COMMERCE CITY — A year ago there were abundant reasons to wonder whether Pablo Mastroeni would survive a second disappointing season as head coach of the Rapids. Fans were restless after the team won only four of its last 14 games and missed the playoffs for the third time in four years.
Now he has the Rapids in position to finish the regular season with the best record in MLS, which it will secure Sunday afternoon if it beats Houston at home and FC Dallas loses at Los Angeles. Colorado’s record alone is enough to make Mastroeni a strong candidate for coach of the year honors, but the team’s turnaround after the struggles of the past two seasons speaks even more eloquently about the job he has done.
“I believe in their system, but when you look at the lineup and you break it down, you’re not quite sure,” said Sigi Schmid, a 16-year MLS coaching veteran and two-time coach of the year when asked on ESPN last week whether he believes in the Rapids. “When you look at the individual pieces, you say, ‘Well, there’s better pieces out there at other places.’ But as a whole, as a group, as a unit, they have exceeded everything they can do as individuals.”
Thatap coaching.
“Thatap the greatest compliment you can receive as a coach,” Mastroeni said after hearing of Schmid’s remarks. “I’d like to achieve 50 percent of what Sigi’s achieved in his career. To hear him say that validates the (plan) I put forth at the beginning of the season – culture, team, itap not about individuals.”
One reason management gave Mastroeni another season came from an understanding that he had been put in a difficult situation when he took the job – his first coaching job – just before the start of the 2014 season after Oscar Pareja abruptly left for FC Dallas. Management believed Mastroeni, a former Rapids captain and fan favorite for his fiery devotion on the field, deserved a chance to work through growing pains as a coach and implement a vision of what he wanted the Rapids to be.
“Too often in this business you want to emulate Barcelona, you want to emulate Bayern Munich, you want to emulate Manchester City because thatap what you see on TV,” Mastroeni said. “All my thoughts and reflections in the off-season were about becoming a better version of myself. And, through collaboration as a coaching staff, locker room staff and playing staff, to come up with an identity.”
Mastroeni benefited from having spent 12 seasons as a player here. It gave him not only an understanding of the team’s history but also the region it represents, and he wanted that reflected in the team’s personality.
“We spent the preseason talking about team and how we’re going to be different from everyone else, not be the same, not be like any other team in this league,” Mastroeni said. “We’re Colorado, we’re in the mountains, Midwestern, good people, hard-working people, honest people, neighbors willing to help neighbors in need. Itap not like LA. Itap not like New York. So why are we trying to emulate the product on the field that other teams play? A lot of these values that are important to what I have experienced in Colorado, I felt like we needed a microcosm of that in this locker room.”
And so, all season long, he talked about creating an “identity” within the team and building a “culture” that would last. He wanted players who would “sublimate” their egos to be part of something greater. Those traits are important in all sports, but especially with the unique dynamics of soccer. Key players are often lost for long stretches of time, not only because of injuries but also national team duties (Jermaine Jones, Tim Howard, Kevin Doyle, Shkelzen Gashi). Their replacements bought in, felt trusted by coaches and teammates, and played with confidence so the team’s performance remained consistent.
Mastroeni also wanted leadership within the team to be “horizontal,” not top down from coach to players.
“Whatever business you’re in, if you feel ownership, the likelihood of your commitment to the cause will be greater,” Mastroeni said. “If there is no ownership and I am a boss, when things don’t go well, the likelihood is that they won’t reflect on it from their perspective. They will blame me as a boss.”
Another aspect of “culture” involved accepting and adhering to “core values” of teamwork, effort and perseverance. But it wasn’t enough to proclaim and preach those concepts, they had to be quantified and reinforced on a weekly basis lest they become mere platitudes. And so, after every game, the player who best exemplified each core value would be recognized with his name on a wall board in the locker room. And it wasn’t Mastroeni deciding who would be honored. The players voted, reinforcing their “ownership.”
Mastroeni gives a lot of credit to his “teammates” on the coaching staff — assistants John Spencer, Steve Cooke and Chris Sharpe — but he’s the guy who never lost faith in himself even when his job seemed in danger.
“When you have two (bad) seasons, I don’t dwell on that because I know I’m going to be great one day,” Mastroeni said. “And the truth is, I’ll never get to where I want to go. Every day is a conscious effort to get better than I was yesterday. You need bad experiences to grow and learn from. You never ‘arrive.’ ”
Pablo Mastroeni’s record:
Year Record
2014 8-18-8
2015 9-15-10
2016 15-6-12
Notable marks already achieved by the Rapids this season:
— Assured of setting franchise record for fewest losses. Previous record was eight (2010).
— Most wins since 1999 (20)*
— Most home wins since 1999 (11)*
With a win or tie in Sunday’s regular season finale, Rapids would be the fifth team in MLS history to go an entire season unbeaten at home.
With a shutout, Rapids would set the all-time record for fewest goals allowed at home in an MLS season. They have allowed six through 16 games. The record low is seven in a 15-game home schedule and eight in a 17- game home schedule
*Prior to 2000, there were no ties. Games tied after regulation time expired went to shootouts.
