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Sources: Reyna turned down Red Bulls coaching job

By IVES GALARCEP

The deal looked all but done just days ago, but sources with knowledge of the New York Red Bulls coaching search tell SBI that Claudio Reyna has turned down the opportunity to be the team’s lead assistant coach.

Reyna was pegged as the frontrunner earlier this month to be the assistant for Paulo Sousa, who has been tipped to take over as Red Bulls head coach, but Reyna has apparently made the final decision to pass on the job offer.

The Red Bulls are now ready to turn their attention to other American coaching candidates to serve as the assistant to Sousa, who has yet to actually be finalized and announced as head coach despite having agreed to the position a week ago.

It remains unclear just what is holding up Sousa’s appointment, but the delay leaves the Red Bulls as the only team in MLS without an appointed head coach for the 2013 season, which begins in less than two months. The delay could be linked to the team having wanted to introduce Sousa with his lead assistant. If that is the case, Reyna’s decision to pass on the job will push back the announcement even further as the Red Bulls consider other candidates.

Mike Petke remains the team’s interim head coach.

What do you think of this development? Disappointed to hear Reyna won’t be taking the job? Who would you like to see New York hire now?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Speculation on my part as to the delay in officially announcing a head coach – 30 days must elapse before a foreigner can receive a visa and take a job that would normally go to an American as per US labor law. “Insourcing” if you will. This is the only explanation that occurs to me as to why Sousa hasn’t been made official.

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  2. He has failed as tyd so whats the big deal? He like porter only in america are getting promoted and its ok and well deserving lol

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  3. galaxy coaching changes have produced four titles (2002, 2005, 2011, 2012) and four losing appearances in MLS cup (1996, 1999, 2001, 2009). Red Bulls have one MLS Cup appearance (2008). Do the math.

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  4. Ives why did he pass on the job? (maybe I missed it in the article?) Money? Or he didn’t want to be #2?

    What about Richie Williams for Assistant Coach? …..

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  5. It’s so hard to be a supporter of this team sometimes. For all the progress on the roster, they continue to make a royal mess of the coaching search.

    And now SI.com is reporting that Lampard is going to LA at the end of the EPL season.

    (Bangs head on table.)

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  6. Meola would be a good asst as well. But a great coaching staff would have been reyna,petke and meola. not so sure how good Sousa will do as coach though. maybe leave petke as coach?

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    • As an RBNY supporter I’m seeing this sentiment everywhere now – Petke as head coach. Leaving aside his service as a club stalwart, mostly with Metrostars, what qualifies him for the job? When has he ever articulated a tactical vision? Does he possess or is working on coaching licenses? Forgive me guys but my impression at this point (and it may change if he demonstrates competence with time) is he is NOT head coach material. Arena/Kinnear types would coach circles around him. It would be ugly.

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  7. Let’s say for argument that Sousa is on the way in. The FO is interested in Reyna as an assistant. Would it make more sense to 1. offer Reyna the job irrespective of what Sousa thinks or wants, or 2. See how Sousa and Reyna hit it off? Clearly the answer would be #2.

    I was just thinking yesterday about how weird it would be for a new head coach to be hired and already have all of his assistants (more or less) in place. That sounds more dysfunctional to me than the idea that Reyna passed on the job after meeting with Sousa. I’m speculating of course but i think this is logical.

    Related issue: Petke and all of the other assistants will be basically reporting to Sousa, right? So it stands to reason that some of them may not be a good fit with Sousa. Time will tell.

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  8. To defend NYRB, isn’t it possible that Claudio Reyna had gave a verbal agreement and then had a change of heart. This is a man and family that have suffered great personal tragedy in the last year. Losing a family member will change your priorities in life. The loss of a child and the impact on a parent’s life is something only those who have that experience can begin to understand.

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    • true, but he also resigned from US Soccer, so either it was a knee jerk reaction/decision, or theres more to the story than we’re hearing

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      • Patrick – I think that’s an indication of a man who has made family his #1 priority. Could be wrong, but I think the US soccer family can give all parties a little space on this one.

        Now I do agree that Richie Williams is someone Redbulls need to mend fences with and get on board.

