Timbers Fire Head Coach Giovanni Savarese

The other shoe has finally dropped. The Timbers fired head coach Giovanni Savarese Monday night after a 5-0 defeat to the Houston Dynamo dropped them to 12th place in the Western Conference. It’s not the decision that shocks me, it’s the timing.

I already published a retrospective on his time with the team. You can find that here. I originally released it in 3 different parts because there was obviously a ton to talk about. Some of it hasn’t aged well (see: “The Locker Room Leader”) but a lot of the criticism is still valid. But judging him just on his mistakes is missing the point of his entire tenure. Replacing Caleb Porter was a tough task, and Gio took the team to MLS Cup in his first season in charge. A miracle run that ended at the right time against a much better opponent. He went on to lead the team to MLS is Back in 2020 and took the team to MLS Cup in 2021 again. However, they couldn’t get it done. That’s the exact point when the results on the field began to drop off. Since I haven’t talked at length about the last two seasons yet, it’s time to expand on when the wheels began to fall off the wagon. 

Cascadia FC's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

2022 was a weird year. With the absence of Diego Valeri it felt like the transition was beginning to a new team without him. No true 10 meant that the attack began to lag. The team became increasingly reliant on penalties and ended up missing the playoffs. But we all know where the cracks began to show. A mystifying benching of Eryk Williamson for a must-win season finale in Salt Lake rubbed every fan the wrong way. It seemed odd and completely out of character for the likable head coach we all knew and respected. But the question lingered into the offseason, and Williamson ended up staying amidst endless transfer rumors. This season was supposed to be the season of Evander. While he’s shown flashes, he hasn’t taken the league by storm yet. That’s perfectly fine, but the headlines began to change from the new star boy to the feuds the coach was getting involved in. Aljaz Ivacic openly called Savarese a “liar” following his benching against the Galaxy back in March. Santiago Moreno’s trade request specifically called Gio out for not playing him in the position he wanted. Despite a strong (but ultimately losing) effort in Leagues Cup, there was belief that the team could use that momentum to force a turnaround. With 2 weeks off to prepare, they went to Houston and lost 5-0. The worst loss of his tenure. If the locker room wasn’t lost before, it definitely was in the last two weeks. 

This is incredibly hard for a lot of people to process. We all know how good of a guy Gio is and we should all be wishing him well in whatever job he gets next. My big question revolves around the timing. His firing is either a white flag from the organization or something that they felt needed to be done at this exact moment in time. I thought that if they missed the playoffs, or were mathematically eliminated at any point in the season, he would be fired then. But it’s still only a 5 point gap between the Timbers and 9th placed Minnesota. We knew this offseason would be one of significant change, and now arguably the biggest piece of the team is gone. In that retrospective, I wrote this:

Last night was evidence that the locker room was completely lost. You can’t have two weeks off to prepare for a match that you said you did your homework on and lose in that fashion. I’m sure the front office saw it as unacceptable as well. Miles Joseph is going to take over as the interim coach for the rest of the season. We have won trophies with interim coaches before, when *REDACTED* led us to our first MLS Cascadia Cup triumph in 2012. But the real search begins in the offseason. Allow me to direct your attention to the man who should be at the top of the list.

It’s worth noting that you can believe that Gio was done dirty by the mistakes of the front office during his tenure. In the saddest piece of poetry I’ve ever heard, Brian Fernandez was signed by Morelia in Mexico today. Despite all of the joy he has brought us, two big questions will forever go unsolved in regards to Savarese’s tenure: Fernandez and December 11th. What happens if the Timbers win that game? It’s not worth going completely in depth on that match, but it was his high-water mark as Timbers manager. Plus I already covered it in my large retrospective, so read that for my complete thoughts on it. 

This seems like a really negative piece so far, and I don’t like it. There needs to be something happy to end on because Gio has overseen a lot more good than bad in Portland. There is no better illustrator of him than his record against Seattle. He finishes his Portland tenure with a 9-2-6 record against the Timbers’ biggest rivals. That includes the technical “loss” in the 2018 playoffs, which was still a win. I think that’s the best way to end this. He could wake up the team on the biggest occasions, but in terms of week to week play the motivation wasn’t always there. He’s still held in high regard by me as a person and a coach. It’s a shame it had to end like this, but it seems like it was the right time. Even with a playoff push still on the table, when the locker room is no longer with you, your time must end. 

For a more detailed expansion on his time with the Timbers, please read this. The new era of the Portland Timbers is now firmly on the horizon. But it always helps to remember the past in order to prevent the same mistakes from happening again.

(Also the true change that we all want to happen looks more and more impossible by the day. I wonder if the bald elephant in the room’s presence will make this coaching search harder than it should be.)

Cascadia FC's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.