In describing the process of how a character went bankrupt in his novel, "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway gave the perfect description for many aspects of life: "Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
It's an apt way to think about the end of the road for yet another Minnesota head coach — Loons manager Adrian Heath, who was let go Friday with two games left in a disappointing Major League Soccer season.
At least from an outside perspective, Heath's tenure — this is his seventh year, and he's been the club's only manager since moving to MLS in 2017 — has been teetering on the brink of collapse for a couple of years.
The Loons started 0-4 in 2021, needing a sprint to the finish to make the playoffs for a third consecutive year. They made it back again last year, becoming the only Western Conference team to make the postseason every year from 2019-22 — a fact Heath justifiably used in his defense to deflect criticism of his style or results.
But aside from a spirited run to the semifinals during the 2020 COVID season, Heath's Loons have been one-and-done in the playoffs. That backdrop and the first 25 matches of this season, another in-the-hunt slog, were the "gradually" part of Heath's ultimate undoing.
As I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast — sentiments expressed just hours before he was officially fired — the "suddenly" part came in the last seven matches, and particularly in a 5-1 defeat at LAFC on Wednesday.
That lopsided defeat, in which Heath either stubbornly or reluctantly played a similar lineup to the one that had produced winless results in the Loons' previous six matches, not only torpedoed any realistic chance of a playoff berth but also seemed to push a lot of supporters over the edge.
More importantly, it was enough for Loons owner Dr. Bill McGuire to say enough is enough. That sentiment was expressed in a team news release with this quote from CEO Shari Ballard: "This was a difficult decision, but we believe that the time is right to move in a new direction."