Earthquakes fire head coach Luchi Gonzalez midway through his second season

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes have fired head coach Luchi Gonzalez, the team announced on Monday.

After guiding San Jose to the playoffs in his first year as head coach in 2023, the Quakes have fallen off this season. San Jose is currently the worst team in MLS with a record of 3-14-2.

On Saturday, the Quakes had one of their worst losses this season, falling to LAFC 6-2 on the road.

Gonzalez finished his tenure as San Jose’s head coach with a 14-28-17 record.

“We want to thank Luchi for his hard work, commitment to the club and professionalism,” said general manager Chris Leitch in a statement. “Luchi and his staff have worked extremely hard the past year and a half, but we have not met expectations this year as a club. We felt that we needed to make a change, and it was in the best interests of the club to move in a different direction.”

Gonzales was named head coach of the Quakes in August 2022, but took over before the 2023 MLS season following the conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup where he was a top assistant for the U.S. Men’s National Team. San Jose finished the year 10-10-14, which secured them the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Quakes would fall in the wild-card round to Sporting Kansas City.

San Jose had a Top-10 defense last season, giving up just 43 goals and recording 10 clean sheets. But through 19 games this season, the Quakes have given up a league-worst 51 goals and have a goal differential of -22.

“I want to thank ownership, leadership and our fans for the opportunity and the support they gave me during my time managing the Earthquakes,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “I am very grateful to all the staff and players that worked hard every day to improve our situation and wish them the very best moving forward.”

Assistant Ian Russell has been named the Interim coach.

He previously held the same title in 2014 when San Jose fired former coach Mark Watson with two games left in that season. Russell, 48, was an assistant coach for the Quakes from 2008-2016.

He was the head coach of the now-defunct Reno 1868 FC of the United Soccer League where he coached the club from 2017-2020 before returning to San Jose as an assistant under Gonzalez in 2023.

The Quakes will play their first game under Russell on Saturday against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday in the California Clásico at Stanford Stadium.

“Ian is a very experienced coach who knows our club better than anyone,” said Leitch. “He had a great run as head coach at Reno for four years, winning a lot of games and making the playoffs every season. We’re confident that he’s ready to lead us, starting with this Saturday’s game against LA at Stanford Stadium.”

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