The New England Revolution recently parted ways with long-time head coach Stevie Nicol, and it appears they are going to stay within the Revs family for their new coach.
The Revs are preparing to name former defender Jay Heaps as the team's new head coach, the Boston Globe reported on Monday. According to the report, Heaps will be introduced as the team's new head coach on Wednesday.
Heaps, 35, retired from professional soccer in 2009 and has been working as a television analyst since.
What do you think of this development? Think the Revs are making a mistake hiring a coach with no professional coaching experience?
Share your thoughts below.
Assistant Coach, Yes….But Manager???
I hate to well actually you, but the Revs restructured their FO last week.
Gulati is now only an advisor, and Brian Bilelo takes over as the President of Soccer Operations (dropping his Patriot duties). Mike Burns takes the mantle of General Manager.
http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/news/2011/11/revs-reorganize-executive-management
should mean heaps will get more FO help, and there will be more attention paid to soccer operations.
Wow. Pretty shocking considering the talent and experience out there. But then again…let’s not forget that Sunil Gulati — perhaps the most underqualified and clueless of global FA heads (please tell me we have someone in this country who can replace this guy if the Klinsy experiment turns out as badly as his past German players warned us it would) — Iis President of the Revolution. He seems to blow with the wind, and perhaps a cheap solution was the answer and someone whispered in his ear. I like Heaps and wish him luck but…wow. Sunil your name is on Klinsmann and Heaps both. No more small time accountability if we want to have a serious FA and start moving forward…
Exactly, the Revs are built to win now.
Yeah, it’s been terrible for RSL, hasn’t it?!
I’d say that this is true in the sense that Kreis had the full support of his ownership from the time he took over. In contrast, we all are aware of the apparent constraints of working with the Kraft family in NE.
That’s almost right. Nick Rimando was already on the squad, too. Agree with your point, though.
I, for one, am really excited about this new/next generation of ex MLS players getting into coaching. The more the better. Even if some don’t pan out, we are getting more and more seasoned professionals who have played at a higher level into coaching in contrast to the prior generation of ex college coaches with little to no professional playing experience. Kreis, Olsen, Heaps, Caleb Porter, Ramos, Petke, RIchie Williams, Fraser, Klopas, Nowak, Vermes, Onalfo, Spencer, Kinnear.
As I said, a good thing.
The few times I watched him play he appeared to be a hot-head, a second away from a red card.
Great guy, dedicated player… absolutely stunned at this news.
New England, DC, Columbus, maybe Chicago – the category is long time MLS clubs that I wish were better. These clubs paved the way for what is happening now but cannot seem to adapt to a more professional league. I wish them well but decisions like this leave one questioning. I hope Heaps is awesome but I fear he is another 2-3 years of NE disaster.
This.
5 #1 draft picks
i dont’t really have an opinion one way or another on heaps.
I do however think it’s great that so many former American players with professional playing experience are getting into the coaching ranks here – kreis, Olsen, heaps, marsh, reyna, and Ramos. I think it speaks to the progression of the game in the us. They obviously understand the us game and players plus their words bring more weight in the locker room. We no longer need to bring in foreign coaches to teach us the game. The top leagues around the world are filled with coaches who played in those leagues.
I think Ralston would of been a better choice.
This team has to have tons of Allocation money, they’ve sucked for what 3 years straight? They made playoffs in 09 but only be a few points.
Between that, 3rd highest pick at the draft and a whole season plus a preseason to get Feilhaber, Joseph, Cragglio and Fagundez to gel together should help some.
I think they need a forward who can score and has tons of speed based on the turf stadium and the way the team has other pieces around the field, not sure who will be this year’s Nabe/Sapong of last year, or Mwanga/Bunbury of the year before or even Zakuani before that. But they could use that guy.
I think most people saying it’s a signing based on monetary resons are spot on, I am a bit puzzled… Don’t remember much about Kreis once he retired, quite frankly I hardly noticed he retired, no pun intended I was a bit uninformed at the time with School taking over my life, but somehow Heaps never struck me as a super savy guy, Kreis being a forward and a good one I guess just brought a great deal of creativity and Offensive Forward thinking to RSL, not to mention he surrounded himself with some good assistants, see Robin Fraser.
With that said… New England has some good and great talents to work with.
I was surprised the defense was as bad as it was, I guess it took him a while to settle in, but I thought between the 09 tandem of rookies they had in Kevin Alston who not too long ago was considered among top 3 Right backs in MLS, and Darrius Barnes a good CB who last year played well at Left back I thought they had a strong foundation. They got AJ Soares who turned out to be the best defender in the draft. I thought Valentin, Sarkodie and even Kitchen would have better years. Kitchen was a ROY finalist but he played a lot of MF, and up until Soares’ injury I think he was in the running ahead of Kitchen
I thought the French guy who would play left back would make them great on D or at least solid. Cochrane turned out to give them some depth and I believe Tierny did the same.
Either way with those guys, plus Joseph, Feilhaber, Fagundez, Caraglio and even Guy I think they have some pieces to work off of. More depth at midfield would help, so they go for best rookie ready to play now in midfield or at forward to join Caraglio or a prospect? I could see Kelyn Rowe thriving here ala Taylor Tweilman?
get it started, a coalition of the fans to buy the Rev.
That’s what I was thinking. NER get what they are paying for – a loyal guy who has the playing experience, knows MLS, likely won’t make waves and understands the situation & limitation @ NE going in, but is going to be pretty new to coaching and will likely be paid as such.
