MILFORD, Ohio – Yoann Damet's response to the question regarding his long-term future at FC Cincinnati was reasonable, albeit deliberately brief.

"That's not a question I'm asking myself right now," FC Cincinnati's 29-year-old interim head coach said when asked about possibly moving to take the position on a permanent basis following the firing of his predecessor and former boss, Alan Koch.

Damet might not be thinking about it or willing to publicly discuss it, but he could be a candidate for the job.

Young coaches are increasingly common in the game, and the same aspects that would seem to make Damet a longshot for the job – his youth and lack of a high-level playing career – make him an intriguing option to some.

Team President and General Manager Jeff Berding didn't shed light on the expected length of the team's international coaching search. Similarly, Berding, during a Tuesday news conference to discuss Koch's firing, also didn't comment on the expected amount of time Damet would be in charge of the club.

"We're going to do a worldwide search," Berding said when asked about Damet's possible candidacy for the permanent job. "Obviously, MLS experience is a plus. It's not a requirement. Certainly, in Alan's case, we had someone who had been successful here previously and had earned an opportunity to advance with the team. Promoting from within, I think, is a good thing. It didn't work out how we hoped.

"The discussion we've had with Yoann to date has been to build that culture. To bring that positive energy, to begin to develop the identity that begins to maximize our players while we go through a worldwide search."

The last snippet of that Berding quote might tease at what's in store for Damet, and perhaps a rough timeline for down the road.

Damet is acting in the capacity of a caretaker head coach, and here's what that means: Damet could win the job for himself outright with an overwhelming showing in his new role, but he's more than likely filling in until the eventual full-time replacement is found, said Fox Soccer analyst Alexi Lalas.

Lalas said he's a proponent of the move to take out Koch and plant Damet in the head coaching position, saying it was a sign of the club's ambitious nature.

“The decision FC Cincinnati made is a fundamental and important one because, for all intents and purposes, they made a mistake with hiring Alan Koch," Lalas said in the interview with The Enquirer. "They’re better off correcting it now, taking the hits and moving on. This is what big-time teams do. They do not accept mediocrity and I like it from that perspective.

“Yoann, from what I understand, has the knowledge and background in the game, and I don’t care how old he is. Interim, caretaker – whatever you want to call it. We’ve seen interim success stories because these people have seen what worked and what didn’t work."

Success as a caretaker manager is possible and has happened before. Winning the permanent head coaching job is something else entirely. In order for Damet to succeed at pulling off a permanent hire, he'd likely need to go on very successful run.

For Lalas, whoever is the next FC Cincinnati head coach needs to be experienced. To find that, the club will likely need to first mine for candidates that know MLS, and there are plenty of big names that could want in on the opportunity.

Damet is known as a master tactical mind and a student of the game, but the problems he might be facing aren't strictly related to so-called X's and O's.

Some players in the locker room are disgruntled, although not necessarily with Damet and the remaining coaching staff. But they're disgruntled nonetheless and it's not clear yet whether or not Koch's firing has quelled concerns, although Berding said Tuesday players were unified behind Damet.

Evidence of the unhappiness in the locker room exists in the form of Fanendo Adi's post-match complaints on Saturday in San Jose and criticism from anonymously sourced players in a story by The Athletic.

Damet will likely be tasked with installing an organizational hierarchy that is discernible and adhered to by players, Lalas suggested.

"What FC Cincinnati needs is somebody to steady the ship and have the confidence to set a course," Lalas said. "They need to set up a solid leadership structure that you can show players and basically say, ‘you’re either in or you’re out.’... For Luke Sassano and Jeff (Berding), this is on them. Hiring a head coach was the most important job for this MLS team and they failed. They have to get the next one right."

"Fail" is a strong word and it's not one that came up during the club's Tuesday news conference, but Berding did own his role in FC Cincinnati’s struggles so far in 2019.

In a statement issued by the club Wednesday in response to Lalas, Berding added, "We have covered a lot of ground building our franchise in record time."

"In some areas, we wanted to get into the league and learn as we evolved, taking our time while our existing staff led the soccer transition," Berding said in the statement. "For months now, we have been studying our technical structure and staffing and eyeing improvements to build as strong a foundation for soccer as we have done on the business side of FC Cincinnati. As I said yesterday, I take responsibility as President of the franchise; ultimately all decisions fall on me and I will own the changes. What matters to me most is to win championships for our city. We have been hugely successful with our business and we had a record-setting regular-season championship in the (United Soccer League). Our plan acknowledged we would need to grow into the MLS on both the business and soccer fronts, and given the short time period that transition is still underway.”