“It is now time for a change. It is the right move,” Olsen, 43, said in a written statement. “The club needs a new face and this is the right time for the club and also for me personally to move in a different direction.”
Chad Ashton, a longtime assistant, will guide the team on an interim basis through the end of the season. Team officials said the search for a long-term replacement will commence immediately and include candidates from the United States and abroad.
Since late last season, United is 2-10-7 with a 33-13 scoring deficit. The injury-plagued team has conceded four goals in each of the past two matches and is winless in six straight, with the latest loss Wednesday at New York City FC, 4-1.
Olsen has one year left on his contract, which included a clause for him to continue a relationship that began as a player in 1998 and shifted to coaching in 2010. His first full season as head coach was 2011.
“Ben has been a fabric of the D.C. United organization for more than two decades, including his role as head coach for the last 10 years, and we are forever grateful for his contributions and leadership,” Jason Levien, United’s chief executive and co-chairman, said in a written statement. “Ben has been a total professional and has represented this organization with incredible class and distinction. It is our sincere hope and belief that Ben will continue to have a big impact on the organization.”
Locally, only Joe Gibbs, an NFL Hall of Famer who oversaw three Super Bowl titles, coached more consecutive seasons (1981-92). The Senators’ Clark Griffith (1912-20) and the Capitals’ Bryan Murray (1981-90) are next on the list.
None of United’s previous coaches were on the job more than three years. Olsen was one year behind Peter Vermes, Sporting Kansas City’s current leader, for longest continuous service with one team in MLS’s 24-year history.
“My overwhelming emotion right now is that I have been incredibly fortunate to be associated with this great club for 22 years,” Olsen said. “No one gets that opportunity in professional sports, and I am so much richer for all the amazing experiences and relationships along the way. I will always be grateful.”
Olsen had a losing record (113-137-84 in the regular season, 132-152-94 overall) but kept his job because he usually squeezed the most from a roster constrained by budget limitations — United is often among MLS’s thriftiest spenders — and he rebounded from each poor season.
In 2014, Olsen was voted coach of the year after a 14-victory, 43-point improvement. Even in that disastrous 2013 campaign (3-24-7), United won the U.S. Open Cup, a national tournament modeled after England’s FA Cup.
In 2012, United jumped to 17 victories from nine in 2011; in 2018, the club improved by five victories and 19 points from 2017.
Olsen’s teams embodied his tenacious character, often overcoming technical shortcomings with effort and defensive resolve. That style was not always attractive, earning the moniker “Benny Ball.”
Although United qualified for the MLS playoffs five of the past six years, it hasn’t won a postseason game since 2015 or advanced to the conference final since 2012. United last appeared in MLS Cup in 2004, when Olsen was midway through his playing career.
Olsen also had lasting power as coach because of his strong bonds with the organization, an emotional tie that, as both a player and coach, made him United’s heart and soul and its most recognizable figure most seasons. The former University of Virginia midfielder has spent more than half his life with the team.
Beyond soccer, he is a visible figure in the community, promoting the District and the soccer team. He and his wife, Megan, chose to raise three children in the middle of the city.
Olsen also had Levien, United’s chief executive and co-chairman since 2012, on his side. They became good friends, socialized and played tennis together. Levien always spoke highly of Olsen the person and believed in him as a coach.
However, last winter, in the wake of United’s failure to win a playoff game in two seasons with English superstar Wayne Rooney, Levien considered a coaching change.
After allowing the technical staff, led by Olsen and General Manager Dave Kasper, to explain its plans for 2020, he left things as they were.
In the offseason, United tried to compensate for the departure of Rooney and Argentine playmaker Luciano Acosta by signing Peruvian attacker Edison Flores and trading for midfielder Julian Gressel.
They never seemed comfortable, though, in Olsen’s tactical plans. Their lack of influence and production — combined with Paul Arriola’s preseason knee surgery and several other injuries to starters after the league restarted the season in home markets — forced Olsen to patch together lineups.
On several occasions, he was missing at least six regulars; he was down eight players Wednesday.
United’s only victories came in March in a comeback performance against expansion Miami and in September on a deflected goal in stoppage time against the New York Red Bulls.
As the season transpired, Olsen and players said morale was slipping. After a defeat in Nashville in September, Olsen fumed about his starters, calling them “frauds.” After a 4-0 rout against Atlanta last week, Olsen said his team was “fragile emotionally” and “not very good, either.”
In Thursday’s team announcement, Olsen said: “I spent the last 22 years waking up every morning thinking about how I could try to make this club better. I definitely didn’t get everything right, but I know I always gave everything I had to try to help this club achieve success.”