Rapids boss Mastroeni inspired by visiting Wenger, Pochettino
When Pablo Mastroeni was first named head coach of the Colorado Rapids, he was something of a novelty; the former Rapids captain sported a massive mustache and still retained his jovial spirit from his playing days.
In his first two seasons in charge, the Rapids endured poor campaigns with no playoff berths to show for them.
The Colorado Rapids finished the 2015 season dead last in the Western Conference; this year, they take on the LA Galaxy in the playoff conference semifinal, having earned a first-round bye after finishing second in the West.
Mastroeni, now smooth-faced and much more serious, enjoyed a similar transformation.
"I literally locked myself in a room for about month (in the offseason), and said: 'OK, this is the way I want to go about things. This is what I want our identity to be. This is the way I'm going to go about doing it,'" Mastroeni told Jeff Carlisle of ESPN FC.
"I immersed myself into this discovering of my identity as a coach, and how I was going to communicate that with the players, and demand it in a way that this is what I want, but it's also how they want it to look. Basically I said: 'I want a culture that's player led, and player owned, but that is guided by the coaches.'"
Mastroeni's journey for personal growth took him to England in the offseason, where he had a chance to observe a pair of Premier League managers at work at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. Once there, he picked up a few lessons he could apply to his own team.
"You had Arsene Wenger, who was a philosopher, and the way he coached was very philosophic. He didn't give you answers, just posed more questions," Mastroeni said.
"Mauricio (Pochettino) was very detailed and very passionate, but very demanding and hands-on in the type of work that he wanted. Here you have two different clubs, near the top of the Premier League, with two completely different ways of going about things."
Those lessons ultimately helped Mastroeni grow as a coach and, in turn, the Rapids pulled themselves out of the Western Conference basement and to the top of the pile in 2016.
Rapids veteran Sam Cronin saw a marked change in Mastroeni, too.
"I would just say, he was surer of his style and identity as a coach, and with that he's surer of himself," Cronin said. "It's been a very clear message from Pablo and the staff what's expected, and thankfully the players have bought into it and done a good of executing."