both of these were certainly within Smith's abilities to deal with.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Smith and the Rapids vacant coach position.
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