"I have been contacted, yes, by Indiana. I have already made a statement I am not interested. I prefer not to answer any more questions on that. This is the College Cup press conference, and I think my players and myself should be talking about that. I'm focused on Akron right now. I love this team. I love being in Akron. My wife does as well. The administration is committed to our program. The alumni is behind us, the community is behind us. I have not thought or talked to anybody else whatsoever. All the rumors out there are purely speculation. That happens when you've had a year like we have had."
Emphasis is mine. Goff has been feeding the "Porter to United" rumor mill for quite some time, but his piece on the coaching search yesterday reads like a total mess:
Late last week, United officials began contacting their wide range of candidates and telling them they had narrowed their options to two. Sources told the Insider that those two were Porter and former Kansas City coach Curt Onalfo. The club was also planning to speak with at least two foreign coaches.
So it's narrowed to two, but they're also contacting two foreign coaches, which to me adds up to four. As for the mention of DC United president Kevin Payne and GM David Kasper attending an Akron match a month ago, just about every MLS team has been sending high level people to those matches due to the talent on display.
I don't think it's unreasonable to say that Porter is United's top choice. But it's clear they haven't talked to directly to him yet, and given his statement above, not at all certain that Porter would take the job.
At this point I think it would be a better career move for Porter to stay at Akron as opposed to going to DC United. Barring a lot of undergraduate defections, Akron will be loaded for bear next year. As for DC, they lost in the Open Cup final to an expansion team and their roster situation and back room politics are uglier than Wilman Conde. I don't doubt Porter has what it takes to succeed in MLS eventually, but I'd like to think he can get into a better situation if he waits.
0 comments:
Post a Comment