For nine years Dominic Kinnear prowled the sidelines in Houston. He never wore Dynamo orange – Kinnear opted for white, blue or black shirts while in the technical area – but always pushed his troops in the local colors to play hard.
Now for the first time since heading back to his California home, he’ll return to BBVA Compass Stadium on Tuesday as a visitor looking to pull three points in the other direction (8:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE).
What the San Jose Earthquakes coach left behind, however, was a legacy of “Dom Kinnear-type” players. What defines a Kinnear-type player? Honesty, hard work and a layer of thick skin.
“Dom was always the guy who would tell you [with] brutal honesty,” goalkeeper Tyler Deric told MLSsoccer.com. “He was extremely honest with players. Some players couldn’t handle it, some players could and those were the players that are Dominic Kinnear players: players that can handle brutal honesty.”
Deric knows as well as most how honest Kinnear can be. The team’s current No. 1 was a perennial potential-laden, seldom-used player for his first seven years in the league.
All he heard from the staff was how good he was and was going to be, but season after season he sat behind older, more experienced goalkeepers with skins on the wall. When he asked about his situation, Kinnear’s usual candor shined through.
“He would always tell me, ‘You’re going to play for the national team one day, you’re going to be a starting goalkeeper,’” Deric recalled. “I would be like, ‘You tell me all these things, but sometimes I want to knock your head in because you’re not even playing me for your own team – but you say all these things about me.’ And we kind of had a laugh, because we could be totally honest with each other and there was no hard feelings that would stem from that.
“He would tell me he [thought] I would do a good job, but he had to be loyal to Tally [Hall] because he was his goalkeeper for a couple of years. It really made me respect his loyalty to players and that he could be honest also.”
That honesty was universal. When Giles Barnes arrived from England, his skill was evident, but it was clear he had work to do.
“I’ve played for managers before where they let you get away with things because you were maybe a little bit more technically gifted than other players in the team,” Barnes told MLSsoccer.com. “He would be like, ‘You’re a technically gifted player, but to be in my team you need to be a two-way player.’
“Sometimes I think people in MLS think European players get away with a little bit more, but Dom said to me, ‘Listen, if you’re going to be in my team you need to be a two-way forward.’ That was part of working towards my fitness and I took it on board, and I’m seeing rewards from it three years later.”
As honest and intense as Kinnear is, both Barnes and Deric spoke about his sometimes light-hearted nature. That quick honesty would easily turn to quick wit.
“He had a lot of good jokes. He had a lot of good jokes that I stole from him and used with my friends,” Deric said. “He’s such a quick guy and has a great comeback and great joke in a snap. His jokes are timeless.”
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Just as Kinnear did with them, the Dynamo know he’ll bring his San Jose squad to Houston ready to battle for 90 minutes.
Beating a Kinnear-led team, according to Deric and Barnes, boils down to matching their intensity and being sharp without letting down.
In true Kinnear fashion, neither Deric nor Barnes are planning anything special. They’ll shake Kinnear’s hand, as well as former Dynamo coaches Steve Ralston and Tim Hanley, and treat them as they would anyone else.
“I’ll go and say hello, but I won’t wish him luck. I never want anyone to do well against me, not even if it was my best friend,” Barnes said. “If I see him I’ll definitely say hello and then we’ll maybe speak after the game, too. But I won’t wish good luck towards him, because I want my team to come out on top.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
