First, who is Doug. If you don’t know, then you were living under a rock during the 1990’s. Doug Miller was a special class of striker, making plays that made MLS teams look dumb (hello Open Cup trophy). Doug Miller also currently resides in Rochester, having opened his own youth development team. Because of this, we can safely assume he has some knowledge of how to coach. Now before you all get on me about the whole difference between coaching kids and adults, I’m aware. And I have full faith in Doug that he can handle it. He will come in well respected by the players, and be able to make the difference we need.

Now I made my vote. Let’s hear yours. And with any luck, The Rhinos Management (we all know they read this blog to make critical decisions, because let’s be honest, we’re awesome) will take our suggestions and we will bring some silverware to Rochester this season.

Today in a press conference at the Hyatt in downtown Rochester, owner Rob Clark unveiled former manager Pat Ercoli as the new general manager of the Rochester Rhinos. Ercoli, if somehow you have forgotten, coached the team from 1996-2003, leading us to 3 A-league titles, 2 US Open Cup finals, and of course, the 1999 Open Cup win.

In his last two years at the club, things stagnated and the Rhinos and Ercoli parted ways. We then had Laurie Calloway as coach from 2004-2007, and Darren Tilley from 2008-2009. Neither Calloway or Tilley were able to bring silverware to Rochester, and neither were able to bring back to magic that was the Rhinos of the late 1990s. For the last two years, Matt Ford has been general manager of the team though team performance has been lackluster. Was hiring Darren Tilley the right move? I think we can say now that he did not bring the Rhinos to a higher level of play.

Rob Clark has impressed me in a number of ways, while some of his decisions have been strange, he has worked hard to bring the Rhinos back into the glory days, and I respect that immensely. He has done good work with promotions, stadium upgrades, etc to try and bring the fans back to whatever-our-stadium-is-named-now, all that was lacking on the last season was performance on the pitch. This is a great move to bring Ercoli back.

Ercoli and Clark will continue to look for a new coach for the team.

[From Rhinossoccer.com] (Rochester, NY)… The Rochester Rhinos announced today the organization will not be entering into negotiations with head coach Darren Tilley for a new contract for the 2010 season and beyond.

“We would like to thank coach Tilley for his commitment to the organization over the past two years.” says Rob Clark, Rhinos owner and CEO. “Darren will always be regarded as one of the best players in Rhinos history.”

The club also announced that President/GM Matt Ford’s contract will not be renewed for the 2010 season. Mr. Ford will bte staying on to assist the club in this time of transition.

Rob Clark will be available for comment and questions at (315) 796-5009 or at the Rhinos offices at Marina Auto Stadium.

I’m not surprised by the move, moreso by the timing though. Supposedly Tilley got the news while on the way back from Puerto Rico, while in Atlanta. That is a minus for my for the organization, Rob Clark should have given the team a few days to get over the defeat before enacting changes. And to find out while traveling back with the team…not very classy in my opinion.

That said, I think the move was necessary. As I said in the last post, the Rhinos have the players to win championships, but it’s been muddled for the last few seasons. Some have claimed it was a mistake to fire Laurie Calloway two seasons ago, but I disagree. His time was stagnating as well, and I was not sure he was building towards anything. Tilley had two seasons to do something, but we never played that impressive and frankly, the performances at home in particular were embarrassing. It’s no surprise attendance was down this season, though still 3rd best in the league. GM Matt Ford was also kicked out, though he will stay to help with the transition. I don’t exactly know his role in the team, so I won’t comment on that.

What do I think about Rob Clark? Generally, positively, though he is not without his quirks. This season I witnessed a very competent marketing crew and management do very well with the Rhinos- The food and drink at the stadium was a big improvement, the marketing via a variety of ways (Facebook, Twitter, and traditional media) was smart, and the promotions for the games were excellent. I am sure this was mostly his idea, to try and drive the crowds out to the stadium and other than mediocre attendances, every game I went to, the amenities and promotions were great.

But the performances on the pitch did not follow. It seemed when Rob Clark took over, he wanted to rebuild the team into the glory we were in the late 90s and early 2000s. Part of this was hiring Rochester legend Darren Tilley as coach. Most teams go through waves of form, positive patches, before cooling off and heating up again. The Rhinos were more or less completely mediocre the last two years, and I have no doubt that the relatively poor attendances are largely down to this. For the last 2-3 seasons (including the end of Laurie Calloway) the team has looked bad at home. I’m not asking for champagne football, but when you draw 6 consecutive games 0-0 at home, it’s hard to blame the more casual fans for staying home. Playing at home should be a major advantage, yet we had a better record on the road this season.

