Columbus Crew assistant Ezra Hendrickson hired as Chicago Fire head coach
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Ezra Hendrickson is finally getting his shot.
The former Crew defender who spent the past three seasons on coach Caleb Porter's staff has been hired as head coach of the Chicago Fire, the club announced Tuesday.
Hendrickson has been a head coaching candidate for several open positions in Major League Soccer the past couple years. He interviewed for the D.C. United job after the 2020 season, but has landed his first head coaching job with one of the Crew's longest Eastern Conference rivals.
The Fire's decision to hire Hendrickson was first reported by SBNation.
Hendrickson was 1-1-1 as acting head coach this season for the Crew while Porter was sidelined with COVID-19, though Porter was still in charge of many of the day-to-day coaching activities virtually. Hendrickson said at the time he was grateful for the opportunity.
"If I look back at those (games), there's some things I could maybe do better," he said. "I'm just happy to get the chance because as a coach — inexperienced coach — all you want is the opportunity."
Hendrickson was hired by the Crew in the middle of the 2019 season. After ending his playing career in 2008 following winning MLS Cup in his third season with the Crew, Hendrickson was an assistant on Sigi Schmid's coaching staff with the Seattle Sounders for six years. Hendrickson, then, coached the Sounders reserve team from 2015-17 and was an assistant at LA Galaxy with Schmid in 2018.
Get more Columbus Crew news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Assistant Ezra Hendrickson leaving Crew to be Chicago Fire head coach
