Namazi sees success rewarded with All-Star coaching duties

Stltoday - Omid Namazi has wasted little time establishing himself as one of the premier coaches in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

In his first season in St. Louis, Namazi has guided the Steamers to a 13-4 record and earned his third trip to the league's All-Star Game as a coach. Namazi, who also made four All-Star appearances as a player, will share the coaching honor with Milwaukee's Keith Tozer tonight when the MISL All-Stars face the Mexican National Indoor Team in Milwaukee.

Namazi will see several familiar faces with Steamers Jamar Beasley, Shaun David, Brett Phillips and Randy Soderman representing the MISL and Genoni Martinez playing for the Mexican team. But Namazi doesn't plan to share too much with longtime friend Tozer, as the Steamers play host to the Milwaukee Wave at 2:35 p.m. Sunday with first place on the line.

"It's more of a time to celebrate our game," Namazi said. "Because this is a voting process, you've gained the respect of your peers in the league."

St. Louis Steamers owner Michael Hetelson began courting Namazi last season when Namazi led the Cleveland Force to the MISL championship series. Cleveland's team folded in the offseason, and Hetelson jumped at the opportunity to add Namazi to the Steamers.

"He has an impressive history of taking teams and doing well with them," Hetelson said. "I felt his philosophy was very much aligned with what I wanted to do with the team in the future."

Namazi said he immediately thought St. Louis would be a good fit for his style.

"There was a good situation here with a very good team that I thought Daryl (Doran) had put together," Namazi said. "I felt the nucleus of the team was strong, and we could add to it and make it a strong squad."

Namazi went to work adding speedy players such as Beasley and Sandre Naumoski to the roster. Then he started teaching his system and things clicked.

Namazi's system is built on speed and defense. He expects players to maintain possession and constantly pressure the opponent. Through 17 games the Steamers are giving up a league-low 4.5 goals per game. The team is tied for the league lead in goals scored per game at 6.8 and leads the league in shots taken (25.8) and shots allowed (19.2).

Namazi, who grew up in Iran before earning a scholarship to play at West Virginia, bounced around several outdoor leagues before beginning his indoor career in 1996. When Philadelphia fired its coach with 10 games remaining in 1999, Namazi took over as player-coach and went 8-2 over the remainder of the season.

Namazi stayed on as player-coach and led the KiXX to the title in 2001. He coached in the WUSA for a year before returning to the indoor game with Cleveland, and he was named the MISL coach of the year in 2004-05. Namazi came to St. Louis with a 118-82 career record, including the playoffs.

"This is what I live for," Namazi said. "Coaching, instructing, helping players out, managing players, being in there on game nights and being involved in what I call a fight, they get my adrenaline going. Right now I'm in coaching and this is what I love."