The former Houston Dynamo coach has traded in his orange gear for the black and blue of San Jose. ASN's Brooke Tunstall spoke with the MLS veteran about his return to the Bay Area.

BY Brooke Tunstall Posted

January 11, 2015

5:04 PM SHARE THIS STORY



—It's still jarring to see Dominic Kinnear wearing the colors of a team besides the Houston Dynamo. But if Kinnear was ever going to wear another team’s colors, it would be the one he’s coaching now, the San Jose Earthquakes.

A Bay Area native and former Earthquakes player and assistant, Kinnear was head coach in San Jose for two seasons (winning the Supporters’ Shield in 2005) before the club relocated and became the Houston Dynamo the following season. He stayed with the Dynamo until this fall when he jumped at the chance to return to San Jose with the reincarnated version of the Quakes.

“I have to remember which team meetings to go to now,” Kinnear joked about being so used to wearing Dynamo orange. “But I’m really looking forward to the challenge here. The goal, the expectation, is to win—to bring back championships.”

He has his work cut out for him. In 2012 the Earthquakes won the Supporters’ Shield for the best regular season record in MLS. But last year the Quakes struggled and finished with the second-worst record in MLS, behind even woeful Chivas USA.

Despite the team’s poor finish, Kinnear is bullish on his new team.

“I think who they were when they were doing well is closer to who they are,” Kinnear told American Soccer Now as he waited out a weather delay during the combine’s first game on Sunday. “They had a lot of injuries and in this league those can make a difference. Obviously I was only seeing this from afar, as I wasn’t here, but I think those had as much to do with the struggles as anything.”

The Quakes are opening a new stadium this year, one that was long-promised to its fans upon the club’s resurrection in 2009. That will create some buzz but the team needs to put some wins on the board, Kinnear knows, to maintain that energy.

“It’s not about the stadium,” he said. “New stadium or not, we need to win. Period. That’s what we have to do. That’s what I have to do, figure out what I can do to help make the team better so it can win.”

As a result of its poor finish, the Earthquakes have the fourth pick in next week’s MLS draft, and Kinnear to find a player in the draft who can quickly become a contributor.

“We’re not looking for a specific position,” Kinnear said. “Yes, we have some positions we’re looking to make a change more than others, but we don’t necessarily see the answer for that in the draft. What we’re looking for in the draft is the best fit, the player who fits our style of play, and in our locker room.”

Who that is remains to be seen. The club attempted to put in a homegrown claim on U.C. Davis defender Ramon Martin Del Campo, and the club's claim was rejected by league headquarters.

San Jose could use the fourth pick on Martin Del Campo, though the center back hasn’t had the best showing at the combine and some of the bloom may be off his rose. “He’s slipped out of my top 10,” said one rival coach who asked not to be identified.

As a result, the Quakes could use the fourth pick on another position and gamble that Martin Del Campo slips. Other options include a top holding midfielder like Notre Dame’s Nick Besler, who has had a strong combine and brings a winning pedigree.

“There are a lot of good players here,” said Kinnear. “There probably aren’t the high-end players that were here in the past but there are a lot of good players. We’ll get someone who can help us win.”

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter