Two days after Ron Jans was appointed FC Cincinnati’s head coach last August, Yoann Damet was asked to describe his three-month interim stint in a single word.
“Challenge.”
It’d be interesting to know what he thinks of his second tenure as FCC’s interim head coach.
Entering the 2020 season as an assistant – just like last year – Damet was thrust into the spotlight once more when Jans resigned 12 days before the season opener. Now, it’s Damet’s responsibility to coach a team he can’t physically be with while a global pandemic alters our world.
You can’t make this stuff up.
If the Frenchman has proven anything, it’s his ability to stay calm, manage a team through difficult circumstances and put FC Cincinnati in a better than when he started.
“When you get put into a position that you’ve experienced before, it’s always good and a little easier,” Damet said last month. “There’s less unknown in that situation. So, I try to use the experience that I got from last year to prepare, but also organize the work and to be the best that I can be.”
Perhaps that’s what people should know most about Damet. Yes, he’s back in the interim role, but he’s different from his first stint, and the circumstances are different, too.
Thursday marks Damet’s 30th birthday, and he still remains the youngest coach in MLS – and the only one who’s playing background doesn’t include college or professional soccer.
How he got to this point is truly remarkable. But what’s also remarkable is how his influence on FCC will linger long after this second interim stint finishes.
In 2019, Damet was tasked with “righting the ship”: creating a positive culture, installing a new playing philosophy and identity. In 2020, he’s just “sticking to the plan.”
“I’m here to help the club develop and move forward,” he said. “I’ve always been here putting in the work and now I’m in the (interim) position again. I’m here to help. I want the best for the club, I want the best for the team and I want everyone to focus on the work we have to put in every single day … to make sure the club is moving forward.”
His 2019 experience
It’s hard to overstate how challenging Damet’s initial interim head coach stint started.
The opening 10 games of the season saw Cincinnati ping-pong between different formations and personnel groups. The side hadn’t won in over a month, and just got off a three-game road trip that saw FCC lose all three games.
Worse, though, was the bubbling atmosphere in the locker room. When Damet was appointed to replace Alan Koch, FCC’s President (and then general manager) Jeff Berding said Damet’s main objective was to “right the ship” and usher in a positive culture.
A feat in itself, Damet also had to transition the Orange and Blue from a side that lacked a playing identity to one that wanted a possession-based approach that built goal-scoring opportunities from the backline. The roster he had to implement these tactics wasn’t built for this, though. It was built with a stocky backline and defensive midfielders who would prevent goals, not score them.
“The way we want to play is challenging for the players,” Damet said last August. “We want to have the ball, we want to be dominant, we want to defend high. But despite the challenging part of it, it should also be enjoyable and exciting … You have a plan, you believe in it and you have to convince the players.”
Most coaches are judged based off wins and losses. For Damet, he was judged on the team’s playing style and whether or not it progressed.
For example, the worst game in team history is undoubtably the 7-1 loss at Minnesota United FC last June. (Sorry for the reminder). Ironically, though, Cincinnati actually played pretty well.
“That day they shot on target eight times and scored seven goals,” Damet said.
How the coach viewed it was that FCC had 16 available players because of nagging injuries and the ongoing Concacaf Gold Cup. Cincinnati became the first MLS team to deploy three 2019 SuperDraft picks on the pitch at the same time – and had a fourth on the bench.
“I tried to analyze the games on the performance and not on the result only,” Damet said. “I had to be able to step back and see the big picture and try to keep everybody together.”
In stepping back, it’s easy to see how much Damet and the coaching staff were able to implement in a short period of time.
With limited resources, FC Cincinnati became a club that wanted to play expressive, expansive soccer. The first part of 2019 saw the club always counter what the opponent did well. Using Damet’s tactics, FCC wanted to instill a philosophy that focuses on the team’s strengths more than what the opponent offers.
No match highlighted this most than Damet’s first game in charge.
Photo by @Nik_Martineau, Twitter.
Four days after replacing Koch, Damet had to coach Cincinnati against the Montreal Impact – his former club. There, he was the Under-18 head coach. This was a baptism by fire. (If you’re in Star64’s viewing area, you can re-live that game on Sunday afternoon when Star64 – and fccincinnati.com – airs a special encore presentation at noon.)
The match started and the Orange and Blue did something they’d never been able to achieve previously. They produced a free-flowing passing display that included one of the club’s best goals of 2019. The 401 first-half passes were more than the club managed in five of its previous 10 games.
“I was more happy about the content of the game than about the result, but when you can have both, it’s an ideal world,” Damet said about his head coaching debut. “I was very happy for the group, but you don’t really have time to relax. I was already turned towards the next game. It’s not about one game. You’re not running a sprint, you’re running a marathon. So, you know that every game is important. We had to build on that.”
Damet’s “marathon” didn’t end when he coached his final match on Aug. 3 against Vancouver Whitecaps FC. If anything, the playing style that FCC had implemented became the foundation for how the club wants to play soccer moving forward.
The Frenchman didn’t just right the ship. He remapped the club’s course.
“A big thank you to Yoann Damet for what he did the last three months as an interim coach and caretaker for the team,” general manager Gerard Nijkamp said when Jans was appointed manager. “In difficult times, he guided the team and all of us through some very tough weather, but always with his team up with his expertise and quality.”
Two days after he was renamed an assistant coach, Damet looked excited and relieved. He had just signed a contract to remain with the club until 2022, but also knew that the playing style he implemented would be built upon.
“Every day, I want to get better,” he said. “You can be 29, you can be 40 or you can be 50, but you’re always going to learn if you have an open mind. At the end of the day, it was a new experience.”
His 2020 experience
And this season has been a new experience, too.
Damet began the year as an assistant for the third-straight season. But just like 2019, he finds himself back as the interim.
On Feb. 15, Damet was leading the players through practice, like he’s always done. But when the session ended, Jans and Nijkamp walked away from the IMG Academy practice field. Jans wouldn’t coach Cincinnati again.
On Feb. 16, Damet and assistant coach Ivar van Dinteren were co-coaches against Nashville SC in a closed-door scrimmage. Two days later, Damet was back as FCC’s interim coach – 12 days away from the 2020 MLS regular season opener.
Honestly, Damet didn’t want things to go this way. But now that they have, he’s more equipped to not only keep progressing the playing style, but also earn results.
“We have been on the right path,” he said.
Photo by Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The tactics Damet established were polished under Jans. Now, Damet is picking up right where he left off, but with the strongest roster in FC Cincinnati history.
The backline has players who can build from the back, while the midfield is loaded with different player profiles and assets. The attack is a multi-headed one, headlined by Jürgen Locadia, a player who’s on loan from an English Premier League side.
Want to play an attacking, enthusiastic style? Why not sign the No. 10 from AFC Ajax, the club that reshaped possession-based tactics. That’s what FCC have done by acquiring Siem de Jong.
The roster Damet was dealt in 2019 and the one he has in 2020 are remarkably different. And considering the time to implement tactics, the results on the field should be as well.
The second half of the season opener at New York Red Bulls showed Cincinnati playing ruthlessly in attack and creating chances, while maintaining shape in transition. Expect the same when FCC retake the field.
The only uncertainty now is when the club plays again.
On Thursday, MLS issued a statement saying there won’t be a match until May 10 at the earliest. That’s hardly the birthday present Damet would’ve asked for. But it’s the circumstance he’s been dealt.
And just like in 2019, he’s ready to prove why he’s the right person to lead FC Cincinnati forward – even if it’s not a task he initially anticipated.
