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Rayo OKC will be one of the North American Soccer League's three new clubs in 2016, beginning play during the spring season. At the moment, they've got a lot of work to do with the roster and coaching staff in order to be ready for their opener, but on Monday, the club announced that they'd be naming their first Head Coach on Thursday afternoon:
— RayoOKC (@RayoOKC) January 4, 2016
Naturally, there has been all sorts of speculation about who that coach might be, but it's beginning to sound as if it's someone most NASL fans should already be familiar with:
Source telling me @RayoOKC's new head coach will be Alen Marcina. Former @SAScorpions coach, who was champs in 2014. pic.twitter.com/W9IDJoiZ6H
— Franco Sui Yuan (@francosy) January 4, 2016
Marcina has coached the San Antonio Scorpions since 2013, but was fired by Club President Howard Cornfield in the airport, in front of a crowd of people. The San Antonio Scorpions owner then sold the club's stadium, and it doesn't look as if the Scorpions will exist in 2016.
Meanwhile, Rayo OKC look to be signing a manager who did very well in the one season that he had a decent roster, and had two awful seasons in 2013 and 2015, when his front office did nothing at all to help him avoid the league's basement. Given that the Scorpions didn't have a full roster days ahead of the opener this year, the chaotic nature of creating an expansion club should feel comfortable to Marcina, though I'm sure Rayo's ownership will be hoping that the results are better than they were in San Antonio.
Regardless of how they do on the pitch, it's nice to see Rayo beginning to put a coaching staff together ahead of their inaugural season. It's just a shame they didn't decide to hold this press conference in the airport.