Josh Wolff joins Houston Dynamo coaching staff

HOUSTON – Josh Wolff is the newest member of the Houston Dynamo FC first-team coaching staff.

The former Austin FC head coach is keeping roots in Texas to serve as an assistant coach for one of the VERDE’s rivals. Wolff was present at the club’s training sessions as early as last Wednesday. Dynamo staff asked Deportes Nation and another local outlet to withhold reporting until the club made its official announcement, which it did on Sunday afternoon.

Wolff rejoins Dynamo head coach and former teammate Ben Olsen, with whom Wolff began his coaching career as an assistant at D.C. United during the 2013 MLS season. Dynamo President of Soccer Pat Onstad was also a fellow member of Olsen’s coaching staff at D.C. United, during the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

Ahead of the 2014 MLS season, Wolff and Onstad joined the Columbus Crew as assistants to incoming head coach Gregg Berhalter. At the same time, the current Dynamo Technical Director, Asher Mendelsohn, joined the Crew as Director of Soccer Operations. The Ohio club qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs four of five seasons, while the three were part of the club from 2014 to 2018, finishing as runners-up at MLS Cup 2015.

When Berhalter left to coach the U.S. men’s national team in 2018, Wolff followed as an assistant while Mendelsohn was named Chief Soccer Officer of U.S. Soccer. Onstad stayed at the Crew, where he was promoted to technical director until the Dynamo hired him as General Manager in 2021.

Austin FC announced Josh Wolff as its first head coach on July 23, 2019, a year and a half before the club’s inaugural MLS season. Wolff was at the helm for the club’s lone playoff appearance in 2022, where the VERDE bowed out in the Western Conference Final to eventual MLS Cup champions LAFC.

After four seasons with Austin, the club parted ways with Wolff following a 45W-30D-60L record in MLS matches and back-to-back seasons of missing the MLS Cup Playoffs.

As a player, Wolff played with four different MLS clubs from 1998 to 2012, with a spell at 1860 Munich from 2007 to 2008 in the 2. Bundesliga. Wolff won the MLS Cup in 1998 as part of the Chicago Fire, and was a three-time Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup champion, twice with the Fire and once with the Kansas City Wizards. He also helped the United States men’s national team to win the 2002 and 2005 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Wolff’s 16-year-old son, Gavin, is also Dynamo-bound and will join the club’s Academy system, as confirmed by Technical Director Asher Mendelsohn.