Crew closing in on coaching hire; Gregg Berhalter facing toughest test | Michael Arace

Jibber jabber about coaches and their job security is a constancy of big-time sports. At present, Columbus is in high yammer, and you’ll have that when Ohio State gets thwacked at home by Michigan.

I’ll leave that particular conversation to the experts who wanted Ryan Day fired midway through the third quarter Saturday afternoon. I’ll mention this only in passing: Day (45-5) seems to be an excellent coach who represents the great state university with humility, decency and class. And he keeps his hands where everyone can see them.

OK, let’s talk soccer.

The Crew gave Caleb Porter a mile of leash before he got a pink slip at the end of the MLS season. The Crew’s search for a successor is in its final stage. There remains more than one candidate in the running.

Various reports, dating back to when Porter was fired last month, have linked CF Montreal coach Wilfried Nancy to the Crew job. Initially, this was a matter of connecting the dots: Nancy has a good reputation for working well with minor-league and academy affiliates (from whence he came); he is a well-regarded coach in his own right (second in voting for the 2022 Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year Award); and, after his midseason run-in with a Montreal owner Joey Saputo – according to La Presse, Nancy refused to allow Saputo into the locker room after a disappointing game – it was thought he’d be available at season’s end.

There is a rub: A one-year extension on Nancy’s contract kicked in when Montreal made the playoffs. Any other team that wants to talk to him needs permission from Montreal. As for hiring him away, it would require compensation for Montreal, probably in the form of a transfer fee.

MLS, which used to be run as if Gene Smith were in charge, is a much tighter ship these days. The league office not only frowns on tampering, it is ready to levy fines for such offenses. If Crew president/GM Tim Bezbatchenko is interested in Nancy – and I believe he is – he must pay close attention to the rulebook. The same goes in the case of Robin Fraser, who is in a long-term contract with the Colorado Rapids and whose name has also been linked, if only speculatively, with the Crew.

While Bezbatchenko is using broad strokes when he speaks with the media, he is keeping a tight lid on particulars. My feeling after a month of poking around: There is more than one candidate the Crew would be comfortable hiring; the process has gone slower than expected out of deference to tampering rules; Nancy is held in high regard.

It’s a busy month for league GMs. There was a trade window, the expansion draft, a deadline for contract options and the opening of free agency. Among other things. The next major dates on the league calendar are the college combine (Dec. 8-12) and the Super Draft (Dec. 21).

One would expect that Bezbatchenko will have his new coach on board ahead of the combine and, if so, one might expect a decision by early next week. It fits.

The coach with Columbus ties who has the toughest job in America is not, alas, Ryan Day. It is Gregg Berhalter. When Triple-G left the Crew to take the reins of the USMNT at the end of 2018, he was seen by many fans as a product of nepotism within the organization (his brother Jay was for many years an officer with the federation; he left it in 2020). These fans always cast a jaundiced eye at Berhalter. They were convinced that he was married to systems which may or not fit the next (“golden”) generation. They've been firing him every week for 48 months.

Some criticism was merited; the Yanks struggled to score in the run-up to the World Cup, and they struggle yet. But what was missed was a lot, Berhalter changed a culture and united a locker room of talented 20-somethings. They also owned Mexico, with class.

Look at them now. Through a 1-1 draw with Wales and a shocking 0-0 tie with mighty England, Berhalter has adapted throughout, and deftly so. He has been the better coach in both games. His team had the jump on Wales and then handled second-half pressure largely with aplomb. Against England, the Yanks shifted formations, controlled the midfield and neutralized England’s vaunted attack.

If one or two of Berhalter’s players had found a bit of magic at the right moment, the U.S. would be 2-0 and atop Group B. The point is, he put those players in position to win. Tuesday, he has to find a way to penetrate Iran's low block and if he doesn't, and the U.S. loses or ties, he may be facing the end.

The Americans need to beat Iran to advance to the knockout stage. One might like to think that, regardless of outcome, Berhalter deserves to be with this team for another World Cup cycle. But cruel fate is part of his job description.

marace@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Crew soon to fill coach's chair. Meanwhile, Berhalter's chair gets hot