Kevin Demoff shares grand vision for Rapids while backing president Pádraig Smith: ‘This club should be competing for titles’

Days after the Colorado Rapids parted approaches with coach Chris Armas Kroenke Sports Entertainment President of Group and Media Operations Kevin Demoff joined Rapids president P draig Smith on the podium at Dick s Sporting Goods Park At the surface it felt like any other end-of-season debrief but Demoff s presence boded a future that looks different for better or worse Smith s front office will soon make the fourth head coaching hire of his -year tenure as a Rapids executive With only a handful of playoff appearances and even fewer playoff wins it was hard to ignore the sense that a cycle was starting over again And yet the high-ranking KSE executive sitting next to Smith at Thursday s news conference expressed an expectation for the franchise that ran counter to that reality This club should be competing for titles full stop Demoff recounted reporters during a rare residents appearance in Commerce City I think that is the goal that is the challenge and that is what we wake up every day doing It should be no different from any teams in our system and this club is no different Last month the Rapids crashed out of a playoff position and failed to make the postseason in consecutive campaigns With just one more point from a woeful final stretch of matches they d have done so for just the second time since winning the MLS Cup in Speaking on the future of the club Smith and Demoff didn t offer a revolutionary vision for a turnaround and urged more open-ended questions about how to get to the MLS mountaintop than they answered The goal under Armas was to become a perennial playoff association But despite the down year the coach leaving and the numerous athlete contract decisions that loom the ambition increased on Thursday This club should be competing for the MLS Cup year in and year out and I don t think anybody in this organization will stop competing until we get to that point Demoff stated That to me is what our fans should expect That s what ownership expects from us That s what I expect of this club The Rapids are the only KSE crew without a trophy this decade and they haven t captured one since that season in any competition not named the Rocky Mountain Cup The closest they came was a conference final loss in So what does a title push look like for this iteration of the Rapids Item No is a head coach The uncertainty around Armas future followed by his eventual departure has created an expedited feeling this time around Nine players are awaiting club options for by the Nov deadline all decisions a coach would presumably play a role in After that it s the roster build The Rapids have a solid core of exciting young prospects and experienced journeymen with the future centered around Paxten Aaronson who inked a five-year deal in August for a club-record million transfer fee He s on a million base salary another outlier for Colorado Fans have long criticized the club for trying to ball on a budget The cash flow is starting to trend higher with two record incoming transfers and two record outgoing transfers in the past two years but the Rapids routinely spend below league average in salary This year the Rapids slightly overperformed their spending rd in MLS by finishing st Still Demoff brushed aside the notion that the club doesn t spend enough to win There s no correlation between spending and winning in the MLS It s not about spending for spending s sake he reported It is truly about building a philosophy and identity a core competency that no one else has and continuing to invest in that model to drive forward New Colorado Rapids coach Chris Armas right speaks at his introductory news conference at Dick s Sporting Goods Park on Thursday Nov Association president P draig Smith listens Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post While it s true that money does not automatically equate to wins there is a correlation between spending salary-wise at least and winning in MLS Demoff pointed to examples from this season like the Philadelphia Union dead-last in salary but first place in the league and Atlanta United fourth in spending th-place finish while making his point But those are the exceptions not the rule A leaguewide comparison of salary material and final MLS regular-season standings exhibited that teams in the top half of spending finished th on average while those spending in the bottom half averaged an th-place finish Without the aforementioned outliers the margins grow to th and th respectively That means on average spending in the top half of the league in salary is the difference between potentially avoiding a play-in tournament and missing the playoffs entirely Aside from just writing big checks the next step is clear building a roster and heritage rooted in accountability and organization-wide collaboration Since taking his role in March of Demoff has been present for the Rapids in a way KSE hasn t in selected time On multiple occasions Smith has praised Demoff s involvement and ideas toward building a better club After multiple big signings since then Demoff has been one of the first on Smith s thank-you list That disclosed Demoff s presence at Thursday s news conference loomed over Smith s hold on the top front office job with the Rapids Smith s contract is up after the season and when urged if Demoff would normally allow one front office to make a fourth head coaching hire he mentioned no Related Articles Andreas Maxs won t return to Rapids club president P draig Smith says Colorado Rapids end-of-season salary document distributed by MLSPA Colorado Rapids Chris Armas mutually part means as contract expires Rapids season ends on last-minute equalizer by LAFC Rapids lose at Real Salt Lake retain Rocky Mountain Cup but fall out of playoff spot Demoff signaled this coaching search the first he and Smith will partner on will mark a new era of the club That phrase has been tossed around plenty of times but a period that promises better cooperation between the club and KSE is cause for cautious optimism According to Demoff and Smith their partnership includes better sharing of best practices and materials between the Rapids and all KSE teams and making that interconnectivity better I think first and foremost our job right now is How do we build the best roster in the short term and the long term Demoff reported This is going to be one of the best clubs year in and year out That is the only goal that we should have for the Rapids I have full confidence in P draig to partner with us to do that but it is up to us to both A develop that model together B give the help and then hold accountable I think from here we are all accountable for the results that this club has It s not about through This is about moving forward and are we doing the best job for our club for our fans and for our city Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams