Curt Onalfo - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

After retiring, Onalfo continued to work with youth soccer in training, coaching, and technical director roles, as he had done throughout his playing days – for McLean Youth Soccer in Virginia, various teams in Ridgefield, CT, and for his own company, Curt Onalfo Soccer.

His first managerial job in professional soccer came when he was hired as assistant coach to Thomas Rongen – later replaced by Ray Hudson – at D.C. United, a position he occupied from 2001 through 2002. In the latter year, Onalfo left to become an assistant to Bruce Arena during the 2002–2006 stretch of Arena's tenure as coach of the US national team. In 2005, Onalfo was included among the final three candidates for the top job at the Colorado Rapids, eventually being passed over for Fernando Clavijo.

On November 27, 2006, Onalfo was selected by Peter Vermes, technical director of the Kansas City Wizards, as the new head coach for the team, replacing interim coach Brian Bliss. He has indicated that he will urge an attacking style as a coach for the Wizards, who had finished poorly in their previous season and failed to make the playoffs. Onalfo's skill as a communicator, his natural leadership – as evidenced by his captaincy of several US youth squads – his ability at scouting opponents, and his experience in evaluating talent have been cited as important reasons for his selection.

With the Wizards in sixth place in MLS's Eastern Conference with a 5–6–7 record and coming off a 6–0 road loss to FC Dallas two nights earlier, Onalfo was dismissed on August 3, 2009. He finished with a 27–29–22 record with the ballclub. "Our shareholder group is thankful for Curt Onalfo's service over the last two-and-a-half seasons, but we felt a change needed to be made", Wizards president Robb Heineman said. "We are committed to developing high-performance and consistency around our club."

He was hired as the head coach of D.C. United on December 28, 2009. On August 4, 2010, Onalfo was dismissed as head coach of D.C. United. On January 27, 2011, Curt was named assistant coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy, reuniting with head coach Bruce Arena, with whom he formerly coached for the US National Team and played for at D.C. United in 1998. Curt was also named head coach of the Galaxy's reserve team the same day.