Curt Onalfo officially launched his tenure as the sixth head coach in D.C. United history at an RFK Stadium press conference on Tuesday morning, completing a happy homecoming to the nation's capital for a former United player and coach who called his new position "a dream come true."
Delivering remarks in both English and Spanish, Onalfo vowed to end United's two-year playoff drought and haul the proud club from its recent period of mediocrity back into domestic and regional prominence. The former Kansas City Wizards boss spent the final stages of a solid playing career in D.C. and served as the club's assistant coach and director of youth development for three years before moving on to the U.S. national team coaching staff in 2003.
"I love D.C. United. I like the D.C. area, I have a house in Herndon [Va.] and kind of made my family here. My daughter was born here. My son wasn't, but pretty much grew up most of his life here. From a family perspective it's really a great fit and from a career standpoint, for me it's a dream come true," said Onalfo.
"We have enormous work ahead of us. But make no mistake about it, priority No. 1 is to get this team back in the playoffs and also to get this team qualified for the international tournaments that we're so well known for."
Team president Kevin Payne and general manager Dave Kasper paid tribute to Onalfo's attacking-minded tactical philosophy, his deep ties to United and his plentiful experience with Latin American soccer, a region the club continues to mine for stylistic inspiration as well as new roster talent.
The Black-and-Red braintrust also believes his bilingualism can help bring out the best from United's Spanish-speaking stars and strengthen ties to the club's substantial Latino fanbase.
"One of the skills that we really believe is perhaps the most important skill of a successful coach is that ability to communicate," said Payne. "And while we didn't make it a requirement, it was absolutely a tremendous asset and a real advantage for Curt that he is bilingual."
Just more than two months have elapsed since Tom Soehn stepped down after three seasons in charge of the Black-and-Red, and after that lengthy selection process the club's front office was eager to unveil their new locker-room leader at the outset of what promises to be an eventful January for United and the rest of Major League Soccer. D.C. have already signed Salvadoran international Cristian Castillo on loan from Mexico's León and plan to continue shopping for new acquisitions.
"We have several players identified -- throughout the world, really -- but we've focused again on Central and South America," said Kasper. "There's some players we're having conversations with so it was obviously very important to make sure that Curt was completely on board."
Longtime D.C. fans will likely take heart from their new leader's tutelage under Bruce Arena. Onalfo played for Arena at the college and professional levels and assisted him during his final three years in charge of the national team, and on Tuesday he cited the former United and current L.A. Galaxy boss as an "instrumental" influence on his approach to the game.
Onalfo said that he will be revealing his coaching staff at a gathering with fans on Tuesday evening, though it is expected that former United player Kris Kelderman and recently retired midfielder Ben Olsen will join goalkeepers coach Mark Simpson on the sidelines in D.C.
United legend Jaime Moreno, who also played alongside Onalfo under Arena, offered a warm endorsement of his new manager.
"Dirty, very dirty," cracked Moreno when asked about his memories of Onalfo as a player. "No, he always gave his 100 percent. A very nice guy, a great family and now he's on the other side and I'm pretty sure that the last five, six years that he's been coaching -- plus having the knowledge that Bruce has too, he's one of Bruce's students, so I'm sure he's learned a lot. And hopefully he'll bring all his knowledge to D.C. United and he'll help this team to achieve things that we want to achieve."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
