Scott Schweitzer knows exactly why his team has done so badly since a hot start. It's nothing to do with him of course, it's the players.

http://www.carynews.com/sports/story/6816.html

Very sad when it comes to this. He also appears to blame his players for not taking Miami seriously. Isn't that the coach's responsibility, you know, to prepare his team for a particular game?

Very sad to see him throwing his players under the bus like that.

He should maybe keep his mouth shut until he gets over it...his players will just move on because they think he is an idiot...
Miami are on a good run, and that is encouraging, except for we have to play them Tuesday...

2006 Timbers coach Chris Agnello started doing the same thing about the middle of the season last year, and lost the respect of the players and after a good start at 5-4-3 at one point, then falling all the way down to the bottom of the table at 7-15-6 at the end of the season.

In many ways the RailHawks season has mirrored the Timbers 2006 season and it makes me think Schweitzer has lost all respect from the players, especially now that he's blaming them for their bad form in public, while taking zero responsibility himself.

Well, the Railhawks fan base still continues to amaze me...they are fabulous! Sometimes you have to just love a team through a losing streak and hope it's not a losing season...you and I both have reminded some of their more vocal fans(early in the season) that they had a great start, but the rest of the season will be telling...and to not get too excited...they still have a chance to move up in the standings and get to the playoffs, though...

1 win the last 11 games is not a good place to start a comeback.

If they got a new coach, maybe. Otherwise, I don't see it happening.

But kudos to the fans for hanging in there, I agree completely.

Very classy. He must be a sorry judge of character because se handpicked most of them. Economides picked the rest. So you do the math...

Put Playstation Norkus up top. He scored goals upfront with the Islanders last season before his injury sidelined him. I would have done that before I made a trade for a guy riding Vancouver's bench. :rolleyes:

Caleb Norkus played briefly for the Battery, too, the season before PR had their inaugural season...I was happy that he found PR to play for after the Battery released him, and then surprised to see him on defense...

Even more telling about Schweitzer's comments...

"whoever they are will be found out and you probably won't see blah blah blah..."

So, not only is he unable to take responsibility for his part in their troubles, he doesn't know who the apathetic losers are on his own team...

I don't believe any of them are apathetic, but is Schweitzer getting the best out of them? That's any coach's biggest challenge...he has just proven that he isn't any better at coaching than he is at sportsmanship...

I think a lot of fans of other USL clubs saw this coming. Their "physical" play was going to spring a leak on the ship and their coach was going to drown them.

Not sure why this is all so sad but first year franchises are not usually all sugar and spice. Early season hoopla aside, everyone wants a newbie club to do well as long as they pay their dues. And it seems from some early posts that some secrectly hoped the hawks would falter mainly because of previous feelings against their coach. Everyone involved is a professional and all will survive. Anyway, the season is still in play and time will tell the final results.

In the meantime here is an interesting article about USL;
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/soccer/20070801-9999-1s1soccer.html

Good article. I'm glad we can find articles like that popping up here and there around the web. Maybe the volume will continue to grow.

I started watching the railhawks this year because:

1. My team the Hammerheads (also based in NC) weren't performing (woe is me)

2. They are expansion....thats cool (I was country when country wasn't cool)

3. I can watch almost every game (home and away) on USL LIVE.COM for $10 a month

4. They have players with names like Johnny Steele, Caleb Norkus (not to be confused with Dorkus), Frankie San Fillipo and Dom Browski you can't make this stuff up!!!!

So, why should I be suprised when.........

a young coach (former player) makes a rash dumb comment and shifts blame (who hasn't) on his players not himself

-or-

things fall apart (1 out of 13 games won streak)
and the honeymoon's over. It happens.........

The players, ALL the players are great. I've not watched more intense/hardworking players in USL or MLS. They have skill. Refute THAT!