Simply put, something had to change. Scotty Vallow said he felt guilty, as the players performances were not up to par, but it’s really not his fault or the players, Tilley failed to get the best out of them. There have been rumors that a significant amount of corporate sponsors or season tickets were on the line, that they were disappointed with the last few seasons and were reconsidering their support, and in that case it makes sense as well.

Here’s to hoping for a better 2010 Rhinos season…perhaps one with a trophy.

And that’s how the season ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.

It was always going to be difficult- Even with our leading scorer, we had extreme difficulties scoring, though 3 goals in an aggregate game is not bad, that was when the defense let up. The defense had been great, keeping plenty of clean sheets all season but the Islanders were just a class above. Grabbing that goal at Rochester Rhinos stadium in the first leg was a major boost for them, a 2-1 score at home is not especially positive to take on the road, much less against an organized team like the Islanders.

[From RhinosSoccer.com...]- For the second year in a row the Rochester Rhinos entered the second leg of a playoff series carrying a lead into their two-game aggregate goals series against the Puerto Rico Islanders.

Rochester took the 2-1 lead with a home win on Thursday night at Marina Auto Stadium. The Islanders began the match shorthanded after losing their best player, defender Cristian Arietta for the game courtesy of a red card ejection on Thursday night.

The Rhinos, on their heels from the start fell behind early as Fabrice Noel gave the Islanders an early one goal lead, tying the aggregate goals series at two goals each. Rochester suffered a huge set back in the 29th minute when Brent Sancho was the recipient of his second yellow card, putting the Rhinos down a man for the remainder of the match. The Islanders nearly made the score 2-1 (3-2) when Petter Villegas drilled the goalpost to the right of goalkeeper Scott Vallow. Puerto Rico did add another goal just a short time later when Nicholas Adderly converted a cross from former Rhino Jonny Steele to give the Islanders a one goal lead on aggregate.

With ten minutes remaining in the match Noel tallied his second goal of the match taking the ball past two defenders and punching it past Vallow to give the Islanders a 4-2 series lead. The Rhinos fought back as defender Kenney Bertz registered his second playoff goal to bring Rochester back to within a goal in the closing minutes.

As time began to wind down and the Rhinos pressing Adderly converted a counter attack opportunity giving Puerto Rico an insurmountable 5-3 aggregate lead in the 90th minute.

For the second year in a row the Rhinos are eliminated from the postseason after taking a lead in aggregate play to Puerto Rico. Rochester finished the season 12-11-10. The club will return home on Monday night.

Sometimes playoff games are aggravating because of poor luck, or poor performance. But this is one of those series where we just have to admit we were not up to the task. Our run-in to the playoffs was underwhelming, the team was having difficulties scoring at home. Darren Tilley has done a decent job with the team, but that’s it, just decent. This team is championship caliber- Scotty Vallow in goal, with two excellent center-backs in Kenny Bertz and Brett Sancho, our fullbacks are quality in Danny Earls and John Ball who had a record year, and Tiger Fitzpatrick is a good midfielder. Our forwards were underwhelming for yet another season, except for team MVP Johnny Menyongar.

For someone who grew up in the Rhinos glory years of 96-2001, the last 5-6 years have been fairly disappointing. The team has remained fairly competitive, but not competitive enough to win titles, and that’s why we play. But that’s football for you, sticking with the team in the good days and the bad, and especially the mediocre.

Upcoming is the offseason- Cold for 6 months, rain and sleet which gives way to snow and ice storms. The Rhinos players will scatter around, some off to the indoor leagues of the MISL, some off to foreign countries to play in leagues there. And we will wait…through all the cold and snow, anticipating that first Spring day where it is sunny yet brisk, when we can return to Rochester Rhinos stadium and watch our beloved team play.

But all is not bad. Menyongar left the field injured today, but preliminary reports say he should be fine, he will undergo an MRI tomorrow. He still leads the league in goals, at 11.

WRONG. Well, not the goals part. In morale-crushing news, league-leading goalscorer Johnny Menyongar, in his best season yet at the Rhinos, will take no part in the last regular season nor the playoffs. Those preliminary reports were dead wrong, as the MRI confirmed he has a torn ACL, which can be as much as 6 months recovery time, depending on how bad it is and how the surgery goes.

