by Mike Woitalla
Chris Armas will not become the first head coach since the club's launch as the MetroStars in 1996 to last for more than three seasons. The Red Bulls announced the departure of Armas and his assistant coach, CJ Brown, on Friday with team in seventh-place of the 14-team Eastern Conference on a 3-4-2 (W-L-T) record with seven goals scored in nine games. The club has had coaching turnover of MLS's charter members, having gone through 14 head coaches, not counting interims.
MetroStars/Red Bull head coaches
Eddie Firmani 1996
Carlos Queiroz 1996
Carlos Alberto Parreira 1997
Alfonso Mondelo 1998
Bora Milutinovic 1998-1999
Octavio Zambrano 2000-2002
Bob Bradley 2003-2005
Mo Johnston 2005-2006
Richie Williams* 2006
Bruce Arena 2006-2007
Juan Carlos Osorio 2008-2009
Richie Williams* 2009
Hans Backe 2010-2012
Mike Petke 2013-2014
Jesse Marsch 2015-2018
Chris Armas 2018-2020
* = interim
* * * * * * * * * *
"On behalf of the organization, I'd like to thank Chris for his hard work and dedication to the club," the Red Bulls' Head of Sport Kevin Thelwell said in a press release. "In this business, we have to make difficult decisions based on performances and, fundamentally, results. At this time, it's my decision that we must go in a different direction in order to meet the ambitions we have for our [soccer] club. We wish Chris and CJ all the best in their future endeavors."
Armas, who played in MLS for the LA Galaxy and Chicago Fire in 1996-2007, joined the Red Bulls as an assistant coach to his former Fire teammate Jesse Marsch in 2015 after serving as women's head coach in 2011-2014 at his alma mater, Adelphi University.
Armas was named Red Bulls head coach in July of 2018 when Marsch left to become assistant coach at Red Bulls' sister club in the Bundesliga, RB Leipzig. The Red Bulls reached the MLS Cup semifinals (conference final) in 2018, losing to Atlanta United, after winning the Supporters Shield (best regular season record.) In 2019, the Red Bulls were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by the Philadelphia Union with an overtime loss.
"We will conduct a wide, thorough search for our next head coach," said Thelwell, who said an interim head coach will be named within the next few days.
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