CARSON, Calif. - LA Galaxy manager Curt Onalfo is actively filling the vacancies on his coaching staff and is excited for his first season to start after taking over from the departed Bruce Arena.
In an exclusive interview with ESPN FC, Onalfo said that while an official announcement is yet to come, he has added Seattle Sounders assistant Ante Razov, Galaxy II assistant Rob Becerra, and Galaxy II goalkeeper coach Daniel Gonzalez to his staff.
Onalfo was named as the Galaxy's head coach last month, replacing Arena who left to become manager of the U.S. national team.
Arena took his entire coaching staff with him, a group that included Dave Sarachan, Pat Noonan, his son, Kenny Arena, and goalkeeper coach Matt Reis. That left Onalfo with lots of positions to fill, but it now appears that such a task is nearly complete.
The appointment of Razov was made evident on the first day of the MLS Player Combine when the former U.S. international striker was spotted wearing a Galaxy polo. Razov had spent the previous two seasons in Seattle, first as an assistant under Sigi Schmid, and later under Brian Schmetzer.
Razov ranks fifth on the list of all-time leading scorers in MLS history with 114 goals in 262 regular season appearances. He recorded an additional 11 goals in 32 playoff matches and his relationship with Onalfo also goes back some time. The two were teammates with the Galaxy in 1996 during Major League Soccer's inaugural season.
Onalfo also coached Razov when the former served as an assistant on the U.S. national team under Bruce Arena from 2003-07.
"We're excited about having Ante as part of the staff," said Onalfo. "Having been one of the all-time leading scorers in our league, he'll certainly have excellent insight into helping our attacking players.
"But coaches are coaches, whether or not they were attacking players or defensive players. The job of a coach is to make everybody better. We feel good about the addition of Ante."
With the appointments of Becerra and Gonzalez, Onalfo has opted to add two coaches who served as his assistants when he was the manager of LA's reserve side, Galaxy II.
He said: "Becerra has been coaching at a high level since 2000, and Gonzalez was actually Glenn Myernick's assistant coach back in the day when Glenn was with the Colorado Rapids, and then he worked at Chivas USA as a goalkeeper coach. And then last year he was with Galaxy II, so he's a natural fit. So I feel very confident with those excellent coaches to help us move forward."
At first glance, it looks like Onalfo is simply bringing in familiar faces, but he added that he isn't just hiring yes-men.
"I want to hear everybody's opinion, I want to be challenged," he said. "That's the way to push the bar, and in all those instances, they have the ability to coach and our philosophy is to make everybody better. In our league, you have to maximize the potential of every player on the roster. That's the job of the coaching staff to get out of them, whether it's technically stuff to get everybody to improve, or psychologically.
"My management style is I believe in people. If I don't like it, they'll hear about it. But I feel great about the staff we've assembled."