The Official Ian Russell Thread

I do wish that he will become the next head coach, but I’m not adamant that Almeyda has to go now. I’m also not sure I would want Jesse as GM with Russell at head coach. I don’t feel Jesse values domestic players and Ian has shown that he does.

I know several posters on this board have had chats and conversations with Ian over the years and most report he was a nice guy but didn’t strike them as a “soccer genius”.

I had low expectations of him when he went to Reno but he has impressed me with his hard work. I’d like to see better playoff results, but he has built successful teams that have played attractive soccer with a revolving door of players and he’s had to deal with interference from the Quakes about roster selections and playing guest players.

I do like the fact he’s been mentored by the Yallop/Watson/Kinnear AND the Almeyda coaching tree. He can take the best things from all the guys he’s worked under and add his own ideas.

He seems to have an encyclopedia knowledge of players. I suspect his super power is his scouting ability and contacts. He knows the type of guys that can fit in his system and he’s been pretty good at recruiting them to play for him.

He has coached one official MLS game after Watson was fired. It was a tie....

 

I don’t believe that would happen. I suspect Leitch is very much liked by Dave Kaval and by extension, John Fisher. He’s willingly filled in wherever they have asked and has never to my knowledge complained when tasked with something new.

I think the things he touches improve. I’ve heard the story on Big Soccer that he wasn’t really passionate about being a head coach, that he only agreed to do it until a replacement could be hired. I bet that’s more because he’s smart enough to realize coaches have a short job expectancy and he’d rather not be uprooting his family to move around the country. I think he’s got more job security than almost anyone in the organization.

As an aside, I spent a lot of last fall/winter going to Quake academy home games. Chris Leitch was out watching constantly. He sat next to Bruno Costa and watched most of the U-15,U-17 and U-19 games. Even on Quake game days when I know he had to have been at the stadium all night as well. His time commitment to the academy was very impressive. He would talk with players on occasion, but I never witnessed him undercutting the coaches. He would walk over at halftime and listen to instructions and then have brief chats with the coaches right before the second half started. Jesse, on the other hand, was there once to see the U-15s play, then I think he left at halftime of the U-17 game after having mostly not paid attention to that game because he was chatting with a couple of U-15 players. I never saw Almeyda at any game, but I didn’t go to a U-19 game against De Anza Force that was played at Avaya. I head Almeyda watched some of it, but was approached by parents (fans?) and moved on.

 

He likes it here. He wants success as bad as anyone.

I heard from academy parents that when Paul Holocher was running the academy, he had set up affiliations with club teams (not DA) that were using the Quakes connection name to attract sign ups. These clubs were recommending players to Paul for the academy, but the ones being sent by DOCs and coaches were rich white kids with marginal soccer skills. It almost looked like a Lori Loughlin situation where parents were padding the soccer resumes of players. When Holocher left, Chris Leitch started looking into those affiliations and realized the Quakes were getting poor players and giving free tickets to rich families so he cut ties with them and shifted to other leagues and teams that had stronger players (like Salinas and Napa).

Those changes have helped San Jose recruit more Hispanic players with noticeably better skills and soccer IQ. The academy teams across the board greatly improved last year and featured much more diversity then past seasons. I hope the Quakes keep this up because I’ve also talked to top coaches who were actively steering good players away from joining the academy and this summer those guys have started to discuss working with Leitch and company to build out a pipeline for their very best. If this happens, SJ will jump up another level in the academy.

 

Ian Russell's Reno teams have been reliably fun to watch. And they get results. With the Quakes current situation, I look forward to Reno matches more at present. They need to find a way to do better in playoffs though.

 

In my experience around Ian, he is quiet with the fans, seemingly almost shy, definitely modest, makes it all about the players when it is going well and takes the blame when it is going wrong. He doesn't go for hyperbole, good or bad, he downplays the extremes. We had a nice team meet and greet this year and Ian was very accessible to all as he has been at all of the previous ones. He doesn't strike me as one to spill any information that is not agreed to be released. He does have a doghouse for players who get on his bad side but the players can work themselves out it if they wish.

 

We have seemed to come into the playoffs with injuries or in bad form except in 2018 when we ran into a hot OC team. The goals in the games of 2017 and 2018 were very good goals where the keeper had no chance to get to them. Hopefully this is the year that it all comes and stays together.

 

Ian's record with 1868 to today 9-23-2020, including playoffs, is 62W-29L-26D.
The Quakes are responsible for the on field product and staff completely now. 1868 is responsible for FO and the administration only including facilities.

 

Should be playoffs. We accuse the refs of receiving payoffs from the other teams all of the time. Must have got them mixed up. /S

 

I've refereed a number of youth games Ian coached, and he was always even-keeled, positive with his kids, and polite to the refs. All-around great guy.

 

If Reno runs the table at the end of the season, they will have the most points in USL and be number one seed. If they win at home in the playoffs, they will be USL Champions. Someone in MLS will hire Ian to run their team if this happens....

 

Nope - not gonna happen as long as Fioranelli is in charge. He has no respect for MLS, as has been shown in his selections both on the coaching and playing side. If Fioranelli is shown the door (as he should be) we may actually get the combination many here have been calling for: Leitch and Ian.

 

Using the man to man system and maybe #1 seed in playoffs. Credit to Russell.

 

Reno plays man to man? Doesn't seem like it whenever I watch their game? Or it is man-mark but modified to fit what Ian wants?

 

I’m not sure that Ian plays it exactly like Almeyda does. What I do know is Ian stated in the middle of last year the team was transitioning into a new man marking system. Russell was preparing players that the Quakes could sign and the players would know the system. Reno struggled for a while, but they still finished high on the table.

This is one of the reasons that I’m advocating that Ian be the next Quakes coach. He can now teach and play multiple systems, including some type of hybrid. He did what he called a “major” roster overhaul during the past offseason. He was looking for a group of players that had the specific skills to play man marking. How impressive is it that he not only found the guys to learn and play the system, but the team might end up #1 in points? Some of the competing USL teams have MLS ambitions. Ian is doing this on a much lower budget.

 

I would say it is Ian Russell modified. Players seem to switch if the opponent tries to scrub off the defender, they lay off a little bit more than SJ but still attack if possible when the opponent gets the ball. It really doesn't look a whole lot different from what we played before the transition except there is no zone shift when the ball switches side to side and the defense picking up an opponent, their assigned opponent, much quicker.

 

With the likely announcement soon that MLS will field U-23 teams in a reserve league set up next year, added to the rumors that the Quake’s affiliate agreement with Reno expires at the end of the year and the Reno 1868 team owner is looking to sell the team, that means that Ian Russell could be in for a change of scenery soon.

I haven’t heard any rumors of his name on lists to replace MLS coaches (Galaxy fans think Dominic Kinnear is in consideration for DC United).

I certainly hope the Quakes keep Russell in the organization. He has been very successful with Reno and his roster building year to year has been impressive to watch.