Paulo Nagamura bled Sporting Kansas City blue on the field for almost half of his career. Off the field, he helped prepare the next generation of SKC players like Gianluca Busio and Daniel Salloi as the head coach of Sporting Kansas City II.
The Brazilian was a direct enemy of the Houston Dynamo, especially during those closely contested playoff encounters that decided trips to the MLS Cup final in 2012 and 2013, with a club that's up there in animosity right alonside in-state rival FC Dallas.
So is it a little weird to join his old arch nemesis and help rescue Houston's vintage identity as an MLS power?
"I'm going to be honest with you, it is a little bit," the newly minted Dynamo head coach told The Striker Texas. "It is because I've been with Sporting Kansas City for 10 years and to move to a rival club, yes. If I said it's not, I'll be lying."
"At the same time, I think we're all professionals," the former 12-year veteran MLS midfielder added. "It's a little weird but once the ball starts rolling, believe me, I'm full orange from head to toe."
The doubts around Nagamura aren't his loyalty to Houston. It's his experience, or lack thereof, on an MLS sideline.
While fans aren't sure what to make of the hire, the Dynamo FC brass are convinced he is the best man for the job. If he can replicate at least a portion of Sporting KC's MLS success, a team that has made the MLS Cup Playoffs in 11 of the past 12 seasons, the club will be confident about earning back its winning reputation.
"I really express how I work, the values that I have as a coach, what I'd like to do with the team, what I'd like to instill in the club, the way that I believe our team should be playing on the field, so I think that was a match with the ownership group and the club directors," Nagamura said about his interview process. "It was natural and transparent because there's nothing that I did that it wasn't me. It was just natural. What I believe in, how I see the game and how I think we should approach the Houston Dynamo going forward."
Bryan Salas - Houston Dynamo FC
Paulo Nagamura is ready to "Hold It Down" on the sidelines for Houston Dynamo FC.
His first order of business will be assessing the current squad and start to develop a new culture in the locker room. Nagamura is inheriting most of the 2021 first team roster, with the likes of Fafa Picault, Darwin Quintero and Memo Rodriguez.
Fitness problems and lack of motivation were some of the issues that former manager Tab Ramos faced. Nagamura is confident he can get players to buy in to his plan — or find some who will.
"A new coach, new methodology, new playing style, we're gonna instill the values of the methodology that we believe, the expectations, the standards, and the players that are not feeling that, they're probably going to be gone," Nagamura says. "One player cannot be bigger than the team and that's what we're going to try to build. We're going to try to build a team of team players that are going to be fighting for Houston every time we step on the field and, again, it's a fresh start for everyone."
That's not all. Nagamura is confident that the current team will look a lot different over the course of the year.
It's easy to look at the current roster and see the same names that took the team to back-to-back finishes at the bottom of the Western Conference. The cavalry is on the way, says the new coach.
"We're gonna add quality players," Nagamura said with confidence. "The ownership group, the club leadership, understand what the situation in the club is right now and we need to add a few pieces to be a competitive team. So if we can we can add those right pieces, I can say that being in the playoffs is a reachable goal."
Like Tab Ramos before him, this is Nagamura's first shot at a professional coaching job at the first division level. Like Ramos and Wilmer Cabrera before him, Nagamura also arrives with the tag of a youth development coach.
Both of those coaches, despite their notoriety as youth coaches, hesitated to promote players from the Academy into the first team. In their defense, the prospects were probably not there and Nagamura seems to share a similar philosophy.
"They will only get opportunities if they have earned it to be there, if they're ready to contribute to the first team," said Nagamura. "We're not signing players from the Academy just to sign and let them on the squad. We need to assess it, the young players, we need to see who are the ones that can really, really, improve the quality and help the first team win on a weekend."
Nagamura will have the added benefit of an in-house Houston Dynamo 2 that will play in the new MLS NEXT Pro league. Dynamo FC finally has the system in place to support a first team coach like the one at Sporting KC.
Attacking and proactive soccer has been promised in the past and will be a target but it will not be the ultimate priority. That, according to Nagamura, will be winning.
"I would like the style of the Houston Dynamo to be effective and winning," he said. "If we're playing Jogo Bonito, great, right? But I think we are now a results-oriented business and, however we decide to go with, I think has to be with the winning mentality in mind."
