Ben Olsen thriving as coach of Houston Dynamo

A fixture in Washington for more than two decades, Olsen has taken to his new turf. He and his family chose to live in the city, just as they did in D.C., when they nurtured three children in a rowhouse in the Shaw neighborhood.

At his go-to breakfast spot here, Dandelion Cafe, he orders oatmeal, one blueberry pancake and coffee. Before his family arrived for good in late summer, he explored Houston’s restaurant scene, from the hole-in-the wall joints to high-end spots.

“I hit so many places,” he said, “I should’ve started a blog.”

For cultural awakening, the Rothko and Menil museums are “a must,” he said.

The kids — Ruby, Oscar and Frankie — are playing soccer. Oscar, 12, is playing up an age level in the Dynamo’s development academy.

It’s a good life, and a welcome reboot after more than 23 years employed by D.C. United — as a rambunctious midfielder, assistant coach, head coach and front-office assistant. He also served as president of the NWSL’s Washington Spirit for eight months.

Olsen wasn’t just a sports figure with a long tenure in one town. He was enmeshed in the District, advocating for statehood, mixing with political and community leaders, supporting nonprofits and joining his wife, Megan, in educating their kids through urban experiences.

Leaving D.C. “was a big change, but it was a much-needed change,” the 46-year-old Olsen said last week. “And I didn’t know how much I needed to shake things up until I got here.”

“I can’t really put my finger on it,” said Olsen, a central Pennsylvania native and former University of Virginia star. “It was just time to see something different and push myself in a different direction.”

Flashing Dynamo orange instead of United black and red, he has pushed Houston into the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and second time in 10 seasons.

With a 6-1-5 finish to the regular season, the Dynamo (14-11-9) earned the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. It ousted Real Salt Lake in the first round and, on Sunday, will host No. 8 Sporting Kansas City in a conference semifinal.

Playoff ambitions heightened after defeating Messi’s Inter Miami two months ago in South Florida for the U.S. Open Cup title, a 109-year-old competition featuring teams from all levels of the sport.

Known in Washington for blue-collar teams — fans labeled it “Benny Ball” — Olsen has the Dynamo playing an entertaining brand of soccer (25 of its 51 regular season goals came in the past 11 matches) while keeping a tidy defensive record (multiple goals allowed once in that same stretch). Its 11-2-4 home record was the best in the conference.

“This has been probably my most enjoyable year as a soccer coach,” he said.

General Manager Pat Onstad has witnessed Olsen’s personality, curiosity and drive.

“He’s all in,” Onstad said. “When he got here, within the first couple of weeks, he was like, ‘Oh, I have to go here. I’ve gone there. This is amazing. I love this place.’ He was all in, not just on the project but also on the city and the new experience. That’s the only way he operates — at a high level. To not be all in, it’s really difficult for him.”

Onstad, the goalkeeping coach on Olsen’s D.C. staff in 2011 and ’12, said he first approached him about the Houston job after the 2021 season. Olsen told him he wasn’t ready to jump back into coaching.

His family was flourishing in Washington and, having just started working for the Spirit, he was learning about the business side of sports.

It was an uncomfortable situation, though. With team owners Steve Baldwin and Michele Kang battling for control of the organization in the wake of a verbal and emotional abuse scandal, Olsen was caught in the middle. Baldwin had hired him; the players sided with Kang.

“I went into this space where I was not necessarily welcomed and I had to work really hard to gain the trust of the players and settle a very volatile situation,” Olsen said. “It was probably the hardest job I’ve ever had.”

In the spring of 2022, after Kang won the ownership fight, she wanted to reassign Olsen to the soccer side of things. He resigned.

Over the next seven months, Olsen dived into his other passion — painting — and worked as an MLS analyst for ESPN.

“That [TV] experience,” he said, “is when the [coaching] fire started again.”

In Houston, Paulo Nagamura had lasted just one year as coach. Onstad called Olsen again.

“We needed a coach who was going to unify the group to fight together,” Onstad said. “I knew Ben was a really good fit.”

There were questions, though, about Olsen’s coaching ability. In Washington, guiding a fabled club struggling under new ownership and a tight budget, he had a 113-137-84 regular season record with six playoff appearances in 10 years.

His top moments were in 2013, when, amid a league-worst regular season, United won the Open Cup, and a year later, when the club finished first in the Eastern Conference regular season race.

Given that track record, there was skepticism in Houston. “A lot of skepticism,” Olsen said. “With all the coaches out there you can pick, is Ben Olsen the first name that comes to you? I don’t know. Probably not.”

Aside from a new coach, Houston turned over its roster with the addition of 17 players.

“They kept saying it was a blank canvas,” Olsen said, “but it really was almost like an expansion team.”

Led by captain Héctor Herrera, a Mexican midfielder, the Dynamo evolved throughout the season. And Olsen continued to evolve as a coach.

“He’s always had the ability to understand group dynamics really well,” said Dynamo goalkeeper Steve Clark, who played for Olsen in Washington. “He was always a good man manager and now he’s getting the tactical side, as well. You just see what a really good job he’s done.”

The first step was Olsen striking a balance between creating a healthy team culture and demanding more from the players.

“We’re under pressure. We have to perform,” Clark said. “But there’s this little bit of space that a manager can give for some fun and some freedom.”

While Olsen sees similarities in trying to rebuild United during the previous decade and Houston now, he says he sees a difference in himself.

“I was so not prepared for the D.C. job” in 2010, he said. “I had no foundation as a coach, no vision on how I wanted my team to play, or who I was as a leader, or who I needed to surround myself with. I wasn’t even close. I was just making it up. Fortunately I had some qualities that could allow me to get the team to at least fight and be committed. I’m so much more prepared for this job.”

Olsen has also enjoyed being an outsider.

“It’s nice being brand new and fresh,” he said. “The fans are looking at me for the first time. I don’t have the weight of 20 years of service on my back.”

Olsen recognizes he is in a honeymoon phase.

“Now the trick is sustaining this,” he said.

As tempting as it is, he said he won’t use his initial success here to counter the doubters in D.C.

“There is zero I-told-you-so,” he said. “At some point, yeah, maybe I’ll have those feelings. I am happy I made this move. I didn’t know why this was an important move for myself and the family, but I am convinced more than ever it was the right thing for us, to go somewhere we’re uncomfortable and see how it goes.”

He added: “We were so D.C.-centric and it was such a nice, comfortable life there. We took a chance, right? I’m glad, for the most part, because it’s going pretty well.”