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DC United’s hiring of Wayne Rooney as head coach last year – just like their signing of lethal striker Wayne Rooney five years ago – was never a long-term solution.
In both cases, Rooney, who held a season-and-a-half stint in each case, came to the U.S. to revitalize a forgotten MLS club in a prosperous league.
As a player, he brought global excitement to the newly opened Audi Field and marketing power to a fading brand. However, with his career coming to an end, he assumed he wouldn’t stay longer than two or three seasons.
After returning as coach in July 2022, Rooney signed an unusually short contract until the 2023 season. Since his wife and children remained in England and his ambitions were to one day have a bigger job at home, Rooney and those in charge had United didn’t expect this part-time job to last forever. It would collectively serve their short-term purposes.
This summer, Rooney actually came up with the idea of extending his stay. He wanted to continue the construction process. However, United weren’t quite ready to look forward; It wanted to see results this year. Any discussion of a new contract depended on the team’s performance in the second half of the season. At least Rooney had to make the playoffs – not a tall order in a generous league.
A slip at the end of the season sealed his fate. Co-owners Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan were in Austin on Wednesday for a 3-0 win that all but ended United’s playoff chances. The elimination came despite a 2-0 win over New York City FC on Saturday.
Wayne Rooney is out as DC United fail to make the playoffs again
The post-match announcement that United and Rooney had mutually agreed to part ways came as no surprise. A patchwork measure had failed to halt a string of four consecutive playoff-free campaigns.
United hasn’t won a playoff game since 2015, hasn’t reached the conference finals since 2012 and hasn’t advanced to the MLS Cup since 2004. His four championships came in the MLS 1.0 era.
Club officials recognize that they need to introduce long-term solutions and not stopgap solutions. For the third time in three years, they are conducting a coaching search. It will undoubtedly span the continent and the oceans.
Front office changes are also in the works. United believed it could get by without a general manager this year. Instead of replacing Lucy Rushton, who was ousted last season, they took the cheap and easy route by letting sporting director Dave Kasper (the previous GM) and technical director Stewart Mairs fill the void.
In the coming weeks, United will name a general manager who will report to Chief Executive Levien rather than Kasper, who is expected to take on a senior advisory role after 20 years of roster oversight, people familiar with the situation said.
“We’ve been working hard to talk to potential general managers, and when we find someone, part of that discussion revolves around the question: ‘What is our coaching strategy and what is our player recruiting strategy?'” Levien said in an interview late Saturday. “How can we build a culture that gets us where we want to go? We get smarter just by having these discussions and talking to different people who have done this.”
With his brilliant football mind, Rooney made United smarter. He looked after young players and brought structure to a team that had lost its way. However, he is an inexperienced coach and some of his decisions have been questioned. He was evolving, just like the club as a whole seemed to be.
There were no positive results. The only winning streak (three games) came in April. The team had a home record of 6-5-6 and entered Saturday’s game with one win in 11 games.
United have lost their frugal reputation and have one of the highest payrolls in MLS this season. Whether this money was spent wisely is up for debate. The club didn’t make much noise in the summer transfer and trade window.
Still, “The owners supported me,” Rooney said. “I pretty much got what I wanted. Of course you always want more, but no complaints.”
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He had to deal with several squad problems. Starting winger Martín Rodríguez tore a cruciate ligament at the start of the season. Midway through the season, starting midfielder Lewis O’Brien returned to England as his loan from Nottingham Forest expired. Icelandic defender Victor Palsson wanted to return to Europe mid-season.
And the biggest setback was the club terminating the contract of star striker Taxi Fountas in late summer after an investigation into the alleged use of racist slurs was launched in the second division. With the investigation only completed after the transfer window closed, United were unable to replace Fountas with another top player.
As the season went by there were also karmic messages that the club might be going about things the wrong way.
Former star playmaker Luciano Acosta led FC Cincinnati to the Supporters’ Shield (most regular season points) and secured the top spot for league MVP.
Ben Olsen, a celebrated United figure for more than 20 years as a player and coach, led Houston to the US Open Cup title and took Dynamo to the playoffs.
And finally on Saturday, Hernán Losada – Olsen’s successor and Rooney’s predecessor, who was abruptly fired at the start of his second season – coached Montreal to a victory over Portland that ended DC’s playoff hopes.
United now face another long break, four months, to not only prepare for the 2024 season but also set the course for sustained satisfaction rather than fleeting enthusiasm.