"I had to make this decision": What's next for Vancouver Whitecaps after Vanni Sartini's departure?
The Vancouver Whitecaps made a big move on Monday, as they parted ways with head coach Vanni Sartini.
Their most successful head coach of their MLS era, as Sartini won three straight Canadian Championships and made the playoffs in three out of four seasons in charge, it’s a big move for the Whitecaps, who are at a key point in their journey as a team.
It was expected that Sartini would be a key figure on that journey for at least another year, but that’s no longer the case after Monday.
“What’s most important today is to say thank you (to Vanni), thank you for many good years at the Whitecaps,” Whitecaps CEO, Axel Schuster, said in a press conference on Monday.
“Looking back to where we came from and where we are today, I have to say thank you for this outstanding work."
Here’s to an unforgettable chapter. Grazie mille, Vanni 💙 pic.twitter.com/qIgtoG73Sn
— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) November 25, 2024
After a couple of seasons of steady progress, the Whitecaps are on the cusp of being a top side in MLS but missed a big opportunity to take a huge step forward this past campaign. Heading into 2025, it puts them at an interesting crossroads, as it feels like this team is the best it’s ever been, but is at the peak of a competitive window that could close at any minute if they don’t take advantage of it.
Because of that, it was expected to be a crucial offseason in Vancouver, as they had some big decisions to make off the field in terms of their roster to ensure they’d maximize this group ahead of next year.
With all three DP slots filled, and with several key players sitting between the ages of 26 and 30, they’re at a point where all decisions need to be centred around ensuring that group of players is put in a position to win as soon as possible.
At the same time, it wasn’t expected that their head coach would be one of those decisions. With Sartini heading into the last year of his contract, Sartini seemed likely to at least see out that last year, before evaluating from there.
But with this being such a crucial period for the Whitecaps, they decided they didn’t want to wait that long, so they decided to make the big move this week.
“It's what I was brought in for, to make the difficult decisions,” Schuster said. “To make the easy decisions, that’s not a challenge, you have to make the difficult decisions, and you have to make them at the right time. And for that reason, I had to make this decision now. I took a long time to think, I spoke with every single player. I checked in with the whole group and the staff to check in where we were at.”
We are incredibly grateful for the last 6 years with you. Thank you for everything, Vanni.
— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) November 25, 2024
You’ll forever be Blue & White. Andiamo 💙
📰: https://t.co/njmouTNYDr#VWFC pic.twitter.com/RWs4vH4SzY
That puts the Whitecaps in an interesting position. No doubt, it’s not going to be easy to replace Sartini - not only did he deliver solid results on the pitch, but he was a fiercely popular coach off it - but it also has provided them with an interesting opportunity.
If they can get this hire right, the timing of this move could prove to look quite good - instead of risking making this move midseason had Sartini struggled, or at the end of next year where the competitive window might’ve already started to close, they can get ahead of the curve.
“Better to find a solution now than after five or seven games into 2025, because that's the risk and that's what drove my decision,” Schuster offered. “If we don't have all of the tools in place, then we better finish on the high then wait where we get to a low where we say that’s the natural process of this business.”
The risk, however, is that they could very easily struggle to find an upgrade on Sartini, whose Whitecaps side had collected the 13 most points in MLS since his hiring - a slightly above-average total, no doubt, but still a good one.
But by making this move as early as they did in the offseason, they’ve got time to make that right hire, and one can only figure they’ve already got the wheels spinning in that regard to even make this move in the first place.
Now, the big question will be to figure out what the best candidate for this job could be.
Given the state of this group, experience seems to be a big prerequisite, a sentiment that Schuster shared on Monday. For a team filled with prime-aged players ready to make that next step, bringing in someone with experience winning makes a lot more sense versus an unproven manager, one who might take some time to grow before hitting their top level.
At the same time, that doesn’t mean the Whitecaps will bring in a manager long in the tooth just for the sake of experience. Ideally, they’ll get someone who knows MLS and who has won at this level, but those managers aren’t easily acquired, so they’ll be careful not to box themselves in.
There are a few managers with MLS experience on the market at the moment - one has to imagine the recently fired Jim Curtin would be a top candidate after winning a Supporters Shield and reaching an MLS Cup Final with the Philadelphia Union, while Robin Fraser has won multiple MLS Cups as an assistant coach and did well to get a lot out of the Colorado Rapids during his stint as head coach from 2019 to 2023.
But beyond that, there will also be room for those who aren’t as familiar with MLS, provided that they’re ready for the challenges the league can present, as that’s the one thing that seems to distinguish successful international coaches in this league from those who tend to struggle.
“It’s not a key criterion to have MLS experience,” Schuster offered. “But if you have no MLS experience, you have to prove to me that you're flexible and have worked in more than one environment, or that you have worked in environments where you have to adapt to certain things.”
Now, however, the next big question for the Whitecaps will be establishing a timeline to make a hire.
Schuster didn’t commit to a timeline when asked on Monday, other than saying that having a coach by preseason is the priority, but one has to imagine that internally the goal is to have someone in place as soon as possible.
Given that the team has some crucial decisions to navigate this offseason, one would expect a coach to have a say in that matter while offering feedback in terms of what they’d need to acquire to be successful.
At the same time, there’s a fine line between rushing a hire and bringing in the right hire, so look for the Whitecaps to balance that as they dive into this search.
Ideally, they’ve got someone in before mid-December, but it remains to be seen if that’s a realistic timeline for them to use or not.
"We need a coach the moment we start to train, that's for sure, but I think urgency is never a good advisor,” Schuster offered.
"We want to hire the right coach. And we want to be very careful and we have to be careful as we have something really good here."
Axel Schuster isn't rushing a new #VWFC head coaching hire:
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) November 25, 2024
"We need a coach the moment we start to train, that's for sure, but I think urgency is never a good advisor, so I don't want to be driven by urgency."
"We want to hire the right coach. And we want to be very careful… pic.twitter.com/w43QQ4o00H
No matter who the Whitecaps hire, however, one thing’s for sure - 2025 is going to be a massive year for the club.
With the roster they’ve constructed, they should be able to dream of making a deep run in the Concacaf Champions Cup and Leagues Cup, winning the Canadian Championship for a fourth straight season, competing for the Supporters Shield and making a deep run in the MLS Cup playoffs.
Will they be able to do all of that? It’s far easier said than done, but they’ll hope to check off a few more boxes than they did this year, where they came up short of some key targets in every competition bar the Canadian Championship.
Because of that, this new head coach has a big task ahead of them, as they look to push towards those goals. And there, they’ll be able to show whether or not this gamble from Schuster paid off.
If they’re successful, it’ll seem like a masterstroke, one that helps this team hit another level, and if they fail, one can only wonder if the timing was wrong.
But that’s the beauty of where the Whitecaps are at - you’ve got to make big moves to become a top side, and by making this decision, Schuster took another big swing.
Now, he’ll just hope that his next head coach can provide similar value off the field to successful on-field signings such as Ryan Gauld or Andrés Cubas, instead of striking out on this hire.
“It's my job to ensure everyone comes back next year with hunger and anger about how the season ended,” Schuster said. “And with belief, and with enough energy so that we can take the next step next year."
"I want to get further than the first round of the playoffs."
