It looks like the Houston Dynamo are hitting the reset button once again.
Paulo Nagamura, after barely more than eight full months in charge, was fired on Monday, less than 24 hours after a 2-1 loss to Seattle saw them fall to the bottom of the Western Conference with an 8W-5D-16L record.
“This is a difficult decision because Paulo is a top individual who has earned the respect of the players and staff for his tireless work ethic and commitment to the club. We wish Paulo and his staff well moving forward in their careers,” said Dynamo GM Pat Onstad in a club statement.
The Dynamo have handed Kenny Bundy, the head coach of their MLS Next Pro satellite club Houston Dynamo 2, the interim head coaching job for the rest of 2022. Assistant coaches Chris Martinez and Jimmy Nielsen were also let go.
Strangely enough, this means that both of Houston’s top-flight pro soccer teams are now under interim management. Juan Carlos Amorós is still officially the Houston Dash’s interim head coach after James Clarkson was suspended amid an NWSL investigation.
Nagamura’s hiring was only announced in January of this year, having been hired after impressing over four seasons as the head coach of Sporting Kansas City II in the USL Championship. With Ted Segal taking ownership of the club just a few months earlier, it seemed like a long-term project. Nagamura’s track record with regard to Kansas City’s youth players moving through to the first team was considered a major factor in bringing him aboard.
However, after a solid enough 3W-3D-1L start, the wheels came off. The Dynamo have lost 15 of their last 22 games. While they did beat Supporters Shield leaders LAFC less than a week before Nagamura was sent packing, that represents their only win in their last eight.
In their stronger years of the past, the Dynamo were always a solid, tough team leaning heavily on MLS veterans, but when Bundy takes the field for his first game as interim boss, he’ll be the fifth head coach for Houston since August 2019.
Despite some increased willingness to spend—Mexico international Héctor Herrera is one of three Designated Players, and Houston also has an MLS Under-22 Initiative signing in Thiaguinho—the club has been frankly adrift for long enough that coaching might not be the only issue. Nagamura’s record may have left them in 27th in a 28-team league, but his points-per-game pace of exactly 1.00 is better than the 10W-21D-26L mark (0.89 PPG) posted by his predecessor Tab Ramos.
Given how the Dash have charged up the NWSL standings since Amorós came in, Houston will be hoping Bundy can work similar magic.
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