Once Caldas Pulls the Plug on "Arriero" Herrera's Run as Head Coach

The run is over. Once Caldas confirmed through its social media channels that Hernán Darío "Arriero" Herrera is out as head coach of the first team, following several rough weeks in which poor results finally caught up with him.

The final blow came at Palogrande, where the Blanco Blanco fell 3-1 to Bucaramanga. That match produced a striking scene: several players sat alongside Herrera at the postgame press conference to publicly back him and even take some of the blame for the team's slump. The gesture wasn't enough to stop what was already coming.

Finally, on Saturday, September 26, the Manizales club made official the agreement to end the "Arriero's" tenure. It wasn't a snap decision. It had been brewing for weeks amid the tension caused by poor results from a team that couldn't right the ship in the second half of the season.

Herrera had taken over the Once Caldas bench in 2023, and while he never won a title, he did give the team a competitive edge that stood out especially last year, when the club reached the quarterfinals of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana and came within a step of the semifinal, falling on penalties to Independiente del Valle.

But this season told a different story. The team lost 4 of its last 6 matches and currently sits tenth in the standings with 12 points through 11 matchdays, a campaign that fell far short of expectations after that continental run.

Carlos Valencia Takes Over on an Interim Basis

With Herrera's exit, the immediate question among fans was who would take the reins of the team. Once Caldas still doesn't have a permanent coach lined up, but it did settle the day-to-day urgency: Carlos "Panelo" Valencia has been placed in charge of the squad on an interim basis until further notice, while club leadership searches for someone to take over the project permanently.

The loss to Bucaramanga proved to be the last straw for a front office that had been closely watching every result. Now, with Valencia in charge and no clear timeline for naming a new manager, Once Caldas faces the rest of the season trying to stop the slide and recover the competitive identity it showed in recent years.