

Fernando is Gone
By: Kyle | August 21st, 2008It’s finally happened. The Rapids have let go of their coach, Fernando Clavijo. Surprisingly, Gary Smith is going to take over for him on an interim basis, whatever that means. I say surprisingly, because it seemed like the Rapids have been preening assistant coach John Murphy for the job. He’s been the face of the coaching staff for years, and the Rapids even sent him over to Europe to become the first American to be a UEFA certified manager.
I’m sure some will make a big stink about the Rapids saying that he left of his on volition, but I believe it. If they were going to fire him, they could have picked a million better times over the past few years to do so.
And I’m sure the supporters groups will go nuts and believe that somehow all of the Rapids’ problems have been forevermore solved (for those who don’t know, they hated the guy on an extremely obnoxious level). I actually have always kind of felt sorry for the guy for the bad rep he’s gotten. It is certainly a possibility that this could end up being good for the Rapids, and after all, his win percentage as Rapids coach wasn’t good, but he really wasn’t all bad. He did get our club to the Western Conference Final twice and he came up with a few interesting ideas for the club this year.
Right now, this is really still up in the air. If this had to happen now was a good time, as there is just enough time for the Rapids to adjust and stay in the playoff race. So, like the rest of this season, it could turn out really well. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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Comments
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Great write up. Clavijo has always been a mystery to me – some games he has the team playing all cylinders (especially against the Bulls) and others, the Rapids look pwned before the game even begins. Ah well. At the very least, Clavijo is a nice and personable guy. Hopefully, he lands on his feet somewhere in USL or something.
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F’ing FINALLY! He should have been gone 2 years ago! Kroenke is waaaaay to loyal to underperforming coaches (see: George Karl of Denver’s NBA team).
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