        For an interesting perspective on the impact on Manny Schellscheidt on US soccer and the MLS, google, Union Lancers soccer club and see what turns up

  9. Too bad. Renya could have taught the defense how to put up your hand in the air looking for an offsides call (that never materialized) as the offensive player blows by you to scores a goal…

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  10. I would think that given all the changes in management at NYRB this off-season, you were bound to not have all your ducks in order. I think that CR did not want to walk into a situation where virtually the whole management team was in a state of flux. To some people, it may look like an excellent opportunity to stake a claim, others however, and Reyna is apparently one of them, decide that, in order for them to be effective over the long term, there has to be a lot more preparation and policy in place for their comfort level.

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  11. You guys know that a potential candidate (that was never announced by the club) saying “no,” isn’t an example of dysfunction or poor leadership right? It’s a guy making a decision. Oh well.

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  12. Once the Cosmos return to MLS in a few years, life as the NYRB will never be the same. I still hope NYRB get it together, but it’s tough when you feel like you need expensive big names in order to break through the media and be noticed, but those expensive players make it hard to build a real team around, especially if injuries start to expose a lack of depth.

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    • Llamosa is a great example of a good assistant to assist a foreign coach. Native spanish speaker and multi-lingual. USNT star and some connections to USSF. Knows MLS extremely well (as well as the refs, the fields, league “stuff”) as a player and coach. And regarded as a classy guy. Even if you don’t see him as a long-time future or potential head coach, as a crutch and one-year resource for a foreign guy, he’s a fine addition.

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  13. Asst. wish list (americans only):

    -Gregg Berhalter
    -Eric Wynalda
    -Cobi Jones
    -Jesse Marsch
    -Robin Fraser
    -Preki
    -Mike Sorber
    -Brian McBride
    -Kasey Keller

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  14. They have the nerves to anounce Monday 21st Preseason stars and no coach,wonder this clowns in Austria know what the clowns in New Jersey are doing or maybe they are in the same circus and is OK.I firmly believe if there were another team in the area the NYRB will have to stop operating since nobody will be supporting them.

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  15. I think that Reyna has the potential to be a superb head coach some day. He’s smart, knows people, has played soccer at a high level in a range of different leagues/styles, is tactically astute, has played at a high level, has some deep roots in US soccer.

    That said, NYRB was being foolish to assume that he was going to be the answer to a foreign coach. For all of Reyna’s international expertise and insight, there are probably about 100 guys who can coach who know more current stuff about MLS than Reyna (b/c they’re a current assistant, someone like Richie Williams, a player ready to retire or be a player coach ala Josh Wolff, a connected college coach or assistant or a fired MLS head man).

    Bringing in Reyna would be much like DCU bringing in Earnie Stewart (who’s American, played on the NT and had a few years in MLS) and therefore asserting he “knows” MLS and the current refs, fields, players, and all of the stuff that a foreign coach would need to tap in to. Or like TFC to claim that Ryan Nelsen (as a former MLS-er and US college student) “knows” MLS. Nah, TFC did the right think by hiring a long-time college coach (Fran O’Leary) to help Nellie.

    While a Reyna hiring looks nice to suits or the uninformed public, Petke is probably a more valuable resource to a foreign coach. Even if you don’t like Stevie Nicols as your head coach, no doubt he’d be a superb asset to a foreign coach–he could relate well to the guy coming here going “waivers? draft? WTF?” but has dedicated his coaching life to developing young Americans and has a long career as an assistant and head man with the A-League and MLS.

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  16. Sousa will help with attendance since Harrison and Newark have large Portuguese communities. Plus he has done well in Hungry the past couple of seasons. I see Paulo Sousa with American assistants as a good hire.

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  17. If every step and every move and every decision from other teams in MLS were covered and scrutinized as much as Red Bulls’, dysfunction might be thrown around a bit more. And NY is damned if they do and damned if you don’t: if they quickly named a coach, everyone would say they are rushing and not taking their time.

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    • This site is pretty broad and accommodating of many different fans but I always understood at least one leading function of the place as reporting on the Red Bulls, more so than anyone else. So the degree of inspection reflects the focus. If it was Dynamo focused you’d hear about all our signings and coaching decisions on down to the false starts.

      I do agree that the scrutiny adds pressure but the ultimate decider is who you pick and how the team does. More scrutiny is not necessarily bad if it focuses the mind on the decisions. In Houston I think our reporting tends to be softball, and as a result the FO/coach aren’t very accountable for the mistakes they make. I feel like signing Ching helped kneecap our overall championship chances, and we’re repeating it again. The local media is friendly so there is little criticism of the likely re-signing of the local legend, even if we’re getting 5 goals for $200K. Instead of the same degree of critique every other team in town gets for each game and decision, we’ll get a puff piece about how nice it is to have the Face of the Franchise back, even if it dilutes our overall roster strength. I do think there’s a point where the media can eat a team or player alive regardless of whether it’s beneficial, but having the team well reported is not the worst thing in the world.

