The passing of Davey Johnson, the last manager to guide the Cincinnati Reds to a playoff series win (30 years ago and counting), got me thinking about FC Cincinnati managers. Johnson had a Hall of Fame-caliber resume as a skipper, guiding the 1986 New York Mets to the World Series, helming four separate franchises to the playoffs, and winning more than 1,300 games. But he often clashed with management/ownership, leading to a successful but nomadic managerial career.
For instance, Johnson led the 1995 Reds to the NL Central title and a three-game NLDS sweep of the Dodgers, the club’s last postseason series victory. And yet a fracture with volatile owner Marge Schott led to Johnson’s ouster following the playoffs. Then he led the Baltimore Orioles—the franchise he’d won two World Series with as a player—to 98 wins in 1997 and won AL Manager of the Year honors, but he didn’t return reportedly due to a tiff with the team owner.
FC Cincinnati endured Johnson-esque managerial churn prior to Pat Noonan’s appointment in December 2021. John Harkes was sacked on the eve of FCC’s second-ever season in 2017. After guiding FCC to a U.S. Open Cup semifinal in 2017 and a regular-season United Soccer League title in 2018, Alan Koch lasted just 11 matches into the club’s inaugural MLS campaign in 2019.
Interim coach Yoann Damet finished out the 2019 season before Ron Jans was hired in August—and then fired six months later for allegedly uttering a racist slur in front of players. Jaap Stam was brought on in May 2020 and was axed in the 2021 season’s final weeks, with Tyrone Marshall seeing out the year. From 2016 to 2021, the Orange and Blue played seasons under six managers (four full-time, two interim).
Since 2022, Noonan and his assistants Kenny Arena, Dominic Kinnear, Paul Rogers, and Ricardo Paez have served as a successful stabilizing force. Now there’s a difference between stability and complacency; the Reds and Bengals have made a regular habit of embracing the latter for 30-plus years. FCC’s turnover also exposes how difficult it can be to nail the right hire—particularly if your General Manager also wasn’t the right fit, which was true of Jeff Berding and Gerard Nijkamp.
Last week I covered FC Cincinnati’s recent slump and characterized its style of play as “steak and potatoes.” How FCC operates game to game is largely how I believe Noonan wants his teams to play: defensively solid, sturdy through the spine, and a handful of goal threats to carry the attacking burden.
The caveat to that strategy is Noonan’s season-long references to the roster’s lack of composure on the ball and in the attacking third. I don’t think any reasonable supporters would disagree. But Noonan’s preferred 3-5-2 / 3-4-1-2 system inherently limits the grip his players can have on most matches because it features three center backs, meaning the Orange and Blue typically operate with one less body in the middle third of the pitch. This is also a top-heavy roster that relies on its stars and less on depth.
Managing is such an inexact science, though. I tend to still think that Tito Francona will end up having a positive effect on a young Reds outfit and eventually get them to the playoffs in what I anticipate will be a three- to four-year tenure. But Francona hasn’t been able to prevent another second-half swoon (see 2021, 2023) or extract season-long consistency from Elly De La Cruz (can the man have a day off?). Bengals head coach Zac Taylor seems to have a knack for culture-building and relating to Joe Burrow, and that’s about it. Admittedly, the Bengals head coach will always be hamstrung by management/ownership.
In any case, yours truly and other observers will continue to quibble about tactics, roster building, and the like. And, yes, every skipper has a shelf life. But I think the lesson here is to appreciate a good manager when you have one—and FC Cincinnati has that in Pat Noonan.
Grant Freking writes FC Cincinnati coverage for Cincinnati Magazine. You can follow him on X at @GrantFreking.
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