A Long Week for FC Dallas: Is change good?

After a draw against Minnesota, Nico Estevez departs as FC Dallas head coach. Peter Luccin steps in, along with John Gall. Alan Velasco gets an offer. So much news to break down. What a week.

This week has been long - partly because of my day job - but also because of all of the FC Dallas news we have had to make sense of.

I’ve been pondering how to process all of these changes, and I’m still not there. Hey, that makes sense. We won’t know what Luccin is going to bring to this team until Saturday night in Frisco. We won’t know if and how North Texas will look different under new head coach Michel.

Here is where I am right now.

Nico Out, Luccin In

We talked about it extensively on the messy pod on Monday night, where I admit a cold beer or two flowed in commiseration. Nico Estevez was officially relieved as head coach of FC Dallas on Sunday night. For the consensus of fans on social media, the decision was a bit of a surprise. FC Dallas did get a draw away in Minnesota, which was disappointing but some thought would give Nico a bit more time. Many assumed the FC Dallas front office would stick with their guy until the bitter end.

Dan Hunt and company charted a different course.

The poor start to the season, something Nico struggled to turn around despite maintaining positive energy throughout, doomed him. Injuries didn’t help. The lack of production from veteran players, whether it was consistency or straight-up goals, made the writing on the wall clear for all to see.

Whatever the tipping point internally, the poor play and poor positioning made the decision just a matter of when and not if.

Nico posted a series of messages on social media of his disappointment.

Likewise, many players expressed their sadness and well-wishes to their former head coach.

On Tuesday morning, Dan Hunt and Andre Zanotta announced Peter Luccin’s formal beginning as interim head coach for FC Dallas. They made note of Luccin’s long relationship with the entire organization as a player, academy coach, and first-team coach. The well-traveled, former professional brings an incredible amount of experience to his job and a perspective perhaps in how to motivate this locker room to get better results.

Luccin later that day made clear that he wanted to bring attractive, passionate football back to the pitch for FC Dallas, though he resoundingly affirmed how much he respected Nico and felt like Nico brought a lot to this club.

I wasn’t able to make the pre-match media call this week, but our friends at Big D covered it here. If you were expecting Luccin to lay bare his cards tactically, he didn’t. We will have to wait and see, but it sounded like the team may not line up all that differently come Saturday as Luccin establishes some ideas and tries to find the tweaks the squad needs to turn the page.

All in all, fans are excited about the change, but the Luccin era brings so many question marks. He will have the rest of the season to audition for the job as FC Dallas conducts a larger search.

Which brings me to another point.

John Gall Out, Michel In

North Texas didn’t escape changes, despite being in superb form under head coach John Gall, dominating at MUFC2 on Sunday night.

As part of Peter Luccin’s ascendancy, John Gall was selected to be a part of his team as Assistant Coach. Gall leaves behind a team that is soaring in league play and now tries to bring the same energy and focus (with a similar tactical setup) to the first team that is near the bottom of league play. I’ve mentioned before how deep Gall’s roots are with the team, going back to the Dallas Burn. He’s been a successful head coach at every stop.

Here’s my curious point - John Gall remains a candidate for the head coaching job for the first team if Peter Luccin doesn’t quite work out, but I’m not sure how strong of a candidate he will be. What an opportunity for him.

Michel, also a longtime coach, academy contributor, and former player, steps in to take over North Texas. This isn’t his first head coaching job, as he famously coached Foro FC to a thrilling upset of Austin FC 2 in this most recent Open Cup campaign. He’s been ever present with North Texas this season, so he knows the players and will likely not be asked to make many tweaks as the team competes for hardware.

It’s an exciting move for Michel, who came to Frisco as a mostly unknown Brazilian professional left-back with a killer left foot and became a classic under-the-radar signing for the franchise.

The big picture is this - fans are going to have to wait and see how different FC Dallas and North Texas looks this weekend.

Alan Velasco On the Move?

On the transfer front, Alan Velasco continues to rehab diligently after a brutal ACL tear at the end of last season. The talented winger is making steady progress, and the team is showcasing his efforts and energy throughout. Maybe as a marker of that, other teams are thinking about the striker and whether or not he might be a bargain buy at this moment.

But that asking price is low. Way too low.

The ask makes sense from Boca Juniors. FC Dallas is in transition with an interim head coach. Their season has not gone well so far. Maybe they will be interested in freeing up space to make some changes in the roster. Maybe this is the beginning of a negotiation period, as Velasco might desire to return to Argentina to continue his recovery.

For now, though, FC Dallas has no reason to be in a hurry to offload him. Plenty of summer ahead to see where the team is as Velasco prepares to return to action later in the season.