Every so often I think the readers of this blog need to hear an assessment of the team directly from the coach's mouth. Coach Whittington recently agreed to sit down with me for an interview to give the fans an idea of what he thinks of the current team, the new club policies, the youth academy, and the future.
RH: So let's start with the current team. Goalkeeper seems to have been a frustrating position for you.
JW: You're right about that. We started the team with Charlie Melendez in goal and very quickly Herschel Womack was brought in to challenge him. Coach Alfaro thought he could improve on those two and brought in Dominik Čejka. The whole international debate aside, I think the idea at the time was that the 3 of them would compete for 2 spots. What I don't think anybody expected was that Dominik would have such trouble adapting and that Charlie and Herschel would respond to the situation so well. I think there are many reasons Dominik didn't work out here, and I think it's unfortunate and not completely fair that the blame for that debacle ended up falling squarely on coach Alfaro. As for my coaching tenure I've been content to let Charlie and Herschel compete for the starting spot every week. They've done reasonably well, but I think we all know that we still need to improve at that position. And then on top of all that upheaval we now find out that Herschel has suffered what looks like a career-ending injury. We've brought in a new keeper named Stanton Zimmer. We made this move out of necessity, but we also think Stanton can be the improved keeper we all know we need. He's had a rough career where he's been a professional for a lot of years, but has had a lot of trouble getting games. He had a very rough first outing with the reserves, but unlike the situation with Dominik I'm committed to giving Stanton a lot of games to get his form back. Unfortunately I can't say the turmoil is over. But we're hopeful that Charlie and Stanton will be a reliable team for a while.
RH: In contrast it seems like your first choice defense has been very stable.
JW: Yes, very much written in pen. Evan Williams in the middle, with Bart Driscoll and Curt Hamby on the sides. It says a lot about that trio that both coach Alfaro and I have both been comfortable with a 3-man back line. The only player I think you'll see getting some time back there is Larry Yazzie. When Larry was brought in coach Alfaro was still in charge, but I was already in the loop for transfers by then. We recognized Larry as a very versatile player. We weren't sure if he could take one of the wing back starting spots, but we already knew he could play wing or even up top. Larry's had his ups and downs since he's been here, but his versatility is priceless to us. But our main 3 have done great. Curt in particular has helped us out a lot by scoring all those goals.
RH: Just like the Cedar Park teams of old, the attraction seems to be the dynamic central midfielders.
JW: Yes, we've always liked that system and we've always had pretty good players to fit it. The 3-5-2 comes from this. I'm very happy that we're finally seeing some stability here. Antoine Draper, Michael Novak, Andrea Elba, those are the guys. Antoine and Andrea are the magic-makers that we count on. Novak is another one of those guys who can play in different positions.
RH: You also haven't had the luxury of playing with consistent wingers.
JW: The competition has been brutal and often times the performances have been below our standards. In my mind only one of them has truly stepped up and grabbed his spot and that's Anselmo Cruz. On his day I think he might be our best player. The others, Norbert Carlton, Chris Goodacre, Josué Mahon, they've had their moments. You will see them all in and out of the lineup.
RH: As for the forwards, you don't seem to have a problem writing your own name on the team sheet.
JW: Well, I've been fortunate enough to score at a pretty regular clip in my time here. As long as that continues nobody seems to complain too much about my name in the lineup. I hope that I'll be the first one to recognize when it's time for me to have a seat on the bench. My strike partner Adam Isaac has been consistently good enough to hold on to his starting place, but not good enough to take his goals and keep his confidence up. I think he might have a break out if he can just get that first goal.
RH: You are the first coach who has to deal with the new club policies approved by the members. Can you talk about those? What do you think about them?
JW: I think the whole idea of club members having a real say in how their club does business is fantastic. Even if I disagree with particular points I am wildly in favor of the overall idea. As for particular policies, I think the emphasis on the youth academy and developing youngsters in general is fantastic. I'm looking forward to the day when we have some youth academy graduates on the senior roster. I'm not much of a fan on the limit on international players. I understand the reasons behind it, but we play an international game and it's going to make it hard for the coaches. The policies about stadium expansion and ticket prices don't really effect me, so I don't have much of an opinion there. That's your department. I also appreciate getting the support of the members by getting elected.
RH: Do you follow the youth academy?
JW: I do, but maybe not as much as you might think. I have enough to worry about with the seniors and the reserves. Also there is a lot of trust between Jorge Leavitt and myself. So occasionally he'll whisper in my ear about some player he thinks might make the senior roster some day.
RH: Where do you think this club is headed in the future?
JW: It's hard to say. I don't know if we can make it to division IV like the previous incarnation of the club was able to. We've changed our priorities and that kind of thing might no longer be possible. I think we can win in division VI, no doubt about that. I think we can win some competitions with our youth academy as well.
RH: Thanks for you time.
JW: No problem boss.
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