I don’t understand this sentiment. Almost anybody we hire for the GM position is going to be an unknown to us. Why not pick up a guy who has a good relationship with your best players and is known for team building?
I don’t understand this sentiment. Almost anybody we hire for the GM position is going to be an unknown to us. Why not pick up a guy who has a good relationship with your best players and is known for team building?
- It's lazy. It's backsliding. It's fan service. It's nostalgia-hunting. It's going with what you know out of fear that the unknown might not work out.
- It's unambitious. It would show that either the Bhathals are unable or unwilling to attract a top tier GM outside of the Thorns eco-system.
- This "he's known for team building" thing is based on very little. He's never actually been a GM in his life- It's not like he was even acting GM when he was here! We had a GM who was, for his many faults, pretty good at the job. He was the coach at a time the Thorns were by far the most desirable team in the league and were therefore able to attract a slew of top-end talent who wanted to play in the states (most notably Henry, Sonnett, Horan, and Soph). He certainly does have a good eye for talent, but even then, the only real proof is that he hit in the 2021 draft with Yaz and Sam and liked Hina.
He might very well work out, I wouldn't be overly upset if they do hire him, and there are very real benefits to bringing him back if he's interested. But to me, it reeks of "oh our fans liked that guy when he was here a few years ago, no one will complain if we bring him back!" more than "we're going to go find the absolute best person for the job and build the Thorns into the best club in the world again."
Plus that even Parsons’ “team building” success came in a very different (i.e. pre-free-agency) league.
I agree that I wouldn’t be brokenhearted if Parsons gets the job. But to cite “was a popular favorite back in the day” and “the players like him” seems very like the reasons we heard for hiring KK, Norris, and Gale. Those examples don’t exactly fill me with confidence.
I don’t understand this sentiment. Almost anybody we hire for the GM position is going to be an unknown to us. Why not pick up a guy who has a good relationship with your best players and is known for team building?
A few reasons:
- It's lazy. It's backsliding. It's fan service. It's nostalgia-hunting. It's going with what you know out of fear that the unknown might not work out.
- It's unambitious. It would show that either the Bhathals are unable or unwilling to attract a top tier GM outside of the Thorns eco-system.
- This "he's known for team building" thing is based on very little. He's never actually been a GM in his life- It's not like he was even acting GM when he was here! We had a GM who was, for his many faults, pretty good at the job. He was the coach at a time the Thorns were by far the most desirable team in the league and were therefore able to attract a slew of top-end talent who wanted to play in the states (most notably Henry, Sonnett, Horan, and Soph). He certainly does have a good eye for talent, but even then, the only real proof is that he hit in the 2021 draft with Yaz and Sam and liked Hina.
He might very well work out, I wouldn't be overly upset if they do hire him, and there are very real benefits to bringing him back if he's interested. But to me, it reeks of "oh our fans liked that guy when he was here a few years ago, no one will complain if we bring him back!" more than "we're going to go find the absolute best person for the job and build the Thorns into the best club in the world again."
What kielbj said.
Plus that even Parsons’ “team building” success came in a very different (i.e. pre-free-agency) league.
I agree that I wouldn’t be brokenhearted if Parsons gets the job. But to cite “was a popular favorite back in the day” and “the players like him” seems very like the reasons we heard for hiring KK, Norris, and Gale. Those examples don’t exactly fill me with confidence.