#1- Tonight, against Miami FC, we had our fifth consecutive scoreless draw at home. This isn’t completely disastrous, I suppose, over two-legged playoff games, a scoreless draw at home isn’t awful, not good, but it negates the away-goal rule for the other team. But seriously, 5-consecutive scoreless draws, at home? Why can’t we score on our home turf? There’s a lot of implications for this, and they extend to the business portion of the team as well. Most people who go to Rhinos games are casual fans, not strongly tied to the team or the sport. Will they keep coming back? It’s hard to believe, but over the last 10 games, our away form is much better than our home form. Listen, as a fan of Serie A (and Juventus) I appreciate clean sheets at home as much as anyone else, but we’ve gotta start banging in the goals.

#2- The possibility of a penalty shootout in the playoffs is high. And we have been unbelievably piss-poor at penalties this year, we have got to work on that. A missed penalty should be an abberration, not expected. As of now, we have converted 2/6 penalties this season, a dismal statistic. Against Miami we got a penalty won by Johnny Menyongar in the 17th minute, and Kenny Bertz blasted it wide. Just out of curiosity, since when does a center-back take penalties? I don’t want to single out Bertz because it is a team problem, but it just seems a bit strange that he took the penalty.

But all is not bad. Menyongar left the field injured today, but preliminary reports say he should be fine, he will undergo an MRI tomorrow. He still leads the league in goals, at 11. Scotty Vallow is still a terrific goalie, he gives tremendous confidence at the back. The Rhinos are still guaranteed a playoff spot.

The Rhinos conclude the regular season this Friday against Charleston at home…please, let’s get a win for the fans, and for some pre-postseason confidence.

With five matches left in the regular season, it’d be hard to argue that the Rhinos haven’t been the former this season.

They’ve been in the middle of the pack in USL First Division for more than two months and in nine matches against the league’s top four teams, they’re 0-5-4.
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Tonight, though, they have yet another chance to boost their reputation.

Not only does Rochester face the league-leading Portland Timbers in Oregon, but it has the chance to end the longest unbeaten streak in league history. Portland lost its season opener at Vancouver, but since then has gone 14-0-10 — an unbelievable 24-match unbeaten run over the past four months.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to kind of do something special and maybe jump-start our season,” said Rhinos midfielder Andrew Gregor, the former USL All-Star for Portland who will be playing in his hometown tonight.

“I look at it as a massive game, obviously for us to get points, but also because of that (unbeaten) streak. We get a great result like this … things can change quickly in this game. Winning always helps things, and a game of this magnitude could set a nice little tone for the rest of the season.”

Rochester hasn’t done much lately to suggest it could come away with a win tonight. It has gone just 1-3-3 over the past month with that lone victory coming against last-place Austin.

Portland beat the Rhinos on Aug. 15 in Rochester. It led 1-0 at halftime but scored in the 74th and 80th minutes en route to a 4-1 win. The Rhinos also lost 2-1 in Portland on May 14 after a controversial penalty kick was awarded to the Timbers in the final minutes.

But the Rhinos are coming off two better results. They used Ze Roberto’s 80th-minute goal on Saturday night at sixth-place Vancouver to pull out a 1-1 tie. The match before that, they limited second-place Carolina to just four shots in a 0-0 draw in Rochester.

“I don’t think we set the world on fire (in Vancouver), but it was a solid, professional performance,” said coach Darren Tilley, whose club has been on the West Coast since Friday.

Tilley said midfielder Danny Earls, who left Saturday’s match at halftime, may play. Earls has an undisclosed injury but has battled an ankle sprain much of the season. Forward Warren Ukah (knee) is also questionable.

Tilley said two newcomers, midfielder Amaury Nunes and defender Tim Velten, aren’t expected to join Rochester until next week.

The Rhinos play Sunday at fourth-place Puerto Rico.

Even if Rochester doesn’t win another match this season, it’s almost certain to still be among the top seven teams in the USL and make the playoffs.

But, as Gregor said, tonight’s a chance for what could be a pivotal win.

“Portland’s the best team in the league,” Tilley said. “(But) if we play well, we’ve always got a good chance of winning.”

This is the time for Tilley to figure out what can work in the playoffs. As stated, the team is nearly guaranteed a spot in the playoffs and that could lead to a possible slump in form. That is not acceptable, the team needs to figure out what has worked this season, and what hasn’t. The Rhinos have blown hot-or-cold and we need to drive into the playoffs with momentum, purpose, and tactics.

[From Rhinossoccer.com...] The Rochester Rhinos welcomed the first place Portland Timbers to Marina Auto Stadium on Saturday night. The Timbers entered the match on a USL-1 record 21 game unbeaten streak but were winless all-time in Rochester going 0-5-1 since 2001.

