Breathing heavily and wiping away a renegade bead of sweat that had trickled down from his forehead to the end of his nose, Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman sat down in the small room's corner.
It was hard to tell whether his interrupted workout at the Wizards practice facility was scheduled as a start to next season, or a way for the veteran 'keeper to burn off months of pent up frustration -- the result of a year over before it ever seemed to get off the ground. Either way, Hartman warmed to the interview slowly.
Soon, however, it surfaced -- the reflection looking back, the assessment moving forward, the frustration of it all -- as the league's all-time saves leader tried to wrap his mind around why he wasn't part of the MLS Cup Playoffs for just the second time in his 13-year career.
"It's just trying to recollect how game to game went, and how I was personally able to deal with adversity," Hartman said. "Some of the lessons I learned in terms of getting more out of the guys in front of me, whether it is the defenders or the midfielders or the guys up top, and how I was able to, or unable to, nurture relationships with the team in order to get the most out of those guys around me.
"I hit a couple milestones in terms of the number of consecutive minutes and saves -- some things that I'm sure I'll look back on and be pretty proud of. That being said, I think there's eight goalkeepers I would trade with in an instant."
Hartman is far from the only person who feels like Kansas City didn't get the most out of its team as "unfulfilled potential" crept into the outer fringe of discussion soon after the 2009 campaign began.
After a pair of wins (including an impressive 1-0 win at Seattle Sounders FC) evened out two suspect losses to start the year, the Wizards flirted with the .500 mark at 4-4-2 through the first 10 games.
That stretch included 3-2 and 1-0 losses to Toronto FC, a pair of games that left the Wizards feeling like they had left some early points on the field. Those, unfortunately, were just the beginning to a season-long theme.
Kansas City won just one MLS game in May (at Real Salt Lake) and again in June (against New England) before diving into SuperLiga and U.S. Open Cup play to end June and begin July, where the team promptly dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions to Houston and Seattle.
A scoreless draw at New England, followed by a 1-1 home result against Los Angeles on national television, finished out a winless July. Despite being desperate for a win, the Wizards remained 5-6-6 heading into the MLS All-Star break -- still very much a part of a muddled Eastern Conference.
Looking for a spark to start a second-half hot streak, the Wizards instead found nothing but an ice-cold slap to the face, losing 6-0 at FC Dallas to begin August.
Less than two days after the worst loss in Kansas City history, head coach Curt Onalfo was dismissed, and technical director Peter Vermes assumed the managerial duties on an interim basis.
The change would eventually yield some results, but not immediately. Three more shutout losses completed a scoreless month for Kansas City. It also, despite brave words from players and coaches after each loss, effectively erased the Wizards from any serious chance at a return to the MLS Cup Playoffs.
A 3-1-2 run moved the Wizards to 8-11-6 in late September and briefly moved Kansas City into very light postseason conversation. But, after a 3-2 redemption against FC Dallas on Sept. 19 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, the Wizards wouldn't find another victory through its final five games.
Though it missed the playoffs and finished the season 3-6-3 under Vermes as interim manager, Wizards ownership was impressed enough to approach him during the season about assuming full-time manager duties in addition to technical director.
After a few months spent deliberating, Vermes agreed to the request.
"I really felt that it was important to me, when the season was over, to really sit back and assess everything that occurred, and what it would be like for me to keep doing this and what it would look like moving forward," Vermes said. "I really spent the time [thinking] ... because I hadn't made my decision yet.
"I just wanted to be really clear in my head that this was the right way to go for this organization and for me too as well as my family and everything else. I also wanted to talk to part of my staff, just so we could make sure that we were all on the same page.
"I wanted to make sure they were on board with what we're undertaking."
After the 6-0 loss, the remaining games were used by technical director Vermes as an extended evaluation period while interim manager Vermes purposely kept things overly basic for a team trying to rediscover its fundamentals.
"I told the players at the end of our season-ending meeting that there were times on the field where you bite your tongue, especially with the situation that [the coaches] came into," Vermes said. "A lot of the M.O. of the team was established over the two-thirds of the season that we weren't coaching.
"In the last third, it would be hard to come in and all the sudden say 'look, here's the hard line in the sand that we're going to draw, and it's over with.' We believe that would just cause a lot more problems in that respect. So, we had to compromise a little bit at times some of the things that we believe [as coaches]."
From the first Vermes-led practice, the team focused its efforts on fundamentals, breaking down a broken system and beginning the long process of evaluating every piece of the club -- including players, coaches, training and fitness.
The goal, Vermes said, is to transform the club from a team trying to sneak into the playoffs each year to one that is consistently battling for the MLS Cup. Ownership obviously agrees with that approach and went as far as claiming responsibility for the team's current state.
"Structurally, I think, maybe, we have learned a lot about our club over the course of the last couple of years and what, maybe, some of the deficiencies have been," club president Robb Heineman said. "I take full responsibilities for what those deficiencies are. I think they are largely organizationally based, and it was probably [the owners] not providing enough resources to our team to make sure we could be consistently successful."
As part of its commitment to resources, Heineman also said news regarding the Wizards new stadium complex should be expected in "the coming days and weeks," including, hopefully, a settled location.
Also not expected to be settled for some time is the team's roster. Offensive and defensive issues took turns plaguing the Wizards, who tied New York for second-fewest goals scored (33 in 30 games) and finished eighth in goals against average (1.23).
Despite the team's troubles overall, several Wizards turned in good years.
Hartman set more MLS records while not missing a single minute in net. Defender and captain Jimmy Conrad was selected for U.S. national team duties. Rookies Matt Besler and Graham Zusi fought for consistency (Besler was good early before hitting a wall; Zusi came on very late in the year) as they showed stretches of solid play. Forward Josh Wolff set a career-high with 11 goals scored, good enough to tie for eighth in the MLS Golden Boot standings.
Still, a rotating lineup on all three levels and a brutal schedule ultimately overpowered the collection of individual efforts that never seemed to gel.
The lack of cohesiveness among performances wasn't lost on Wolff.
"Collectively, as a group, it's disappointing where we ended up," Wolff said. "There are a lot of things that play into that. In the middle part of the year we struggled. At the end of the day, I think that really cost us an opportunity at the playoffs.
"There's a lot to be said for us showing good fight down the stretch and through the changes, obviously, with coaches and players, we put forth a good effort. But, obviously, it wasn't good enough."
It wasn't good enough, and it led to Hartman's wanting demeanor -- wanting to be a part of something that, despite being there so many times before, he strived to do again.
"There's a lot of frustration that comes with [missing for the second time]," Hartman said. "It's not frustration toward anyone. It is just frustration with the situation, and trying to look at it the best way possible."
Vermes said changes are coming, but those players who return will know exactly what is expected of them and any newcomers moving forward.
"There are many things that are going to happen this offseason that are going to be changing all the time," Vermes said. "But, as far as knowing what the expectation is coming back here next year, and being a part of trying to make this team, I think the guys have a very good idea of what that's going to take."
Curtis Kitchen is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