      So to me it works both ways.

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  18. If every step and every move and every decision from other teams in MLS were covered and scrutinized as much as Red Bulls’, dysfunction might be thrown around a bit more. And NY is damned if they do and damned if you don’t: if they quickly named a coach, everyone would say they are rushing and not taking their time.

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  19. pure speculation, but maybe he wanted to meet sousa first, finally did, and didn’t like what he heard? maybe he was upset about nyrb not getting their coach and him set up in time for the draft? eh?

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    • Or maybe there is a bigger issue with Sousa and that’s not going to happen and reyna dropped because of this.

      What would be so metro is if they have to start the season with petke, the team goes 5 and 0 or something them they find their head coach and the team bombs.

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  20. I’d really like to see how Reyna does as a head coach some day. Maybe his visions of football like Barcelona are best channeled directly from him rather than through subordinates…

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  21. Red Bull NY/ Metrostars have gone through 14 head coaches with the 15th to be named. The next nearest competitors in MLS have had between 5 and 8 in the same length of time. The Red Bull have had 7, soon to be 8, head coaches since the spring of 2006. It is hard to see much of a positive trend, but they did give Backe the about same length of time the Metrostarts gave Bradely.

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  22. WHYYYY would they not give Steve Nicol the position of head coach!? Great experience in the MLS with a winning mentality and has a great record as well! Nicol is your man, NOT Sousa. NOT Mccalister. NICOL!!! Wake up red bull brass!!!

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  23. they r a joke, like their kit. other than watching on tv they will never get my $$ gain. stadium experience sucks. missed beginning of halves because of slow concession. I’ll wait for Queens or Nassau. Learn something from SKC you trolls over there in Harrison

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    • I don’t know when you went to a game but concessions have greatly improved, experience is top notch especially pre-game. As for the jersey, well if you want to walk around with BIMBO on the front of your jersey go support the Philthy union

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    • Maybe you should join all the normal people in the world and not waist your time and $$ buying things from a stadium concession line. If you miss part of the game because you’re in line, it’s your own fault. You will not be missed.

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      • Concessions at RBA are so staggeringly incompetent they make the front office look competent by comparison. Agreed that there’s no need to miss any of the game waiting online, the game is only ninety minutes. When I’ve been to games abroad, there is absolutely no one at the concessions during the game. People are in their seats because they know that the game is only ninety minutes long so it’s really dumb to spend fifteen of those minutes on line waiting to spend $8 on a hot dog.

    • Wowwwwwww…what a loser comment. “stadium experience sucks”. That because numbnuts like you prefer to be on a line to have food to take to your seat with and stuff your face rather than actively supporting the team on the field. Like many “fans” feeding your pie hole is more important. While you wait for Cosmos, heheheh, I recommend baseball or throwball games as there are many breaks in action where you can indulge in the concessions thing to your heart’s content. Good riddance “fan”.

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  24. RBNY seem unable to administer anything without missteps and drama. Going back to the Metrostars the club has bungled time after time. You can pick your favorite misstep: Naming any Italian to “save” the team, unceremoniously dumping Bradley, but keeping Lalas, managing to lose Arena have him end up in L.A., the mystery firing of Richie Williams (what did he do?). I must be forgetting many of the things they have done that end up looking foolish, the list is just so long.

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  25. When asked why he turned down the offer, Reyna replied, “It’s like the fans say, ‘Redbull Arena is just too far away.’ Otherwise, I’d probably take the position.”

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    • I like Petke but don’t you think there is something there when he continually gets past over and no other teams in the MLS have inquired about his services? There has got to be something there that we, the fans, do not see. Again, I like him and so do a lot of fans BUT……..

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    • I thought of that as well. One other thing I’m reminded of though, this isn’t the first time Reyna agreed to something, then backed out. He also once had agreed to signing for Fulham, I believe even going so far as getting his picture taken with the manager, holding a Fulham shirt, then at the last second, he went and signed for Man City. One would think that if you go so far as getting your picture taken with the manager, then you’ve truly agreed to sign. I’m not saying this is the same situation, as perhaps he had legitimate second thoughts after meeting the new manager in this case, but it’s odd. I really liked him as a player, but that incident made me wonder about him, and if he really did quit his previous job in advance of this, you’d have to wonder again.

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