HOUSTON – While Davy Arnaud always envisioned becoming a head coach at some point during his coaching career, he never could have expected it would come midseason to take over a team in a downward spiral.
That’s the situation Arnaud, a Nederland, Texas native, now finds himself in after being named interim head coach of the Houston Dynamo following the ouster of Wilmer Cabrera.
Was Arnaud surprised by the decision?
“Yeah, you’re never really fully prepared for decisions that happen this way. I think we all understand that in this business, it’s a part of what we do,” Arnaud said. “Coaches and players understand that this is where we’re at right now. It’s unfortunate that it happened, but now we look forward to what’s next.”
Arnaud, who played 14 seasons in Major League Soccer with stints at Sporting KC, Montreal Impact, and D.C. United, takes over a team that is currently ninth in the Western Conference and only six points below the playoff line.
The former MLSer is the second interim head coach the Dynamo have had in the past four years. The last one to hold that title, Wade Barrett, took over for Owen Coyle during a tumultuous 2016 season.
And while Arnaud hasn’t experienced taking over as coach during the season, he’s experienced it as a player.
When the former midfielder was playing with Sporting KC, then known as the Kansas City Wizards, the team made a coaching change midseason in 2006.
First-time head coach
Now at the helm of a coaching staff, Arnaud, who led the Nederland High School boy’s soccer team to a state championship in 1999, said it’s an honor to be in that position.
“It’s a big responsibility, that’s for sure. It’s not taken lightly, but what makes it easier to accept the responsibility is the group of players that we have, knowing the staff that we have here and the type of work that we’re going to do. Knowing that I have the support of the club.” Arnaud said.
“For me, when they asked me to take on the responsibility, I said I would absolutely do it. I’ll do everything I can to get us back on track.”
Being named interim head coach when he least expected delivered a hectic 24 hours for Arnaud from the point that Cabrera was let go, to his first press conference Wednesday.
He’s received and made a ton of calls and message from former teammates, some who have since become head coaches themselves.
Arnaud has heard from D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen, where he spent one year as an assistant, Jimmy Nielsen, a former teammate, and current United Soccer League head coach, and also spoken with Austin Bold’s first head coach Josh Wolff, to name a few.
“I’m sure I’ll continue to reach out to people that I have opinions that I value because, at the end of the day, they’re all people who have been through experiences that I haven’t been through yet,” Arnaud said.
“As much as you’re in this game, being in this role is new. I would be naïve to think that I have absolutely all the answers. I think we have a good idea to move forward, but I would absolutely lean on people that I know and trust to give me advice.”
Small tactical tweaks
While he’s only had two trainings as head coach under his belt, Arnaud stated that there won’t be too many changes to how the team approaches games tactically. Fans can expect to see some familiar things with small tweaks here and there.
“Maybe some stuff will be a little different, but it will certainly be similar to what we’ve done now. We’ve had success with this group of players playing a certain type of way,” Arnaud said. “We just need to get back to doing those things and fix the things we’ve struggled with lately.”
One possible tweak to the lineup may include having two strikers upfront, not too dissimilar to how the teamed lined up against Philadelphia Union.
In that match, Houston lined up in a 4-4-2 with Mauro Manotas and new acquisition Christian Ramirez as the players upfront. Manotas, for one, is a fan of the two-forward system.
“Personally, I like to play next to another forward because that allows me to play how I really like to play. A bit more freely all over the pitch and be able to create space so my teammates can get into the box,” Manotas said.
“And that’s how we scored against Philadelphia. I left my position and the defender went with me and he [Ramirez] was able to score a goal.”
Not a bad way to bag your first Dynamo goal, @Chris_Ramirez17
1-1 | #PHIvHOU pic.twitter.com/kdUPmOo7V3
— Houston Dynamo (@HoustonDynamo) August 11, 2019
Arnaud, while still an assistant at the time that the goal transpired, said the team was happy with the connection shown by Manotas and Ramirez against the Union.
And while not giving away how the team will lineup against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, he did state that if the team chooses a two-forward system, he’s sure the Manotas-Ramirez connection will “no doubt be good again.”
The 39-year-old knows what it’s like for players to go through a coaching change midseason, and also knows how that change can alter the direction of the club based solely on how the players react.
“The response from the players can be something that moves us back in the right direction,” Arnaud said.
For the club, and Dynamo fans, a change in the right direction starts Saturday at home against the Colorado Rapids.
Jesus Acevedo Jr. is the Editor-in-Chief of The Bayoucitian. He’s an award-winning bilingual journalist from Houston, TX. A graduate of the University of Houston, he has written for the Houston Chronicle, La Voz de Houston, MLSsoccer.com, and ProSoccerUSA.
Before becoming a journalist, Jesus spent his early 20s drumming his way across Houston with two bands — Shortcomings and InsertNameHere. The memories that Jesus made as a musician were the seeds that started the idea for the comedy, Houmans: The Series.