Gary Smith is a now officially the head coach for the Colorado Rapids. Smith was signed to a 3 year deal. The Rapids also announced they re-signed Pablo Mastroeni, coming off arguably his best year ever in the MLS, to a 4 year deal. Mike Petke, Bouna Coundoul and Jose Burciaga Jr. are all out of contract with no announcements having been made on their status. Click to continue reading...

In a widely anticipated move, the Colorado Rapids today announced that Gary Smith is to be the permanent head coach. Smith took over interim coching duties in August after the resignation of former coach, Fernando Clavijo, and narrowly failed to get the team into the playoffs. Click to continue reading...

View From The Couch is reporting that it's rumored that the Rapids will announce their new coach today at 1pm. Money is on it being Gary Smith as the Rapids have already signed one of Smith's friend Steve Guppy as assistant coach. In fact Sunday while I was at work eating bugs, Brian Forbes over at the Denver Post reported that short of an official announcement from the Rapids, everything points to Gary Smith including Guppy on a radio show stating that it'll be Smith. Click to continue reading...

That may be a bit speculative but I have it on very good authority that the Colorado Rapids will be announcing the hiring of a permanent head coach in the very near future. Given that it appears that the Rochester Rhinos may have jumped the gun a little with their announcement last week that Steve Guppy, a longtime friend of Rapids' interim head coach, Gary Smith, was to leave his post at Rochester to take up a position as assistant coach at the Rapids, the Rapids may feel forced to clarify the situation a little earlier than they perhaps wanted to. Click to continue reading...

It's been two weeks now for the tears to dry and the hearts to heal. It's Real Salt Lake who play Chivas tomorrow for a place in the conference final and not the Colorado Rapids. The season is over for the boys from Commerce City, I am back from my UK trip and it feels like a good time to try and figure out what happens to the team from here. Click to continue reading...

Gary Smith, head coach of the Colorado Rapids, sat with a small group of his most experienced players at training on Thursday just as the reality of one of the biggest games for the team in recent years gets ever closer. He was no doubt pressing on the likes of Pablo Mastroeni, Mike Petke and Cory Gibbs the importance of such experience in such a vital game when so many of your fellow players around you are young and have not faced such pressure before. Click to continue reading...

And he will start in goal for the crucial game against Chivas tomorrow. Bouna Coundoul, the Senegalese goalkeeper recently back from a traumatic time in his native country, will start for the Colorado Rapids between the posts for the first time since August 9. Fan favorite, Bouna, who had had to swallow the pain of his country crashing out of the World Cup and African Nations' Cup qualifying, not to mention the wrath of angry fans in Dakar last weekend, gains the chance to reclaim the number one spot from Preston Burpo. Click to continue reading...

Two defensive errors in the space of ten minutes late in the second half and this game was over. The Colorado Rapids lost 3-2 to the Galaxy in LA for the second time this season and now the playoff hopes are dimming. The Rapids simply have to go to Chivas next weekend back in LA and win so that there is not too much pressure in that last home game against Salt Lake. Click to continue reading...

Conor Casey suspended, Omar Cummings on international duty. Landon Donovan and David Beckham away internationally too. Add to the mix that the Colorado Rapids have only one half-fit true striker available and, at first glance, you have to wonder where the goals are going to come from in tomorrow's game against the LA Galaxy. Click to continue reading...

Big, big game tomorrow for the Colorado Rapids. Having played in an unforgettable epic last weekend, thoughts must turn now to MLS big guns, Houston. The Texans visit DSG Park tomorrow night for the second time this season having drawn 0-0 back in June. Gary Smith, head coach of the Rapids, acknowledged how tough this game will be. Click to continue reading...

Don't look now but this team is on a roll under Gary Smith. It wasn't the prettiest of games but the Rapids pulled off a big road win over the New York Red Bulls. Last year it was 1-0 win,... Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids, unbeaten in the past three games, are now headed to New York for a tough game on the turf against the Red Bulls. Much has been made of the consistency of the team in those recent games. Unfortunately, injuries mean there will have to be some changes in tomorrow night's line-up. Click to continue reading...

Pablo Mastroeni, club captain of the Colorado Rapids, is getting closer to his dream of playing in Europe. This week, he has received calls, via his representative in Spain and Italy, from two clubs in Spain - Malaga and Seville's Real Betis. The offers are good, says Pablo, but much remains on the table. Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids grinded this one out against one of the league's top teams and were unlucky in the end to only get a 1-1 draw. With Chivas beating Salt Lake, the Rapids are now third in the Western Conference with just five games to go. Gary Smith, head coach, now has one of the nine points he said he wanted from six games but this conference remains so tight, especially with Dallas' surprise victory over Chicago, that it looks impossible to predict what will happen. Click to continue reading...

Gary Smith was kind enough to agree to be interviewed. Now keep in mind I'm no journalist and this was done via Telephone - so the answers are not his exact words but what I was able to write down... Click to continue reading...

Well, it could have been a first eleven. With a defense featuring Bouna, Ihemelu, Burciaga and Erpen and a midfield consisting of DiRaimondo, Peterson, Christian Gomez and Dalby, the Colorado Rapids fielded a very strong reserve team today in a straightforward 3-0 victory over visiting Dallas. Click to continue reading...

