Schallibaum: Montreal’s coach has got to rein in his emotions

Marco Schallibaum

There’s a fine line between being a fiery, defend-your-team coach and being a marked man.

Montreal Impact head coach Marco Schallibaum has crossed over into “marked man” territory.

On Friday, MLS announced that not only will the Impact coach miss this Saturday’s home date to the Houston Dynamo due to suspension, he’ll also miss the Aug. 31 match at Philadelphia.

The reason for the added game? Repeated sendings-off this season. Last weekend, Schallibaum and D.C. United coach Ben Olsen were both ejected when their two teams squared off at Stade Saputo. But, after investigating, the league found that Schallibaum was the one entirely at fault. The Swiss coach received an added game over the mandatory one-match ban, while Olsen’s red card was wiped from the books.

In its decision, the league stressed Schallibaum’s consistent inability to keep his cool. He has been sent off three times this season; and, on another occasion, he was suspended after the fact for coming onto the field of play. That’s four examples of misconduct in Schallibaum’s debut MLS season.

This time, not only did Schallibaum get an extra game, he received a $5,000 fine. Now, remember that in MLS, fines are usually measured in the hundreds of dollars. By MLS standards, a $5,000 penalty is a whopper.

Clearly, the league has had enough.

Schallibaum has to understand that his temper has gone past the level of “passion” and into the realm of “dangerous.” He won’t be helping his team’s cause at all; the last thing the Impact needs is to be seen by officials around the league as the club with the whiny coach.

It’s time for Schallibaum to undertake the Vulcan emotional purge of Kolinahr, or at least make an honest effort to keep himself in check. If the league has now set the bar at two games and a $5,000 fine, chances are that if Schallibaum gets sent off again this season, the fine will be heavier and the suspension could hit the three- or four-game mark.

And that’s when you’ve gone past the point of being the fiery coach who cares about his team; you’ve hit the level of being a problem and a distraction.