Fort Lauderdale Strikers' coach not offered a new contract, president leaves club

Fort Lauderdale Strikers' president Tom Mulroy announced (via Facebook) today that he and the club have decided to part ways after differences of opinion. Also announced on Wednesday was the departure of coach Gunter Kronsteiner, who led the Strikers' on their remarkable run to the NASL title game in 2014:

As of today, I will no longer be running the Fort Lauderdale Strikers due to the difference in core philosophy with the new Brazilian Striker team ownership. Therefore, we have mutually decided to go our own ways.

First of all, I would like to thank my head coach Gunter Kronsteiner for his sacrifice, dedication and professionalism for our club and his players. With certainly the lowest budget and the least amount of resources in the league, Gunter was able to put a championship level team together, both on and off the field.

Coach Kronsteiner was not offered a contract to continue as the head of the team going forward and hence he has returned to Europe.

The pair were working with a tight budget in Fort Lauderdale, making Kronsteiner's achievements all the more remarkable. It will be interesting to see the direction the club takes this offseason, but the new man in charge will have some big shoes to fill in 2015.