Ten months after the worst season in MLS history, D.C. United is sitting atop the Eastern Conference with a record of 14-9-6, 45 goals scored, a goal differential of +11 and a league-leading 10 shutouts. With five games remaining, the Black-and-Red can clinch a spot in playoffs, in a turnaround for the history books.
The man behind the turnaround is D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen, who credits last year’s adversity for his growth and development as a coach. Olsen has galvanized this club as a whole—the players, technical staff and front office followed Olsen’s lead to the top spot in the East.
“I think it says a lot when you have a coach that the players want to win for,” D.C. United midfielder Davy Arnaud said. “It makes a big difference. The team, coaching staff and club wants to win for Benny.”
“That has always been the litmus test of a good coach to me,” said D.C. United General Manager Dave Kasper. “Can you get the players to play for you? He does that.”
As a head coach, Olsen brings the same intensity and passion to the game he did as a player. There’s a reason he is known among United Supporters as having the “Heart of a Lion.”
“His honesty, his passion, his love for this club and this city, when you add all those together, it’s a starting point for success,” Kasper said.
For Perry Kitchen, a player whose intangibles are often compared to Olsen’s, what his coach has taught him as a person is equally as important as what he’s taught him as player.
“I’ve learned how to be a good professional first off,” said Kitchen. “He’s always holding me to a high standard; he always wants the best out of me, making sure I work hard. That’s something I like to have, someone who can always push you and make you feel like you want to get better, like you’re never satisfied.”
Kitchen, along with Bill Hamid and Nick DeLeon, are among the few on the current roster who can feel the sting of the 2013 season first hand. All three young standouts are achieving personal bests in a season starkly different from last.
“In a down year, he helped those guys grow and utilize that experience to their benefit, and it’s showing this year,” Kasper said. “They’ve taken big steps in their careers, and the credit goes to Ben.”
On the list of accomplishments Kasper and the players credit to Olsen, winning the U.S. Open Cup and keeping the locker room together last year rank high.
“Last year was a tough year,” said Kitchen. “We very easily could have pointed fingers, made it even worse than it was, but we all stuck together, and Ben made sure we did that.”
The credit for this year’s incredible turnaround is mostly shared between Olsen, Kasper, the coaching staff and the players, but the Black-and-Red GM says Olsen’s vision made it possible.
“Ben is a very intelligent guy,” he said. “His vision is very clear. It was very clear in the offseason what we needed to go out and get. That helped me as a GM.”
The vision: technical ability, hunger and simplicity.
“First, he wanted to find good soccer players, who have a certain technical competence. Second are players who are hungry and want fight and have something to prove-- players who are going to bring it everyday and bleed for the shirt.
It’s important to add this. He wanted to find players who can do simple things consistently. He played very simple and very effective. That took him a long way in his game and his coaching style is the same. Simplicity is brilliance.”
While the focus is currently on United’s future— on the end of the 2014 season and a return to playoffs— it’s impossible to speak of and fully understand Ben Olsen without a glimpse to the past.
Recently earning a multi-year contract extension, Olsen said, “I fell in love with this club instantly.” The feeling was mutual. From rookie in 1998, to veteran leader to a head coach in 2010, those who witnessed Olsen come up the ranks at D.C. are not surprise he’s finding success leading the Black-and-Red.
“'Did I think he was going to be a coach?’” Kasper asked, repeating the question. “He certainly had the intangibles to be a coach. It’s been a lot of fun and rewarding to watch Ben grow into the coach that he’s become, and the best is still yet to come.”
D.C. United has three home matches remaining. Each match has major playoff implications. Buy your tickets now!
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