The first question of the Montreal Impact’s offseason is, does this team have a head coach? A permanent one, that is.
Mauro Biello says not just yet.
After the team’s Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Semifinal elimination in Columbus on Sunday night, reporters surrounding Biello asked whether he would be back next season after a successful spell as interim head coach. The Impact were eliminated by Crew SC via a 4-3 aggregate score following their 3-1 loss in Leg 2.
Though Montreal’s turnaround in the last third of the season makes a strong case for Biello to retain the job in 2016, the man himself wouldn’t confirm.
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“We’ll see,” Biello told reporters. “We’re going to let things settle down after this loss. We’ll take the next steps and see what’ll happen.”
Biello took over for Frank Klopas this past Aug. 30, with the team’s MLS record standing at 8-11-4 at the time. After a defeat at rivals Toronto FC, Montreal had dropped just below the red line.
From then on, Montreal went 9-3-2, knocking Toronto out of the post-season in the Knockout Round before falling to Columbus Crew SC.
Pressed by reporters on whether he thought he’d done enough to secure the full-time job, Biello simply praised his group of players.
“I think the team did well,” Biello said. “We’d won our last five games. We did everything we could to get into the playoffs. Sadly, our road came to an end a little earlier. But I’m proud of what the group did.”
All Biello would confirm was that there is “no offer” on the table for now.
“As I’ve said from the beginning,” Biello said, “we’ll talk about it after the season.”
