D.C. United president Kevin Payne and spoke with Steven Goff after the firing of head coach Curt Onalfo and the appointment of former United player and assistant coach Ben Olsen as interim head coach.
Onalfo's three-year contract will be paid off unless he takes another job and the search for a replacement has begun.
"I fully expected Curt to see out his three years," Payne said. "Curt is a good man and a good coach and didn't deserve this. But I am convinced that we had to do this."
Never before has the club made a midseason coaching change. "Obviously, mistakes were made by everyone this year," Payne said. "Mistakes are made every year by every team in every sport. It's how you deal with those mistakes and how you move on with the group that you have that is important. My conclusion, unfortunately, was that we weren't moving forward, we were actually moving backward. That is why we made the change."
As for Olsen, Payne said, "He brings fire and pride. He understands what the uniform means. He understands what it means to our fans. He understands what it means to our front office. He understands what it should mean to the players in the locker room. I am hoping that he will be able to constantly remind the players of that. There are some players in the locker room who don't understand what that means. Part of Ben's job is to remind them."
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