{"id":473420,"date":"2026-10-22T13:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/473420\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T13:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:50:14","slug":"houston-dynamo-head-coach-ben-olsen-agrees-to-new-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/473420\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Dynamo, Head Coach Ben Olsen, agrees to new contract extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">HOUSTON \u2013 The Houston Dynamo are securing their leader for the future, and now it\u2019s time to make an extended postseason run.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The club announced Wednesday a contract extension for head coach Ben Olsen, ensuring his continued leadership with the Club. The extension runs through the 2027-28 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cOur vision has been to build a sustainable winner that makes the city of Houston proud, and Ben has been central to realizing that vision,\u201d said Dynamo President of Soccer Pat Onstad. \u201cUnder his leadership, the team has reestablished itself as a contender, lifted the U.S. Open Cup, qualified for international competition and secured its third MLS Cup Playoffs berth in four seasons. Beyond those results, Ben has helped restore the identity of our Club by producing a competitive team, cultivating a resilient and unified culture, and developing young talent from around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cWe have built a strong foundation together, and I look forward to continuing that work with Ben as we pursue sustained success and compete for more trophies for the Club and the city of Houston.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Olsen\u2019s Dynamo are currently fifth in the standings with a 13-9-8 (W-L-D) record on 47 points, the fourth-highest point total in Club history through 30 matches. The Dynamo have avoided defeat in 13 of 16 matches since the resumption of league play following the World Cup. Olsen has also led the Dynamo to a strong 8-3-4 (W-L-D) home record at Shell Energy Stadium so far this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cI was drawn to this opportunity with the Dynamo because of the significant potential of both the Club and the city, and I am proud of the progress we have made together and the standards we have established,\u201d said Olsen. \u201cThat progress reflects the commitment of our players, coaches and staff, along with the unwavering support of our fans. I am grateful to Ted, Pat and the entire Dynamo organization for their continued trust and belief in what we are working toward. I am energized by the opportunity to continue building on our success and make the city of Houston proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Houston recently clinched a spot in the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs this past weekend, marking the third time in the last four seasons that the Dynamo have qualified for the postseason under Olsen. Notably, he ranks second in Club history for the most playoff appearances achieved during a head coach\u2019s tenure (Dominic Kinnear, seven postseason appearances with the Dynamo).<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Under Olsen, a former U.S. Men\u2019s National Team player, the Dynamo have maintained their strong defensive identity this season, allowing the fifth-fewest goals (39) and posting 11 clean sheets, the second-most in team history. Notably, the team\u2019s recent five-match shutout streak tied a league record, and it held opponents scoreless for an impressive 485 minutes earlier this season, the second-longest run in the last decade for the Dynamo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The 49-year-old head coach is one of three active MLS head coaches to lead a team to the playoffs eight or more times, joining Bruce Arena and Brian Schmetzer. Olsen ranks seventh all time among MLS head coaches with 164 regular-season wins, reaching 150 last season when the Dynamo earned a 3-2 road win over St. Louis CITY SC.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<img alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792677014_714_kprc_breaking.webp\" width=\"234\" height=\"50\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf eUxjKG\">More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 The Houston Dynamo are securing their leader for the future, and now it\u2019s time to make&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[160333,69022,56,23504,58,57,20604,136],"class_list":["post-473420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-ben-olsen","tag-contract-extension","tag-houston","tag-houston-dynamo","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-major-league-soccer","tag-mls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}