HOUSTON – The Houston Dynamo started their coaching search with 80 candidates, then dwindled that down to 10. Ultimately, the Orange landed on Tab Ramos, who the club unveiled to the press Wednesday.
Ramos becomes the fourth head coach in Dynamo history and will most certainly try to replicate the success the Orange had with their first head coach in club history, Dominic Kinnear, who led the club to back-to-back MLS championships.
Ramos, who’s only prior coaching experience was with the U.S. Men’ National Under-20 team, said this was the right moment for him to make the jump to coach a club. And more specifically, coaching the Houston Dynamo.
“It’s the right time because I felt very good for what had been done over at U.S. Soccer and I felt like it was time for a different challenge,” Ramos said.
“In terms of this particular opportunity, there were a couple of things right off the bat for me. When I had a meeting with the ownership group, with [Dynamo general manager] Matt [Jordan], with [president of business operations] John [Walker] – I really felt like there was this synergy there. And I felt like we really hit it off in terms of – wow this is really for me, and this a group I really want to move forward with.”
They synergy only took two conversations for Ramos and the Dynamo brass to find they were a fit for one another. It started with a phone call between Ramos, Jordan, and Walker, followed by an in-person meeting in Los Angeles.
“When I got back home [after the second meeting] I told my family, that for me, that was the group of people that I would like to work with,” Ramos said.
During that in-person meeting, Ramos and Jordan were going through the current roster and found that both saw eye-to-eye as they were rating players.
Aside from that simpatico moment, Jordan liked that Ramos — who has 88 caps with the USMNT — has worked his way up the coaching ranks of the national team. Going as high as being an assistant coach under Jürgen Klinsmann with the senior team.
“What really stood out about Tab is that he wanted this job, this challenge, to work in this city. That really resonated with us. The other thing that really resonated is that he has a really unique background – he understands the league very well,” Jordan said.
“He grew up and was born in Uruguay and came to the country at what – 11 years old. So he has a really good background, but what really stands out to us and our ownership group is that he is really here for this challenge, to work for this club in this city.”
Playing style and current roster
Now that Ramos has been announced as head coach, the next question becomes, what kind of playing style he will implement with the Dynamo.
The Uruguayan didn’t break down Xs and Os, give out a possible formation that he’d use, or what players they Dynamo are targeting in the offseason, saying that it’s too early in his tenure to get into that.
He did say he wants an “aggressive, winning demeanor” from the Orange under his helm. Pushed for more details, the 53-year-old repeated a phrase the fame Spaniard coach Xabier Azkargorta, who coached Bolivia, Chile, and Valencia, among others, told him.
“One of the things he said to me whenever anyone asked a question about soccer, you can always answer the questions as ‘it depends’. Because it truly depends.” Ramos said.
“I know I have some clear ideas. I also know there are some challenges in this league in terms of rules and regulations you have to follow and players you have. There’s a lot to cover still and I know I’m just getting my feet wet in the last couple of weeks.”
Ramos, the first player signed by MLS, noted the current Dynamo roster has a good base to start with. And while he’s excited about getting started, the offseason and the team not around makes that difficult.
“I wish the team was around already so I could get going,” Ramos said. “But it takes a little bit of time, but at this moment I’m not concerned about anything other than once we get the group together, getting them going in the right direction.”
Dynamo fans and the front office alike would love nothing more than to have the Orange move in the right direction after missing out on the MLS playoffs 4 out of the past five years.
The front office believes it’s made the first step towards that by appointing Ramos as head coach.
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.