The Verde Report: Is the End Approaching for Austin FC Coach Josh Wolff?

Cutline Josh Wolff has led Austin FC to a 7-6-8 record so far in 2024. (courtesy of Austin FC)

Josh Wolff must feel like he’s caught in an Agatha Christie novel.

The Austin FC head coach, laboring through his fourth season with the club, lives to coach another week despite the latest discouraging loss over the weekend in which the Verde and Black registered just two shot attempts and zero shots on target in a 2-0 defeat at Sporting Kansas City. It was the fourth L for El Tree in its last six matches.

Meanwhile, over that same time period, four of Wolff’s fellow MLS head coaches were relieved of their duties in Atlanta, Dallas, San Jose, and, most recently, in St. Louis, where Bradley Carnell was shown the door just a half-season after impressively leading the 2023 expansion side to the best regular season record in the Western Conference last year (not unlike how ATXFC outperformed expectations in 2022).

Even Wolff’s mentor, Gregg Berhalter, seems all but certain to lose his post as U.S. Men’s National Team coach after failing to lead the Copa América hosts out of the group stage.

And Then There Was Wolff.

In assessing the damage of the loss to Kansas City, the ATX boss inadvertently exposed one of the bigger flaws in his coaching ethos.

“There was one team [Sporting KC] that needed to win. And there’s another team that looked like it would just be nice if we won,” Wolff said.

It’s almost as if the Austin FC players have spent the past four seasons hearing their coach resolutely claim that the baseline goal when playing on the road is to come away with a draw, something Wolff has consistently argued whenever asked.

Now, as The Verde Report has maintained anytime the topic of Wolff’s future has come up, context matters. The club is in a state of rebuild with sporting director Rodolfo Borrell leading a complete overhaul of the roster. Despite that, Austin FC sits just one point out of a playoff spot with a little over one-third of the season remaining. From a results standpoint, things aren’t dire, yet.

The bigger issues lie when looking at the level of performance Austin FC has put on display for much of the season. ATX is averaging 8.2 shot attempts and 2.4 shots on target per match. Both figures are by far the lowest among MLS clubs. If expected goals are your thing, ATX is dead last in that department too (excluding penalty kicks).

For a coach whose entire system is built around creating scoring chances, those numbers are damning regardless of the state of the roster. Not only is it a bad formula for earning points throughout a season, it makes for an absolutely brutal watch for any loyal Verde fan.

Roster help is coming. Borrell has already secured three big signings for the club (winger Osman Bukari and defenders Mikkel Desler and Oleksandr Svatok) who will join the club later this month. ATXFC this week also mutually agreed to part ways with loaned-out striker Moussa Djitté, freeing up a U-22 Initiative spot that Borrell could also look to fill this summer.

The biggest question for Austin FC is whether Wolff is the man to lead the reshaped roster. From Borrell’s first day in Austin, he has backed the coach, even claiming that Wolff’s presence was one of the biggest reasons why he took the ATXFC job last year.

But with more experienced and successful coaches hitting unemployment across the landscape of U.S. soccer, it remains to be seen just how long Wolff can continue to dodge the axe.