Players want it known that they played hearts out for much-respected coach Mastroeni.
Team adamant it played its hardest for the fired coach
COMMERCE CITY» Whatever their shortcomings in producing results this season, the Rapids never quit on Pablo Mastroeni, and they were quick to emphasize that point Wednesday after their first training session under interim coach Steve Cooke.
Lack of effort wasn’t what got Mastroeni fired Tuesday.
“A lot of times when a coach gets fired, he lost the locker room,” defender Eric Miller said. “That’s the furthest thing from the truth in regards to Pablo. Every guy in there still loves Pablo, and every guy would still play for him if he was the coach. He coached like he played. He was so intense and passionate, it rubbed off on all of us.”
Striker Kevin Doyle said players would “run through walls” for Mastroeni, who had never coached before taking the Rapids’ helm in 2014.
Mastroeni was fired with 12 games remaining in the season. Coming off a season in which they reached the Western Conference finals, the Rapids are in next-to-last place with a 6-12-4 record.
“Even a year like this when we haven’t been getting results, I don’t think there’s a single game you could point to where the guys gave up or didn’t give it their all,” Miller said. “That says a lot about him as a coach. I’ve been in situations on a team that’s not doing very well and guys just check out. I don’t think there’s one guy in that locker room who checked out. That’s a huge credit to Pablo.”
Doyle said Mastroeni demonstrated a talent for motivation that will serve him well as a coach in the future.
“Pablo knows, and we know, it’s a business and we haven’t been good enough this year,” Doyle said. “Unfortunately, he’s the one that bears the brunt, as it always is in sport. It’s the manager or the coach who is the one who gets it, and we live to fight another day as players. He’s got fantastic qualities to be a really, really good manager, and I’m sure he’ll prove that in years to come, as he did last year with us. It’s only eight months ago that we got to the conference finals.”
Players were called in 30 minutes earlier than normal for training Wednesday morning, first to hear from sporting director Padraig Smith, then from Cooke. They have a home game Saturday against DC United, the worst team in the league (5-15-4), then play four straight on the road. Cooke has been a Rapids assistant since 2012.
“A very good friend of mine, and a great colleague of mine, lost his job,” Cooke said of Mastroeni. “I feel for him, I feel for his family. But at the end of those thoughts and feelings comes the realization that we’re professionals and we have a job to do. My job is to prepare the players the best that I possibly can to be at their peak performance and give us an opportunity to win the game against DC United.”
Cooke said there was “great energy” Wednesday in training and that players were “all very upbeat and very positive.” There may be some subtle tactical changes under his leadership but probably nothing major, at least for a while.
“We just started today, and he’s already made a few subtle changes,” Doyle said. “A lot of times, teams get a bounce from a new coach, and hopefully we get it. We need it to finish the season strong. We won’t try any harder for Cookie on Saturday. The tactics might be a bit different, but we won’t be trying any harder. We really gave everything for Pablo.”
“Every guy in there still loves Pablo, and every guy would still play for him if he was the coach. He coached like he played. He was so intense and passionate, it rubbed off on all of us.”
Eric Miller, Rapids defender