If Garth Lagerwey saying that he hopes to hire Atlanta United’s next manager within the next three weeks sounds familiar, it’s because he said the same thing in late November.
The reason the timeline was paused is because Chris Henderson became available to be interviewed as Atlanta United’s next sporting director. Henderson was introduced as the team’s newest soccer-side leader Tuesday at the team’s training ground in Marietta.
Lagerwey wanted Henderson and the finalists to have opportunities to talk with each other to make sure the fit was right.
Henderson, who has been on the job for less than two days, said he has spoken with the finalists and was looking for something specific.
“I do feel like the collaboration among the front office, the coaching staff is huge,” Henderson said. “The ideas on which direction you want to go on a club, how you want to use players, how you want to build a team. So I think that relationship is important.”
Henderson said part of his job will be making sure that the next manager has all the tools that he needs. As did Carlos Bocanegra, the previous technical director, Henderson said he will travel with the team to away matches.
“How can we use the resources behind the scenes to collaborate together?” Henderson said. “We’re all one team and we’re going the same direction. There’s going to be ups and downs during the season, and it’s about how we work together through those ups and downs, and that’s about trust, that’s about working together, but it’s hard work. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us to build a championship team, and there’s a lot of pieces that need to fall into place.”
The only clue that Lagerwey and Henderson offered about the next manager is that they will have a lot of experience and they will be flexible with tactics and formations.
“Having a coach who has that experience, knows how to prepare teams, I think players who go into games with all of the details, everything they need to know, what to do to win the game on the weekend,” Henderson said. “And then it’s about execution, having the right players on the team who can execute the plan. So I think that combination has been successful in the history of this league, and we’d like to find a coach who can fit that.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
About the Author
