He must bring a sense of stability to a club that hasn't enjoyed much of it during its maiden season in MLS.
Of course, Rennie's ability to cultivate a squad and point it in the right direction is part of the reason why he spent the summer as the most sought after coaching candidate on the market. Rennie, a 36-year-old Scottish import who saw his playing career ended by injury ten years ago and started his coaching career in the PDL in 2005, worked his way up through the American coaching ladder by forging well-drilled units that win far more matches than they lose. His record to date (87-33-40) and the compelling fare offered by his sides has made him such an enticing option that he sparked interest in his services despite the typical reluctance by MLS sides to hire lower-league coaches.
Rennie will have to summon all of those powers – and perhaps locate a couple more – to devise a coherent course for a club that couldn't quite figure out what it wanted from this campaign.
This troubled season – one that now includes an equivalent number of coaches and MLS victories – started with the tentative appointment of Teitur Thordarson. A dearth of conviction always seeps through in the end and the Whitecaps didn't have the inclination or the patience to allow Thordarson to sort through the mess created by a thin squad and a spate of injuries. In the end, the Whitecaps sidetracked the campaign by failing to address their own doubts before appointing the amiable Icelandic manager as their first MLS boss.
By the time June came around, director of soccer operations Tom Soehn claimed the hot seat on a temporary basis and tried to make it his own for the short- and the long-term. The former is already assured through the end of the campaign despite a poor record, but the latter might now come into question despite the statements to the contrary from Whitecaps CEO Paul Barber and president Bob Lenarduzzi during Tuesday's press conference. Soehn's record in Vancouver is a mixed one to date – good foreign signings out of the Swiss top flight and rather suspect additions from other locales – and it remains to be seen how much power he will wield when Rennie finishes up his duties with Carolina.
Rennie could have gone elsewhere after his inevitable departure from the RailHawks, but he decided to throw in his lot with Vancouver instead of joining expansion side Montréal. It looks like a wise choice from this vantage point, particularly given the infrastructure in place in Vancouver – despite the upheaval this year, the Whitecaps back their side to the hilt, develop their own players through a robust academy system and possess plenty of diverse and talented attacking options – and the tumult that seems to envelop the Impact at every turn.
While the decision to select Vancouver over Montréal appeared fairly straightforward, the next course of action in British Columbia will require a complex and perilous set of steps. Rennie will not have the immediate security concerns of his predecessors, but he does face a significant task to rebuild a squad that boasts only some of the cogs required to compete in MLS. Expect Rennie to call on a few familiar faces from Carolina – former New England and Philadelphia goalkeeper Brad Knighton and NASL top scorer Etienne Barbara make quite a bit of sense, for starters – and import several other new options as he attempts to bolster the Whitecaps for next season.
Fresh options will help the squad, but Rennie will need more than just a few players to ensure his transition to the top flight is a success. Rennie will no doubt want to replicate his sterling record from the lower leagues, but it may take some time for him to do so with the caliber of the current squad and the strength of the Western Conference.
Given all of the chopping and changing in Vancouver this year, he should consider his first year a success if he can stop the door from revolving, establish a coherent and consistent set of expectations and provide some stability for a club that hasn't had much of it during its MLS existence. If he cannot offer that firm foundation, he will discover the perils of allowing Vancouver to continue along the path it is currently following.
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