Why I Don’t Begrudge Pablo Mastroeni for Coaching RSL

EDITORIAL – Pablo Mastroeni is a Colorado Rapids legend. The only player who arguably means more to the club is Marcelo Balboa. Mastroeni’s the club’s all-time leader in games, starts, and minutes over 12 seasons. He captained the team to their only trophy, the 2010 MLS Cup.

Months after retiring (with the LA Galaxy), he became the head coach of the Burgundy Boys a week before the start of the 2014 season. Midway through 2017, he was let go. Six years later, he’s the head coach of arch rival Real Salt Lake. He’s had success, generally and against the Rapids.

Lots of Rapids fans see him as a traitor. There’s conflicting feelings all around. On the eve of a Rocky Mountain Cup game, let’s dig into them.

Learning on the job, The Rapids Way led to his downfall

The Rapids struggled in Mastroeni’s first two years in charge. The club was shook up by Óscar Pareja’s January departure for FC Dallas. Mastroeni had to learn on the job with a roster built by a coach who knew how to develop young talent.

It got so bad at times that Mastroeni went to then Technical Director Paul Bravo, almost offering his resignation.

“In the middle of the second year, Pablo calls me and says ‘hey man, if you think it’s better that I just step away, I’ll do that.’ I said ‘Pablo, here’s what I’m going to tell you. You’re going to continue to be our coach. We’re going to finish the season strong. You’re going to be our coach. You’re going to be our coach for next year. We’re going to get you a new contract at the end of next year,'” Bravo told me in 2020.

In 2016, he led the team to one of its best seasons ever finishing second in MLS Western Conference. The unofficial club motto Keep Fighting was born out of Pablo referencing a C38 tifo postgame. They came close to hosting MLS Cup, losing in the Conference Finals to Seattle Sounders.

Still, he wasn’t tactically astute. He was too old school. Go out there in a 4-4-2, defend, figure out the offense on yourself. It was Rapids Thug Life. Pablo Ball if you will. He did become a better mentor and players’ coach over the three-and-a-half years. But his tactics weren’t progressing. Mastroeni was a dinosaur, barely MLS 2.0 in an MLS 3.0 world. Colorado remained a simple and ugly defensive team.

That season proved to be fool’s gold. The club regressed in 2017. They finished second to last in the west. Mastroeni was fired in August, just eight months after signing a contract extension Bravo promised him. The club sought to evolve its philosophy, publishing the increasingly infamous The Rapids Way op-ed in the Denver Post the day after Mastroeni’s firing.

Pádraig Smith and his vision outlasted Bravo. Smith made the decision to fire Pablo with the support of ownership. Bravo left the club that offseason. Smith was elevated to the club’s highest executive that January, a position he has to this day.

Mastroeni was seen as part of the problem. So the club broke up with him.

Finding his way to RSL, then finding success and support

Pablo took a few years off. That supposed lump sum payout of his contract probably helped. He joined Houston Dynamo’s staff as an assistant in 2020 then made his way to RSL a year later. That 4th of July, his #25 was retired by the Rapids. Freddy Juarez left in August to become an assistant with Seattle Sounders with RSL’s ownership situation uncertain. Mastroeni was named interim manager. He led them to the Conference Finals playing ugly.

That December, he was named permanent head coach. They made the playoffs again despite Damir Kreilach missing almost the entire year. Some teams are capable of overcoming injuries to their star players.

Going into tonight’s Rocky Mountain Cup second leg, RSL are sixth in the Western Conference. Twice this year, they’ve broken their transfer record. Andrés Gómez was signed in January for $4 million. Then in June, they brought former LAFC star Chicho Arango in for $6 million. The previous transfer fee was for Jefferson Savarino for $2.5 million.

Combined with Damir Kreilach, Mastroeni has a quartet of danger when fully healthy. He has multiple attacking players better than any he had in Colorado. The Rapids haven’t dropped that kind of cash since Juan Ramírez in 2015.

Pids fans have become demoralized with Colorado being Loan with an option to buy FC while every other MLS club, including RSL, drops big money on big players. Money Colorado has yet to prove they’re willing to spend. Mastroeni seems to have proven himself to the new ownership. He’s being backed financially. It’s a great situation right now. Way better than he or Robin Fraser have had at Colorado.

He’s 36-34-18 as RSL head coach. That’s 1.43 points per game. Good enough to be a playoff team and potentially have a home field in the first round.

Heightened expectations are coming though. He’s coached RSL in four MLS Cup Playoff games. They’ve played some of the most negative football I’ve seen in the playoffs in a decade. Ownership has spent to compete. They’ll need to look good and be good come November.

Pablo has dabbled a bit with three center backs, but otherwise he’s a similar coach tactically as he was when he got to Salt Lake. Some RSL fans think their success is more about the players than the coaching. Getting massively outplayed in the playoffs might not be tolerated for a third straight year.

How do the fanbases feel about him now?

Plenty of Rapids fans see him as a turncoat. He could coach anywhere else in the world and it would be fine, but not RSL. Even the few that don’t blame him aren’t happy about it. But how do RSL fans feel about it? Certainly it’s weird for them and taken some time for them to get used to?

Burgundy Wave got some feedback on from RSL Twitter/X. Here’s a representative sample of the responses. RSL Nation had a fair and based thread as well that you can view here.

They said many things Rapids fans were saying in 2016-17 about Mastroeni. His playing career doesn’t matter as much now that he’s been at RSL for a few years. What matters is results and how he’s coaching.

Other than that brawl, Pablo wasn’t exactly an RSL killer. As a player, Mastroeni won the Rocky Mountain Cup three times in nine years. As a Rapids coach, he won it once in four. Hiring your rival’s greatest player stings less when he wasn’t great against you.

There are valid concerns that the club’s spending will see the club’s ambitions rise above his obvious coaching ceiling.

I don’t hate Pablo Mastroeni and neither should you.

Before the start of the 2020 playoffs, I spoke to Mastroeni. He was still with Houston at the time. When I asked him if he was at peace with the club, this was his response:

“It took some time. You have certain expectations for yourself. When those aren’t meant, there’s a lot of disappointment. All those moments are good moments to learn from. Are you going to allow this moment to make you a better version of yourself going forward?

“There was a haze over my feeling of the Colorado Rapids when I got let go. That haze has since been lifted. I’m really proud of everything I was able to achieve both as a player and a coach. I’m at peace with the Colorado Rapids only because I’m at peace with myself.”

Philosophical as always.

I don’t blame him firstly because it was the club that gave up on him. He was fired. He did not resign. Understandably, he’s gone where he could get an opportunity. He’s committed his future to a place that has shown belief. He feels supported and empowered in ways he was not at Colorado.

Can you blame him for enjoying himself? Can you blame him for wanting to beat the Rapids every time?

I’ve had this conversation a few times now with Brian Dunseth in the press box at DSGP. Pablo’s an imperfect coach. But he’s gotten unfair criticism at times over the years at both jobs. He’s stayed humble, quiet, and worked hard. Other than 2016, he hasn’t gotten much credit.

But if tonight RSL blows out Colorado, wins the RMC, and Fraser is fired next week, it will confirm what most Rapids fans have felt for years now:

Pablo Mastroeni has won the break up.

He’s in a better situation and living his best life. The Rapids Way is failing. Pablo was part of the problem, but it wasn’t all his fault. It’s on Rapids fans to accept that, learn from it, and move on, just like Pablo has.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken.

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