COLUMBUS - All it took was one change to the staff of the MLS champion Columbus Crew to create a domino effect.
When head coach Sigi Schmid left for the expansion team in Seattle in December, assistant Robert Warzycha was promoted. In January former Crew defender Ricardo Iribarren was hired to assume Warzycha's spot. Mike Lapper, another ex-Crew defender, remained the second assistant and Vadim Kirillov was retained as the goalkeeper coach.
After two months of preseason training and four weeks of MLS play, Warzycha said the group is starting to mesh as well the staff that had been together the previous two years.
"It takes time to jell and have everything run smoothly, to be honest with you," Warzycha said. "Sigi did things certain ways and I have my way of doing some things different. It just doesn't happen all at once."
However, he doesn't feel the coaching moves have disrupted the team to the point where it is one of two winless clubs (0-2-3) going into Saturday's home match against Chicago.
"We've had a lot of injuries, for sure, and been traveling a lot but we have still played very well at times. Sometimes we have been unlucky but we still have to play better and we will," Warzycha said. "We have a lot of the same players back so I don't think they worry about who's coaching them."
Responsibilities have changed, though. Lapper is doing more of the video work that Warzycha had done in the past while the head coach must oversee the entire team. Lapper usually works with defenders; Iribarren often handles the forwards and Warzycha will take the midfielders.
"If you look at the staff, we're fine," Lapper said. "Everyone asks me what the difference was last year. Part of it was we were lucky and got some breaks our way and we're not getting breaks. The fact of the matter is we're playing well and everyone in the locker room believes in each other whether that's staff or players. That's the right attitude."
Warzycha is an active coach on the field and will spend as much time demonstrating a point as explaining it. He also stays involved in the scouting and last Saturday while the Crew were idle he attended the Kansas City at Chicago match.
"Bobby's a different personality than Sigi was. I have great respect for both guys," goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum said. "We've tried to keep things as similar as possible. If it's not broke don't fix it. That's what we're doing."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