The coach is also hardworking (I think) but especially intense. Don't let those bastards beat you down. Coach it and take resposibility for the good, the bad, and the ugly. At the end of the day it's you Baby, and it will bury you or it will raise you to life, with that silly little grin on your face that no one can wipe off your face because you OWN it, it yours.......

so, I'm actually considering driving the 2 1/2 hours to Cary to watch the game next Tuesday night (I have to work Tuesday and Wednesday)against the Mighty but little Richmomnd Kickers in the U. S. Open Cup. I was confident but now I'm not so sure........... maybe I'll wait 'til Fridays game to see....

ahhhhhh.....these are the confessions of a football fan turned true Futbol fan four years ago and what a game! Few people really know what they are missing!................

Montreal wins 4-1 tonight. Damn players.....

It was interesting to listen to Gavin Wilkinson tonight after the Timbers game, in a game where the Timbers really didn't look good at all, even though they did push for an equalizer for awhile, but never looked like winning or even tying this one.

After the game, Gavin was interviewed and he did start criticizing some of the players (not by name) for not committing to playing all out when they really needed to, but then turned the blame onto himself as he knew ultimately it all comes back to him, which is how it should be with any coach.

He even said "I'm not going to throw my players under the bus because it's my responsibility to prepare them" or something like that, which was good to hear.

I've always felt any good coach always takes credit for the loss, and always credits his players for the win. If Coach Schwietzer came out right now and said he was wrong, that he spoke out of frustration and that it's ultimately his responsibility to put the team in a position to win, then maybe his players would rally behind him and put forth an effort to make a good run at the end of the season.

If he doesn't, hello 12th place.

Hello monster.com

It seems most of the RailHawks fans have fled to the BigSoccer.com forum. I'm surprised none of them chimed in. I've been really busy the last week or so but I posted my thoughts on this here:

http://trisoccerfan.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=833

Well, just love them thru it Jarrett, you won't regret it...we totally blew our weekend in PR, conceding 8 goals in 2 games...it was humiliating, more so, I am certain, for the players...

But the applause continues, the singing, the noise, regardless, and now they are turning it around...so, watch out August 14!! We want our points back!!!

Hang in there Jarrett. We all go through it and you have to keep supporting the team like they were in 1st place. It's all about supporting the lads through thick or thin.

Oh, we're still there, every game. But I think it's good to let the coaching staff know we expect more.

Off the field, this club has been first rate. Now it's time to live up to that on the field.

DubJ is hardcore.
That Dude ain't leaving the Depot anytime soon.

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quote: "Not enough people care," Schweitzer said. "That's all I can go into. Whoever they are will be found out and you probably won't see them much on the field and you probably won't see them here any more.
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OBVIOUSLY if SCOTTY really CARED he'd "suit up" at Defender to help these guys - Hopefully he'll do so for the upcoming Battery Match...?

Well, he had the boys ready to play last night. I'm not sure if the public scolding motivated them or not (I'm sure that was Scotty's intention) but they played one of the more inspired games of the season last night. Let's hope we can build from that and fight it out for that last playoff spot.

i'll be there tuesday too....if a guy can drive 2 1/2 hrs to watch this game - then surley i can wait after work and go straight to the match.

Scott...if he is blaming players - well that is just Scott getting things off his chest.
I've had a good chance to see scott close up through the matches. I have never in all my time watching football(soccer) seen a coach as passionate about this game....he reminds me a lot of Man City's last manager (psycho - stuart pearce). Scott kicks and heads every ball throughout the game from the sideline - this must stress him out...maybe he should just try to back off a bit.....i can understand Scott being so frustrated, he obviously wants to win every game very badly....at the end of the day....the players should never lose respect for a guy who loves football(soccer) more than they do.
I know in the Rhino's v Railhawks televised game - the two fox soccer channel commentators mentioned that Scott has a very bright future in coaching and may find himself coaching on the bigger stage of MLS in the future.

I will write his letter of recommendation to get him out of the USL... :p

We could probably make a thread out of that one...