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Hartford Athletic fire Tab Ramos, promote Namazi

Hartford Athletic fired head coach Tab Ramos on Monday after Hartford got off to a 2-10-4 start in USL Championship. (Photo courtesy Hartford Athletic)

With just two wins in the first 16 matches of the season, the Hartford Athletic soccer club fired head coach Tab Ramos on Monday. Hartford is just 2-10-4 after dropping their third straight match in a 2-0 loss to Indianapolis Eleven on Saturday night at Trinity Health Stadium.

Omid Namazi, the team’s assistant coach and director of Scouting, will serve as the team’s new head coach. He will be the team’s sixth coach.

“This offseason we made a substantial investment in our roster and our coaching staff with the expectation that we would be competing for a championship. The results have been disappointing and have failed to match the talented roster we have assembled,” said Bruce Mandell, chairman of the Hartford Athletic. “I want to reaffirm to our fans and supporters that we are committed to building a winning club that makes our city and state proud. We will do what it takes to find the right formula to compete and win in this league.”

Hartford, which is last in the Eastern Conference in the USL Championship league, has allowed more goals (34) than any team in the league. The Athletic have scored 20 goals, which puts them 14th out of 24 teams. According to USL Championship statistics, Hartford’s passing is ranked 21 out of 24 teams.

“After careful thought and evaluation, I concluded that the direction of our team would benefit from a different voice. I wish Tab much success in his future opportunities,” Mandell said. Hartford is 0-4-2 in their last six games.

Ramos, who also coached the final six games of the 2022 season, had a career record of 5-13-4 with Hartford since assuming the head coaching job in August 2022.

Ramos was the head coach with the Houston Dynamo leading the MLS outfit for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Ramos spent eight years as the head coach of the U.S. U20 National Team from 2011 to 2019. In that span, he led the U20s to the FIFA U20 World Cup in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 and made three consecutive quarterfinal appearances, a U.S. record.

An attacking midfielder in his playing days, Ramos is one of the most accomplished players in American soccer history. Over a 12-year professional career, he earned 81 caps with the U.S. men’s national team and represented the United States in the 1990, 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups and the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The Athletic, who are in their fifth season as a club, return to action on Monday with a road match at Louden United in Leesburg, Virginia. They return home to Hartford on July 8 with a match against San Diego.

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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