Opinion: Fioranelli move leaves the Quakes without a plan

Yesterday the San Jose Earthquakes relieved General Manager Jesse Fioranelli of his duties. Sources indicate that Fioranelli was informed midday on Monday and that Technical Director and former head coach Chris Leitch will step in to take some of the duties without any title change, presumably for the remainder of the season or until a general manager can be hired.

Clearly, the Earthquakes front office and majority owner John Fisher felt compelled to do something in the middle of a seven-game winless streak. It marks the third-straight season of five games or longer streaks such as this. Fioranelli, with only half a season left on his contract, was an easier move for the front office to make than dismissing Matias Almeyda for reasons we discussed last Saturday on The Aftershock show following the Quakes' disastrous 1-3 home Cali Clasico loss to the LA Galaxy.

Per the club's press release, John Fisher stated, "I would like to thank Jesse for his commitment and dedication to our club. We sincerely appreciate his efforts over the past four and a half years. We wish him and his family the best of luck moving forward. With the majority of the season remaining, our focus is on earning a playoff spot, and we have confidence that Matias, our coaching staff and our players, who led us to the playoffs last year, can turn this around and make that happen."

In the short term, this move accomplishes nothing. In fact, it should put under the microscope even more the recent transaction to bring Nathan, a Brazilian center back who the club paid a transfer fee to FC Zürich for, into the team ahead of the secondary transfer window. Nathan has not even been introduced to fans but was in Saturday's gameday 20 and was warming up with the team and substitutes during the loss.

A move like bringing in Nathan from Switzerland has Fioranelli's (and Head of Scouting Bruno Costa's) fingerprints all over it. The last center back from Switzerland was not exactly a top signing in retrospect, although Francois Affolter was a top center back at that time in that league. It certainly has to give fans some pause. The deal is a three-year deal, with a club option for a fourth, and fairly pricey to boot. As transactions go, it was a curious one considering Fioranell's penchant for loans and short-term deals. If John Fisher had any idea that he was letting Fioranelli go, it seems curious that he would sign off on the Nathan deal.

We are left to wonder what head coach Matias Almeyda really thought of the transaction. We are also left to wonder if Matias Almeyda is now a lame-duck coach for the remainder of the season. It's difficult to see the club making any more signings until a general manager is hired. It's difficult to see any general manager not wanting to get his own coach, considering Almeyda's track record with this club. It's difficult to imagine Almeyda even wanting to stay in San Jose next year given his comments this past summer about the next club or national team being able to afford him when there is only a year left on his contract after this season.

So many questions exist, but no answers are evident. And no evident plan to answer them. The Fioranelli Era won't be looked back on with much fondness, I don't suspect. Only two years of squeaking into the playoffs and importing mostly expensive, but mostly average, players from first Europe, then South America, didn't change football in MLS the way Fioranelli envisioned. The lackluster results and coaching carousel of the first couple of seasons under Fioranelli did little to inspire confidence. The massive goal differential deficits in multiple seasons under multiple coaches leave big questions about both the quality of the roster and the ability of the coaching to have it punch above its weight.

Is Fioranelli or Almeyda more responsible for the current roster state? We can think we know, but it's difficult to say. Fioranelli appears to have given too much control over to Matias Almeyda--Nathan and Eric Remedi excepted--and Almeyda has not demonstrated a keen eye for MLS-level talent as the roster sags under the weight of the salaries of his former players who have not demonstrated they are better than MLS level. A couple of his former players may well be below the level.

But one thing that was restored to the organization under Jesse Fioranelli, in the wake of John Doyle's impersonal style, was a sense of humanness -- of having a plan, even if it didn't turn out well, most likely for lack of proper funding. A plan of connecting the first team to the academy, and having the vision for how to inter-connect them via the now-defunct Reno 1868 and soon-to-arrive U-23 or whatever league. A plan that believed if you treat people right, they will give you their best effort in return.

Fioranelli himself was quoted in the press release as saying, "Leaving isn't easy because I have been very fortunate to work with an incredible group of people whose priority has always been to put the club first. I will always be thankful to John Fisher and the Board for the opportunity to serve the club. I want to thank every player, coach, staff member and colleague, from the first team to the academy, and the Front Office with whom I have shared four and a half memorable years. Being able to witness the growth of our players, while working with Matias on a unique pathway and a brand of football that goes far beyond the tactics of the game, makes me hopeful that I am leaving our club with a bright future ahead. I take with me invaluable learning moments from the experiences we made together on the field, with our fans and inside the community. It has been an honor to embrace a bigger cause together with you."

There were some bold moves in that four-and-a-half-year stint as well, such as installing Second Spectrum cameras all around the stadium way ahead of the league's decision to do it in every stadium, and the partnership with the DFB--the German Football Association. However, these moves often seemed to lack the necessary follow-through to create real competitive advantage for the team.

Regardless, Jesse Fioranelli is a good person, someone you can converse with. Someone who probably can talk to you in your native language. Someone who is interested in personal things like your family, your job, and your health. Regardless of the result, he gave you a smile in the elevator to the press conference and asked how you were doing. And in a world where we could use more of that, for me at least, he will be missed in San Jose. Godspeed, Jesse.