Idaho Brian is right, Jason Kries took over because he had a strong opinion on the kind of player and style of play he thought would be successful. He inherited some talent but they weren’t players who could fit into an improved team first system. A good example of this is Jeff Cunningham. Kries traded him away because he didn’t fit into JK’s new system.
New England has substantially more talent than RSL did when Kries took over.
Is this the April fool edition? Wow they’re so cheap! I feel for their supporters who have been served up yet another turd burger!
It doesnt matter if the Revs named Mourinho coach, they will suck as long as Bob Kraft operates the team the way he has since the start of the league.
Kreis was given a joke of a team when he first started…he had nothing to work with at the time, (Andy Williams is the only player still there from that era’s roster). However, Kreis did have a GM and Owner who were willing to make changes and shop for players, (under the constraints of a small market team budget). Hopefully Heaps has the same kind of support from his ownership.
That’s like saying John Harkes saying Twellman was a competent choice when ESPN wanted a new commentator.
you could bring in Pep Guadiola and as long as the infrastructure remains it’s DOA. real shame. can the fans buy out kraft or something?
Wow. This franchise is really going to sh*t.
actually that was a pretty cool slip: coasting?
I’m not the biggest fan of the signing because he hasn’t had the opportunity to coach yet. Its very rare that a young new coach finds success and no one should expect a quick turn around. I do think there is a possibility down the road that Heaps could be positive, he definitely has the passion for the team. This is a rebuilding process and it may be a long road back to the top.
This hire was made because Revs don’t give a sh!t about winning. Maybe he’ll turn out to be a great coach, but does anybody really think they did any kind of coaching search? Multiple interviews? Any of the due diligence you’d expect from a competent franchise? Doubt it.
Here’s the bottom line. An MLS club that does this is looking to deflect an overwhelming stream of negative attention away from themselves and the hide behind a likable, strong personality the fans loved on the field. Ben Olsen happens to be doing a damn fine job, but the fact remains that DC is logistically in the worst shape ever, and possibly about to be evicted from the city limits.
If the Revs are doing this, the organization itself is in worse shape than I thought.
Also, he was likely the only candidate willing to take on an extremely low salary and let Mike Burns pick all the players for him.
Well, he’s been our color commentator for 2 years, and he’s awful. He rarely gives any useful insight, instead choosing to constantly complain about yellow cards being given out “too early”. This next season is going to be a trainwreck
I would think Heaps is a strong coaching prospect — smart guy who made the most of limited gifts, so he probably knows the game — but he probably would benefit with some seasoning as an assistant somewhere.
All I know is that Heaps was a leader and a classy professional there. He’s been doing color commentary for the Revs games so he should have a good idea of what’s working and what isn’t (much more towards the latter). It’s a hire that’s close to the action but not from within. I don’t know, we’ll see.
There’s an incredible amount of irony in that statement.
Can we not mince words? He was hired because he’s a company man and was probably cheaper than Ralston because of the lack of experience.
Good for Jay, but the coaching staff was never the biggest problem for the Revs.
Kries is given more to work with unfortunately New Englands problem wasn’t the coach.
He did play under Mike Krzyzewski on Duke’s basketball team… not saying that will make him a good coach… just that he has experienced one of the best coaches in American sports.
Don’t care really.
Not sure, anyone on here who judges really is probably doing so without knowledge. I’d have to talk to the guy or listen to him for ten minutes talk about soccer and see how well he sees the game. A great soccer player does not make a great coach. It’d be interesting to see how he evaluates talent and how well he can lead a team.
Not sure the majority will say it’s a bad hire. I think the majority is just skeptical and very suspicious that the hire was made more because of financial concerns rather than competitive ones.
As for Twellman, not sure the endorsement is worth too too much. I mean, I would hardly expect him to throw Heaps under the bus since they had been teammates for so long.
I’ll probably be in a minority but I think its a good hire.
Obviously having a guy like Ralston with some experience would have been nice, but Heaps was always a solid pro and has the MLS experience that can come in handy. He also has a familiarity already with the team and has that much of a head start on shaping the team. It could also be a play to keep a guy like Shalrie Joseph with the team since he’ll already have a rapport with the coach.
The Midnight Rider podcast interviewed Twellman a couple weeks ago and he seemed to believe Heaps would be a competent choice.
Coaching. Not coast hing 🙂
yeah look how badly Kries did in his three years.
Par for the course. You can be sure that if the Kraft’s had a cheaper option they would have hired him. They probably didn’t bother to ask him about his coast hing experience, just his salary demands
“Think the Revs are making a mistake hiring a coach with no professional experience”
Anyone else thinks that question makes it sound like Heaps never played professionally?
Anyways, I have no idea if Heaps will make a good coach or not. Kreis was hired with no previous professional coaching experience and that’s turned out well. However, this hiring strikes me a little as NE trying to appeal to a fanbase by hiring a former fan favorite while trying to mask the fact that there are very few established coaches even interested in coming to New England and working under that apathetic (and sometimes inept) ownership.
I am skeptical. I wasn’t nearly as skeptical when they announced Olsen head coach of DC, but I’m not sure why.
NE is going to dominate!…. in like 5 years…
Wow, and I thought RB had a lockdown on questionable decisions!
They can’t be worse
Big mistake. It’ll take this guy 3 years to just get familiar with coaching.