It was nice to see the Rapids pick up their 3 win in 5 games with Gary Smith in charge on Sunday. The only other time the Rapids have gone into half-time with a 2-0 lead this year was the July 4th game against New York Red Bull. That game was also at home at Dicks Sporting Goods Park.

With better finishing and possession against Chicago, the Rapids could have done more damage to the league's best road team.

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Six points in two matches for a last place team is a feel good story in most football leagues, but in Major League Soccer's Western Conference it puts you on the cusp of a playoff spot. What Gary Smith, the Rapids interim manager has done is remarkable since taking over a broken and battered team [. Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids look a very settled team. Something has happened since the coaching change and the Rapids finally look like they have a rhythm and the personnel to keep that rhythm going all the way to the playoffs. The team emerged victorious yesterday, dousing the Chicago Fire with an own goal and a splendid individual effort by Omar Cummings, both goals coming in the first half. Click to continue reading...

Nick at We Want Rapid Man takes a look at Bouna's situation. The Denver Post also covers it here. It looks to be headed down the same path that lead Herculez Gomez to Kansas City. Will things turn around? Will we see Bouna in nets for the Rapids again? Or could we see him traded to a team looking for a goalkeeper? Click to continue reading...

AP PHOTO

Throughout Mike Petke's Metrostars career a sign draped the wall at Giants Stadium which read Petke Power. For my money no lasting image of MLS early years was more vivid and more poignant than that sign. Mike Petke in fact has been one of the better defenders in MLS during his entire career.

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Holy Crap! Victory is ours. The Colorado Rapids went all the way down to Texas and beat FC Dallas 1-0. The team's first away victory since April. In a week that saw us down in the dumps having lost another road game against Salt Lake and in which we said goodbye to a fan favorite, a header from Mike Petke (where was the Dallas defense? Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids go into Friday night's Rocky Mountain Cup showdown against Real Salt Lake with what amounts to a mini injury crisis. Pablo Mastroeni and Terry Cooke, two of the most influential players in the team, will not make the trip due to hamstring injuries. Click to continue reading...

So much hope about a new era but the Colorado Rapids crashed to a 3-0 defeat against DC United on Saturday. After going into the game almost like a line of combat soldiers, we lost the battle. The question is have we lost the playoff war also?
The team was in the game for the first 40 minutes or so. Click to continue reading...

Nick at We Want Rapidman felt the Colorado Rapids, with new coach Gary Smith at the helm, would be fired up and ready to play at RFK Stadium against DC United. Unfortunately that wasn't the case with the Rapids losing 3-0.

View From The Couch takes a look back at the Clavijo Era. Note that the talk on the street was that Clavijo was a coach in name only.

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With excitement over Gary Smith taking over as head coach of our Colorado Rapids, it was difficult to swallow a 3-0 loss Saturday. Class VI man of the match of the match voting for the game is open here .... Click to continue reading...

After playing three of the last four games on the road, United returns to RFK Stadium tonight for the first of three straight home games (including September 3rd's U.S. Open Cup final) as the Colorado Rapids visit the District. United has played its best soccer at home, putting together a record of 7-3 at RFK, outscoring opponents 25-13.

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If you look at the Colorado Rapids website, you'll see this weekend's projected formation lined up looking like some Roman gladiators. The formation is listed as basically two lines of four and five in defense and midfield with lone striker,Conor Casey, up front. Here is the link to the website. Click to continue reading...

It's finally happened. The Rapids have fired their coach, Fernando Clavijo. Surprisingly, Gary Smith is going to take over for him on an interim basis, whatever that means. I say suprisingly, because it seemed like the Rapids have been preening assistant coach John Murphy for the job. He's been the face of the coaching staff for years, and the Rapids even sent him over to Europe to become the first American to be a UEFA certified manager.

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Well, it happened. Fernando Clavijo and the Colorado Rapids have parted ways with 11 games left in the 2008 MLS season.

I didn't think it would with the Rapids front office seemingly content to wait for Clavijo's contract to run out at the end of the year. Likewise Fernando Clavijo didn't seem interested in leaving before his contract was up.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Fernando Clavijo has resigned as Colorado Rapids head coach in a move that seemed destined to happen even before the 2008 season began.

"A lot of things happened through the year that I was not happy with in many ways," Clavijo told the Denver Post.

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Another MLS coach faced the firing squad on Wednesday afternoon as the announcement was made that the Colorado Rapids have decided to part ways with head coach Fernando Clavijo immediately. Assistant coach Gary Smith has been tapped to fill the position on an interim basis for the remainder of the 2008 season. Click to continue reading...

Today, the Rapids and head coach Fernando Clavijo decided to part ways.  Clavijo had not only overseen 3 mediocre years for the Rapids, but he recently had go back to his native Uruguay to take care of a family medical emergency.  Assistant coach Gary Smith has been managing training and was the coach in Colorado's [. Click to continue reading...

Fernando Clavijo, the head coach of the Colorado Rapids, has resigned with immediate effect from his position. Like the death of a sick loved one, the news comes as a shock but not exactly unexpected. Rumors had been flying for some time, especially after the recent meltdown at the Los Angeles Galaxy when Ruud Gullit and Alexei Lalas said goodbye. Click to continue reading...

Acting head coach Gary Smith punched the air as the referee blew for the 90 minutes. It sure was mighty relief for the Colorado Rapids organization and their fans that the team finally managed to score some goals and eke out a win against a frequently dangerous Kansas City side. Click to continue reading...