The Cedar Rapids Rampage of the Major Arena Soccer League fired first-year head coach Jonathan Greenfield on Thursday but didn’t tell anyone until after Saturday’s 14-11 win over the Kansas City Comets. General Manager Chris Kokalis has taken over as the interim.
That got me wondering if Greenfield’s seven-game stint was the shortest to start a season by a head coach in indoor soccer history.
Guess what? It’s not.
Here’s the list of indoor coaches who left their posts early in an indoor season.
| Gms | Coach | Team | Season | W-L |
| 3 | Mike Pilger | Cleveland Force | 2002-03 | 1-2 |
| 3 | Peter Skouras | Buffalo Blizzard | 1994-95 | 1-2 |
| 3 | Heinz Wirtz* | Illinois Thunder | 1990-91 | 1-2 |
| 4 | Omid Namazi* | Philadelphia KiXX | 2002-03 | 3-1 |
| 4 | Bret Hall* | Chicago Power | 1994-95 | 1-3 |
| 5 | Jeff Kraft | Wichita B52s | 2014-15 | 1-4 |
| 5 | Cliff Brown | Fort Wayne Flames | 1986-87 | 2-3 |
| 5 | Eddie Firmani | New York Cosmos | 1984-85 | 2-3 |
| 5 | Adrian Webster | Phoenix Inferno | 1981-82 | 0-5 |
| 6 | Daryl Doran | St. Louis Ambush | 2015-16 | 0-6 |
| 6 | Ian Fulton | Portland Pride | 1997 | 1-5 |
| 6 | John Giles* | Vancouver Whitecaps | 1983-84 | 3-3 |
| 6 | Gordon Fearnley* | Cleveland Force | 1978-79 | 2-4 |
| 7 | Jonathan Greenfield | Cedar Rapids Ramage | 2017-18 | 4-3 |
| 7 | Kevin Healey | Baltimore Blast | 2002-03 | 2-5 |
| 8 | Chris Keenan | Detroit Neon | 1995 | 1-7 |
| 8 | Willy Roy | Chicago Sting | 1986-87 | 1-7 |
| *Resigned | ||||
So Greenfield is not the first guy to get fired in under nine games, but he is the first guy to ever get fired in under nine games with a winning record at the time of his dismissal.
The Rampage has now played 48 games in their history (their 49th will be this afternoon in St. Louis against the winless Ambush) and their next head coach will be their fifth. Jeff Kraft departed after a 5-15 maiden season in 2015-16, Hewerton Moreira bailed and joined the aforementioned Ambush after a 12-8 resurgence last season, and now Greenfield is gone, to be replaced on a permanent(ish) basis before Cedar Rapids’ next home game on Dec. 22 (also against St. Louis).
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