SAN JOSE, Calif. – Following a rough 2014 season capped by a franchise-record 15-match winless streak, what the San Jose Earthquakes arguably needed more than anything else from their new coach was a dose of instant credibility.
Less than a month into his second stint as the Quakes’ manager, and Dominic Kinnear seems to have crossed that item firmly off his to-do list. And San Jose’s fans – and players – have found a new reason to hope that their first season in Avaya Stadium won’t wind up like their last one in Buck Shaw Stadium.
“You can tell [from] the way he carries himself, the way he gives instructions, that he’s confident and he knows what he’s doing,” Quakes midfielder Shea Salinas said of Kinnear. “And that comes across in the way we train and the way we’re going to play. There’s no doubt or hesitation when he tells you to do something. He knows how he likes it and he knows what’s successful.”
Kinnear gained that knowledge with San Jose’s first MLS franchise, winning two league titles as an assistant and then claiming a Supporters’ Shield as the Quakes’ head coach in 2005 – just before the team decamped for Houston, with Kinnear in tow.
The new Quakes, led by general manager John Doyle, a childhood friend of Kinnear’s, reached out to Houston when they parted ways with Frank Yallop in 2013, but exploratory talks went nowhere. When the Quakes decided late in their season-ending tailspin to cut loose Mark Watson, they tried again to bring Kinnear home. This time, the Dynamo were receptive and the Quakes gave up undisclosed assets to get Kinnear, one of only four men to claim multiple MLS Cups as a head coach.
“Experience doesn’t mean you’re automatically guaranteed to win,” Kinnear said. “And I don’t think that I’m going to walk onto the field and think it’s 2005 again. All those players are gone. I look around here, and these people have waited a long time for this stadium. So now you want to put a team in there that can entertain them and help them be successful. My expectations? I want to make the playoffs.”
That’s heady talk for a team that finished last in the stacked Western Conference last year, and seemed out of answers by September and October. San Jose ended the year on a 394-minute scoreless streak, losing four of five games by a combined score of 8-1. Now it’s up to Kinnear to chart the opposite course.
“I think the coach automatically has the respect of the team,” San Jose center back Clarence Goodson said. “It’s what you do with that respect from Day 1. Do you continue to gain more respect, or do players start to not believe in some cases? And I think Dom is a guy, wherever he’s been, he’s had tons of respect. His track record speaks for itself.
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“For me, it’s very exciting to be here with a coach that I believe in 100 percent, someone that I know if we listen and do what he asks of us, we’re going to have a lot of success personally and collectively. That’s what you want.”
Kinnear’s training style drew raves after just one practice – Salinas used “sharp,” “intense” and “efficient” in describing it, while Goodson summed up with “fantastic” – and he aims to lift up spirits in the locker room with a democratic style that dovetails nicely with the work ethic epitomized by franchise talisman Chris Wondolowski.
“Obviously winning makes everybody happier, no matter what's going on around you,” Kinnear said. “But I think as long as the top guy is getting treated the same as the bottom guy – and every coach says that – I think it creates a good little bit of trust in the locker room.”
Kinnear’s previous successes undoubtedly bought him some time with fans who saw long-time club stalwarts such as Jon Busch, Sam Cronin and Jason Hernandez all depart in a churning offseason.
“The one thing I said was, I didn’t want to be a butcher, but I have no loyalty to anybody here,” Kinnear said. “I’ve been gone for nine years. ... I have to look at it as not the guy that came from 2005. I have to look at it [as], I’m a brand-new coach coming into this team. So I have to look at it with a completely blank slate.”
The Quakes will be all too happy to let Kinnear do the writing.
