Who is rumored Dynamo head coach Jaime Lozano?

News of Houston’s coaching search has been very quiet. The Dynamo are now the only team in Major League Soccer with a vacancy in the head coach position. At the beginning of December, General Manager Pat Onstad gave us a clear idea of what he was looking for in a coach when he spoke to Glenn Davis on Soccer Matters.

Onstad mentioned that he has had a lot of conversation with people from all over North America as well as from Europe as possible candidates for the open position. “I want a coach and a technical staff that are fully invested in the recruitment side,” mentioned Onstad. He also went to add, “some of the leading candidates are foreign coaches… young up and coming coaches that have had some success”.

Mexican Jaime Lozano has been linked to the manager job now my multiple reporters. The Athletic’s Sam Stejskal and Felipe Cardenas first reported to “keep an eye” on Lozano as a candidate. TUDN’s Michele Giannone also reported that Lozano was close to becoming the man to fill the empty position after Tab Ramos’ exit.

PTSD is real and the mention of the possibility of another youth coach can cause a panic on Houston Dynamo fans. So, who is Jaime Lozano?

Lozano, 43, was born in Mexico City. He had a successful playing career as a talented midfielder in the early 2000s. Lozano won back-to-back titles with Pumas UNAM in 2004. Even though most of his years were spent at Pumas, Lozano also had spells with Celaya, Tigres, Cruz Azul and Morelia. Lozano earned 34 caps with the Mexican national team and scored 12 goals. He was part of the squad for the 2004 & 2007 Copa America, the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was left out of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in what seemed to be the prime of his career.

Lozano was even chosen to be on the cover of EA Sports’ 2006 FIFA World Cup game, alongside current Austin FC Sporting Director Claudio Reyna. After he did not make the Mexico roster that participated at the World Cup, EA Sports decided to avoid adding any players on future cover art.

After retirement, Jimmy, as Lozano is nicknamed, moved straight into coaching. He first took a position with UNAM’s reserve and academy before getting an opportunity to be Queretaro’s U-20 manager. Lozano won the U-20 Clausura Liga MX title with Queretaro in 2016. After the win, he was promoted to be an assistant coach to Victor Manuel Vucetich with Queretaro’s senior team. When Vucetich was sacked as the head coach in 2017, Jimmy Lozano was made the manager. He won the 2017 Supercopa MX by defeating Club America. However, in October of 2017, he was sacked by Queretaro after a poor run had the club in last place.

In 2019, Lozano was appointed manager of the Mexico U-23 national team. At the helm of the U23 side, his team finished third in the 2019 Toulon Tournament and 2019 Pan American Games with players such as Sebastian Cordova, Jesus Angulo, and Alan Mozo in the roster. In 2020 Lozano and Mexico qualified for the Olympics by winning the CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament. Lozano led the young El Tri team to a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan after losing in penalties against Brazil in the semifinal and beating host Japan 3-1 in the bronze medal match.

Would you be interested in Jimmy Lozano as the next Houston Dynamo coach? Let us know in the comments below.