The state of Liga MX coaching: Where’s the new generation?
Before you start diving into this article, I want you to know that this is more of a rant than anything else. My colleague, El Super Mojado, asked me recently when I complained about the lack of new, young coaches in Liga MX: “Who and where are they?” My answer was simple; I don’t know.
Which sane person would want to be a professional coach?
Coaching is one of the most challenging jobs to hold in sports. The amount of times that a team changes coaches is far more often than a coach lasting at least three years with the same team.
Liga MX is no exception. But one of the biggest concerns I have with the Mexican League and most professional leagues for that matter is the continued recycling of veteran coaches.
I don’t like to use the word recycle and humans in the same sentence unless it’s to help save the planet. Liga MX however, has forced me to use this word interchangeably with humans and here are the reasons why:
In the last ten years, since the Torneo Bicentenario, there’s been one team that has changed managers only once, and that’s Tigres, who coincidently has accumulated the most titles.
From the teams who have played in all 19 tournaments since 2010, Puebla had the most coaching changes during that span. Including caretakers and repeat coaches, Los Camoteros replaced their head coach on 23 seperate occasions. Jose Luis Sanchez Sola, also known as Chelis, was named their manager three different times in this decade.
If we focus on Chelis for just one second, we’ll learn that he was named the manager of a Liga MX club five different times during this past decade. Though three of those times were for Puebla, Sola also managed Estudiantes Tecos at the start of the decade and Veracruz in 2014. Chelis’ most recent tenure occurred earlier this year. It was the fourth time in his career that he was named head coach for La Franja. This time, however, his role would be short lived as he would be fired a little over six months after taking the helm.
Success is hard for Liga MX coaches
We mentioned earlier that Tigres made only one managerial change during the last ten years, and that was when they named Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti skipper in 2010. Los Universitarios and Tuca haven’t looked back since. Ferretti has gone on to become not only the most successful coach of the decade but, arguably, ever.
Tuca’s tale is an exceptional one. He’s been the coach of Tigres for twice the amount of time as the 2nd longest tenured coach this decade. That title belongs to Victor Manuel Vucetich, who coached Monterrey for four-and-a-half years, from January 2009 to August 2013. After Vucetich, Diego Alonso is the next longest tenured coach with three-and-a-half years when he coached Pachuca from December 2014 to May 2018.
Current Club America coach, Miguel “El Piojo” Herrera, has been their manager for about five years, if you combine his two stints. He probably would have at least a couple more had it not been for his departure to manage the Mexican National Team, whose coaching helm is a category of its own.
Long tenured success is not easy for a coach. Even when you look at other sports leagues, the exceptions are few. Greg Popovich in the NBA and Bill Belichick in the NFL are examples of coaches who have stood the test of time. Ferretti is the only one who comes close to that type of trajectory in Liga MX.
So if you’re not successful, then why are you allowed back in the carousel of coaches? Is it connections? Compadrizmo? Maybe we should ask an owner how they determine what kind of attributes and experience a coach needs to have before they hire him.
The Liga MX Coaching Carousel
Chelis isn’t even the best example of coaches who jump from team-to-team. During the 2010s, two coaches, Jose Guadalupe Cruz and Sergio Bueno, were named managers a whopping seven different times each. Cruz managed seven different teams and Bueno six. These two coaches are the example of how Liga MX was not doing things right.
Cruz’s claim to fame as a coach came after winning the 2007 Apertura with Atlante. The following year he led Atlante to win the CONCACAF Champions League, and his third and final trophy came by way of the 2015 Clausura Copa MX with Puebla. Yes, winning a title is an impressive feat, but how long does that carry you? Apparently, a very long time in Liga MX.
I can make an even greater argument of how awful a job Liga MX was doing in hiring the same repeat coaches by pointing out that Bueno, unlike Cruz, had nothing on his resume to show why teams should be hiring him time-and-time again. When I say nothing, I don’t mean he wasn’t winning any games; he simply wasn’t winning titles. Sergio, according to his Wikipedia page, has been coaching since 2001 and has coached 13 different teams, two of those on separate occasions, and a third-team three different times.
Sergio and Cruz have been part of the merry-go-round that is part of Liga MX coaching. If we stick to this decade, we will also see that five other individuals were appointed to new teams in five different instances, each! The chances are that you’ll recognize them: Ignacio Ambriz, Pablo Marini, Ruben Omar Romano, Enrique Meza, and Jose Saturnino Cardozo.
Some of them were great players, especially when you consider the careers of Ambriz and Cardozo. And some are even title-winning coaches. Nevertheless, they’re part of the old guard of the Liga MX coaching carousel.
Let’s give a chance to new blood
In 2019 seven coaches made their Liga MX debut, the all-time high of the decade, but out of those seven, only Leandro Cufre was a freshman coach. The other six had coached in other top-flight leagues around the globe. Bruno Marioni, for example, did make his Liga MX coaching debut when Pumas hired him, but he had prior managing experience with Venados of the Liga de Ascenso.
Marioni’s time with Pumas was short-lived as he was sacked only five months into the job. For his part, Cufre remains the coach for Atlas, and though he’s only seven months into the job, the likelihood that he stays depends on whether or not Los Zorros clinch a spot in the Liguilla.
I was pleased to see new coaches in Liga MX, but at the same time, it sucks for Mexican fans when they need to search abroad. In any case, fresh blood is good, regardless of where it comes from, as it allows teams to experiment and at the same time, give newer coaches an opportunity to shine.
When Chivas signed Luis Fernando Tena after sacking Tomas Boy, I was distraught. The only thing I could think was, “Is there no one else out there besides LFT?” I’m not bashing Tena, though it appears like I am, I’m not. What I am saying is that Chivas just jumped back on the dreadful Coaching Carousel.
I’m sure you guys remember the last time Chivas didn’t do that. Well, if you don’t, let me remind you that they hired a guy by the name of Matias Almeyda, who ended up leading Chivas to their last Liga MX title, a Champions League title and a couple of Copa MX titles. We, ladies and gentlemen, call that; thinking outside the box.
It doesn’t always work that way; nonetheless, Guadalajara took a chance, and it paid off exceptionally well.
Can anything be done?
Coaching has to be one of the most stressful jobs in professional sports after officiating, and of course, there’s not a lot of people who are knowledgeable about the game who want to do it.
What I propose is a relegation system for coaches — just kidding! Plus, that would never work. I understand that coaches need to have particular types of licenses to get professional work, but are these individuals getting the opportunity to get their foot in the door?
A lot of people assume that only ex-professional players can become coaches, but that’s not true. Tell me where Jose Mourinho played professionally? Jose is a master tactician who studied the game inside and out, and that allowed him to become one of the best coaches in recent times. Most importantly, he loved the game and had the patience to convey his tactics to the players he managed.
My point is, why not allow more people like him to become assistant managers and eventually force them to become managers. I’m not a professional, so maybe that system is already in place. Perhaps it’s not.
Regardless, someone needs to throw a wrench into that carousel and break it. One person should not be coaching seven different teams in the span of one decade. Liga MX owners need to take a chance on younger coaches and allow for a breath of fresh air instead of recycling coaches like they’re aluminum cans.
Leave your comments below and let us know which assistant coach is ready to get their first big break?
