After being appointed FC Cincinnati’s new head coach on Sunday night, Ron Jans spoke to the media for the first time Monday morning to discuss his decision to join the Orange and Blue, his expectations for this season and beyond.
These are the major storylines from the Jans’ introductory press conference:
“My greatest desire is to be part of the legacy of making FC Cincinnati a respectable club in MLS.”
Jans wanted Monday to be a fresh start. For the club, that means he’s the third head coach in team history and the man to lead the franchise in the present and future.
For the Dutchman, he’s joining a new club in a new country across the planet.
Already well known in the Netherlands, Jans arrives in Cincinnati as someone who transformed PEC Zwolle alongside FCC General Manager Gerard Nijkamp. That meant transforming a second-tier club into a sustainable Eredivisie one in Holland.
Now, they want to do the same thing here, but with FC Cincinnati in MLS.
“We’ve got a contract for one and a half years, but when you see my history, I stay sometimes longer at places,” Jans said. “That would be nice here because that would mean we could be successful.”
Finding success will mean progressing the club and winning matches.
With 10 matches remaining in their inaugural MLS season, the Orange and Blue are last in the MLS standings.
“I am not (Harry) Potter with a magic stick and win all the 10 games that are left,” he said. “But I want to be part of the progress of the club. In one year time, we have to do better, and I would like to help and be part of it.
Nijkamp makes his signing of the summer
Appointed general manager in late May, Nijkamp arrived from PEC Zwolle and said his first task was to appoint a new head coach for FC Cincinnati. He didn’t give a timetable. All he said is he’d take the time to find a quality coach.
Initially, the head coach list was a long one, but it shrunk over time. When the general manager mentioned he wanted someone with a proven record of success, he used his own network to lead him to the person sitting in his left during Monday’s announcement.
“The person on my left side is the person I was working with for four very successful years at our former club, PEC Zwolle,” Nijkamp said of Jans. “That’s not only because we were winning (trophies), but more, I think we built something and created something together in my roles, but especially in the role Ron played for PEC Zwolle at that time.
“It convinced me that he could be a good person with the right vision.”
The youngest head coach in MLS history isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Yoann Damet was named FC Cincinnati’s interim head coach on May 7 became the league’s youngest head coach days later when the 29-year-old led the club to a 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact.
Damet’s tenure as an interim head coach lasted a dozen league matches and saw the club win three games. More importantly, however, the Frenchman instilled the playing style and philosophy of Cincinnati’s future and also re-established positivity and a common cultural foundation for its players and staff.
It was a thankless task, but Damet did well in the circumstances and deserves credit for setting the Orange and Blue up for success.
“A big thank you to Yoann Damet for what he did the last three months as an interim coach and caretaker for the team,” Nijkamp said. “In difficult times, he guided the team and all of us through some very tough weather, but always with his head up with his expertise and quality.”
Similar to his previous role pre-caretaker duties, Damet will be Jans’ top assistant, as he was at the start of the season under Alan Koch.
Damet and Jack Stern will be FC Cincinnati assistant coaches through the 2022 season.
This announcement is exciting on a number of levels, the first of which rewards two coaches who had to work beyond their initial job descriptions when Koch was fired in May. Their task was to turn the team around by building a positive culture.
They’ve done that and will continue moving forward.
Additionally, the contract extensions were the first time FCC have acknowledged anything beyond 2021 and the opening of the new West End Stadium. In this case, when the stadium opens, Damet and Stern will be there. That’s a great achievement and reminded of job security for literally the two youngest coaches in MLS.
“I made the decision together with the people around me that this is (technical staff) is the best fit,” Nijkamp said.
The coaching staff will be Jans, Damet, Stern and Ivar van Dinteren, who will join the team when his U.S. Visa is approved. Van Dinteren was coaching the Almere City reserves and previously played for and coached the Dayton Dutch Lions from 2010-12. Pa-Modou Kah has departed the club.