The first scoring opportunity came early for the visitors when the Rhinos, playing the trap, allowed Ryan Pore to get loose on a breakaway with Scott Vallow left alone defending. The opportunity was squandered however as Pore fired his shot wide of the net.

In the 20th minute the Rhinos generated their first opportunity. Off a free kick Johnny Menyongar hooked a ball into the box to Chris Nurse. Nurse got a head on it and seemed to have Portland ‘keeper Steve Cronin beat but sent it narrowly wide of the net.

Portland opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Ryan Pore racing toward the goal sent a ball wide to Taka Suzuki whose blast beat Scott Vallow to the near post. Rochester pressured at times but struggled to generate much offense as the Timbers controlled the pace of play for much of the first half, taking their one goal lead into the break.

The start of the second half of play didn’t yield much more in offense. The Timbers continued to possess the ball well limiting the Rhinos scoring opportunities until Danny Earls attempt with 17 minutes left to play. Tiger Fitzpatrick pushed through the center of the field leaving a ball out wide to Earls. Earls shot whistled toward the near corner before Cronin was able to tip the ball over the bar. Following Earls’ chance the Timbers countered with Mandjou Keita pushing the ball through midfield threading a ball between two Rhino defenders and sending Pore in alone on Vallow. Pore took the ball on the run and labeled a sixteen yard blast past Vallow for a 2-0 lead.

Minutes later after the goal, the Rhinos lost Menyongar to a red card ejection in the 76th minute putting them a man down. Four minutes after Menyongar’s ejection the Timbers extended their lead to 3-0. A free kick from 35 yards by former Rhino David Hayes curled into the box where Keith Savage was able to extend his left foot enough to deflect the ball into the net.

With time winding down in the 86th minute the Rhinos were able to get on the board. John Ball’s cross into the box found Warren Ukah who found himself alone, taking advantage of his positioning to head in his third goal of the season. Portland quickly regained their three-goal advantage in stoppage time when Tony McManus’ long pass again sent Keita streaking on goal. Keita cut in toward the net letting a quick shot go that Vallow was able to get a piece of but not prevent from scoring.

The 4-1 win for the Timbers extends their unbeaten streak to 22 games and give them their first victory in Rochester. With the loss Rochester falls to 9-8-5 on the season and remains in fifth place in the USL First Division table. They will remain at home on Wednesday when they host the Minnesota Thunder at Marina Auto Stadium beginning at 7:00 p.m.

While a 4-1 crushing at home is obviously quite disappointing, give all the credit to the Portland Timbers who are having a historic season, and without a doubt, the favorites to win the USL-1 playoffs. As it stands, we are still in the playoffs. The Rhinos have 8 games left to try and figure out a winning formula for crunch season.

The Rhinos came out and dominated the match well for the opening half an hour, creating a few good chances but nothing shocking. Vancouver’s defense struggled against the foraying fullbacks and wingers, but too many errant crosses meant the final ball was often lacking. The Rhinos defense was rarely troubled, Kenny Bertz and Sancho continued their rock-solid partnership and the Vancouver offense was unable to find any good opportunities.

The game-changing moment was undoubtedly the 41st minute, when the referee awarded the Whitecaps a penalty for a handball in the box. Though from my seat it was questionable whether it was hand-to-ball or rather ball-to-hand, the Canadians converted the penalty and the game was 1-0. After the break, the Rhinos came out fighting but were frequently troubled on the counterattack as the team continued to press forward, though Vancouver remained without any golden chances. They converted on the 2nd or 3rd real chance of the game, as striker Marlon James, who converted the previous penalty, one-timed it in the box into the left-post. 2-0.

Despite the obvious disappointment, the Rhinos fought on and managed to pull the lead back to 1 goal as Old-Man John Ball beat his defender on the flank and crossed in the box for Rhinos captain Tiger Fitzpatrick to smash it in from inside the box. 2-1. However, the game finished in the 69th minute when the efficient Whitecaps had a stunning goal. Midfielder Burgess, who assisted the 2nd Vancouver goal, fired a screamer from 20yards out with Melia completely helpless to stop it.

Excellent performers include Johnny Menyongar, Kenny Bertz, John Ball, and Danny Earls.

The Rhinos continue their campaign, playing in Rochester for the next several weeks with a game against Carolina on Wednesday.

The game starts at 8pm tonight, and for Vancouver or Rhinos fans living far away, the game will be televised live on FSC! So turn it on if you’ve got a subscription, or head over to your local bar. I will be at the game myself tonight and give you a report after the result.