COLUMBUS - To surprise of no one, Robert Warzycha was introduced as the new head coach of the Columbus Crew on Monday afternoon.
Warzycha had been had been an assistant to Sigi Schmid the past three seasons and had been in the organization since early in the inaugural 1996 season as a player or coach.
"This organization is dear to my heart," Warzycha said. "I have grown as an assistant coach and now I'm ready to be head coach."
Schmid said two weeks ago he would not return to the Crew after his contract had expired and last week was named head coach of expansion Seattle Sounders FC.
"Robert is the right person for the job," Crew forward Alejandro Moreno said.
Warzycha, 45, has big shoes to fill. After failing four times as a player to advance to the MLS Cup from 1997-2002, Warzycha was on the bench when the Crew defeated Chicago for the Eastern Conference Championship before beating New York 3-1 on Nov. 23 in the MLS Cup in Carson, Calif., for the team's first league title.
Crew president/general manager Mark McCullers had said all along that Warzycha was the frontrunner to replace Schmid because of his ties to the team and the community. Warzycha and his wife, Eliza, raised their three children in the Columbus suburb of Dublin and the oldest, Konrad, is a sophomore on the Ohio State soccer team.
Bartosz is a freshman soccer player at Marshall University in West Virginia while Olivia is finishing high school. Bartosz was discovered to have cancer late in 1998 and the outpouring of support from Crew fans plus the medical care available were major reasons the Warzychas decided to stay in Columbus rather than return to their native Poland. Bartosz is now cancer-free.
"It's very important for me and my family that I can continue working with the Columbus Crew," Warzycha said.
Warzycha, who becomes the organization's fifth head coach, is no stranger to leading the Crew. He became the interim head coach after replacing Greg Andrulis in mid-2005. He took a team that was 4-10-2 to a 7-6-3 record the rest of the way.
He just completed his seventh season as on the coaching staff and sixth as a fulltime assistant. Warzycha retired in 2002 and still holds the team record for career assists (61).
"We looked at several other candidates but it was obvious that Robert was the right fit," McCullers said.
Warzycha signed a two-year deal with a third year as an option. Salary figures were not disclosed although McCullers said, "He's not at the top of the list and he's not at the bottom of the list" among MLS coaches.
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